[The German Championship has lost some of its prestige this year — for a country with 95 grandmasters, to find only two playing in the National Championship, you know that something has gone wrong. Evidently, a combination of the Open format and low prize fund caused not only all six current 2600 GMs to skip the event, but all but two of the entire top 100 list by Elo. Astounding and sad. -Ed.]
In their last round "duel at a distance" for the title, Hagen Poetsch and Rainer Buhmann were both a bit worse — and yet both played for the full point! But Poetsch could not succeed in his attacking attempts and got a worse and worse position as the result, while Buhmann, on the contrary, could not only free himself with a piece sacrifice, he even had a winning position after a blunder of his opponent.
Jari Reuker against Rainer Buhmann; behind Hagen Poetsch and Theo Gungl
| Br. | White | GER rating | Res. | Black | GER rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jari Reuker | 2372 | 0:1 | GM Rainer Buhmann | 2568 |
| 2 | IM Hagen Poetsch | 2513 | 0:1 | FM Theo Gungl | 2266 |
| 3 | FM Eduard Miller | 2255 | 1:0 | IM Hannes Langrock | 2337 |
| 4 | FM Nick Müller | 2295 | ½:½ | FM Florian Armbrust | 2266 |
| 5 | FM Derek Gaede | 2285 | 0:1 | Adrian Gschnitzer | 2328 |
| 6 | FM Reiner Heimrath | 2241 | 0:1 | IM Mark Kvetny | 2412 |
| 7 | Dr. Sebastian Fischer | 2206 | ½:½ | Frederik Svane | 2233 |
| 8 | IM Arno Zude | 2344 | 0:1 | IM Malte Colpe | 2346 |
| 9 | Eugen Heinert | 2174 | ½:½ | David Färber | 2224 |
| 10 | FM Jürgen Brustkern | 2166 | 1:0 | Dominik Plaßmann | 2195 |
| 11 | Arkadi Syrov | 2277 | 0:1 | Tino Proschmann | 2103 |
| 12 | René Adiyaman | 2037 | 0:1 | FM Raphael Rehberg | 2203 |
| Pl. | Name | Club / City | Title | Elo | GER rating | Pts | Perf. rating | TB (Buchh.) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Rainer Buhmann | SV Hockenheim | GM | 2581 | 2568 | 7.0 | 2334 | 44.0 |
| 2. | Eduard Miller | SC Erlangen | FM | 2309 | 2255 | 6.0 | 2378 | 46.0 |
| 3. | Theo Gungl | USV TU Dresden | FM | 2283 | 2266 | 6.0 | 2363 | 43.0 |
| 4. | Hagen Poetsch | SC Heusenstamm | GM | 2513 | 2513 | 6.0 | 2341 | 45.0 |
| 5. | Adrian Gschnitzer | SV Walldorf | 2333 | 2328 | 5.5 | 2333 | 45.0 | |
| 6. | Nick Müller | Greifswalder SV | FM | 2313 | 2295 | 5.5 | 2326 | 44.0 |
| 7. | Florian Armbrust | SC Tempo Göttingen | FM | 2300 | 2266 | 5.5 | 2307 | 42.0 |
| 8. | Mark Kvetny | Stuttgarter SF | IM | 2421 | 2412 | 5.0 | 2360 | 48.0 |
| 9. | Jari Reuker | SK Oldenburg | 2404 | 2372 | 5.0 | 2354 | 47.5 | |
| 10. | Hannes Langrock | ESV Nickelhütte Aue | IM | 2370 | 2337 | 5.0 | 2318 | 42.0 |
| 11. | Malte Colpe | Hamburger SK | IM | 2384 | 2346 | 5.0 | 2298 | 41.0 |
| 12. | Frederik Svane | Lübecker SV | 2292 | 2233 | 4.5 | 2281 | 38.5 | |
| 13. | Dr. Sebastian Fischer | SF Deizisau | 2292 | 2206 | 4.5 | 2272 | 34.5 | |
| 14. | Derek Gaede | Hamburger SK | FM | 2298 | 2285 | 4.0 | 2333 | 47.0 |
| 15. | Reiner Heimrath | SC Noris-Tarrasch Nürnberg | FM | 2200 | 2241 | 4.0 | 2259 | 36.0 |
| 16. | Raphael Rehberg | SG Lok Brandenburg | FM | 2243 | 2203 | 4.0 | 2229 | 32.0 |
| 17. | Rene Adiyaman | SV Welper | 2097 | 2037 | 3.5 | 2300 | 39.5 | |
| 18. | David Färber | SV Walldorf | 2321 | 2224 | 3.5 | 2279 | 40.0 | |
| 19. | Arno Zude | SV Hofheim | IM | 2373 | 2344 | 3.5 | 2252 | 37.5 |
| 20. | Jürgen Brustkern | SK Zehlendorf | FM | 2219 | 2166 | 3.5 | 2238 | 32.5 |
| 21. | Eugen Heinert | OSC Rheinhausen | 2146 | 2174 | 3.0 | 2294 | 38.0 | |
| 22. | Dominik Plaßmann | Gütersloher SV | 2186 | 2195 | 3.0 | 2277 | 35.5 | |
| 23. | Arkadi Syrov | SK Frankenthal | 2295 | 2277 | 3.0 | 2271 | 37.0 | |
| 24. | Tino Proschmann | SC Großröhrsdorf | 2092 | 2103 | 2.5 | 2266 | 36.5 |
Translation from German: Macauley Peterson and Andre Schulz
