Baden-Baden wins German League

by Marco Baldauf
4/9/2019 – The last weekend of Germany's Premier League, (a.k.a. the Bundesliga), brought the perennial champions OSG Baden-Baden another success. With a 7-1 victory against Düsseldorf, Baden-Baden (pictured) once again became German Team Champion, securing their 13th title in 14 years. 14-year old German talent Vincent Keymer narrowly missed his third and final GM norm. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis

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Vincent Keymer misses GM norm

The 2018/19 season of the German League ended with OSG Baden-Baden once again defending their league title. After fourteen matches Baden-Baden finished with a board tally of 26:2 points in front of SV Hockenheim (24:4) and SG Solingen (22:8). It was Baden-Baden's thirteenth title in the last fourteen years, giving them a new record in league history moving past Solingen (12 titles) and the SG Porz (10 titles).

"It has been a thrilling season...the strongest league in the world is getting stronger and thirteen titles in fourteen years have been a fantastic and intense journey. It cost me a lot of hair, but in the end it's an incredible track record that has been made with great players, a great club and, with the GRENKE group, a great sponsor", Team boss Sven Noppes commented directly after the historic success.

GRENKE commissioned a special video for the 13th Schachbundesliga victory of Baden-Baden

Before the final Bundesliga weekend, Solingen, champion of 2016, could still nourish hopes for another title but these hopes were gone after Solingen had lost against Baden-Baden in round fourteen. In the fifteenth and last round, Solingen played against the strong team of Deizisau and lost again to finish behind Baden-Baden and Hockenheim.

With 5½/7 Gata Kamsky scored well for Deizisau | Photo: Guido Giotta

Last year Deizisau finished fifth, this year they finished fourth. Germany's great talent, 14-year-old Vincent Keymer, who plays for Deizisau, missed his third and final GM norm by an inch. Keymer's opponents had an Elo average of 2562.9 but for a norm an average of 2564 was necessary and Keymer's last-round draw against Borki Predojevic did not suffice for the norm.

Vincent Keymer

Vincent Keymer | Photo: Schachbundesliga.de

Deizisau 5½ : 2½ Solingen

GM 2675 HUN Peter Leko   ½ : ½   Pentala Harikrishna 2723 GM 2
GM 2676 USA Gata Kamsky   1 : 0   Markus Ragger 2687 GM 3
GM 2610 GER Matthias Blübaum   ½ : ½   Loek Van Wely 2612 GM 4
GM 2628 GER Georg Meier   1 : 0   Surya Shekhar Ganguly 2654 GM 5
IM 2516 GER Vincent Keymer   ½ : ½   Borki Predojevic 2621 GM 7
GM 2584 GER Alexander Donchenko   ½ : ½   Mads Andersen 2595 GM 9
GM 2616 GER Andreas Heimann   ½ : ½   Jan Smeets 2602 GM 10
GM 2570 GER Dmitrij Kollars   1 : 0   Predrag Nikolic 2578 GM 11

So close: Vincent Keymer finishes the season with a performance of 2599 | Photo: Guido Giotta

Baden-Baden 7 : 1 Düsseldorf

In their last match of the season the OSG Baden-Baden was clear favourite and indeed cruised to a smooth 7:1 victory against Düsseldorf. Best scorer on the team is Richard Rapport with 10½/13, second best scorer is Etienne Bacrot with 9/12.

2 GM 2773 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave   1 : 0   Jan Hendrik Timman 2549 GM 3
5 GM 2735 Peter Svidler   1 : 0   David Miedema 2369 IM 8
6 GM 2724 Radoslaw Wojtaszek   1 : 0   Lars Stark 2362 IM 10
7 GM 2726 Richard Rapport   1 : 0   Michael Coenen 2357 FM 12
8 GM 2695 Arkadij Naiditsch   ½ : ½   Marcel Harff 2412 FM 13
9 GM 2693 Francisco Vallejo Pons   1 : 0   Bernd Kohlweyer 2328 IM 14
10 GM 2698 Michael Adams   ½ : ½   Dr. Guntram Hainke 2331 FM 15
11 GM 2683 Etienne Bacrot   1 : 0   Inna Agrest 2276 WIM 16

Vachier-Lagrave discusses his win against Pentala Harikrishna and the team's title

The 13th title in 14 years for OSG Baden-Baden | Photo: Guido Giotta

For top scorer Richard Rapport it was the first season for Baden-Baden | Photo: Guido Giotta

Dresden beats Kiel, but after scoring an important point against Schachfreunde Berlin in round 14 Kiel was sure to stay in the league. After losing in round 14, Hamburg also lost in round 15 and dropped down to place 8 in the final rankings, one place ahead of Berlin.

Dresden 4½ : 3½ Kiel

3 GM 2680 GER Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu   1 : 0   Ivan Salgado Lopez ESP 2601 GM 1
5 GM 2593 POL Mateusz Bartel   ½ : ½   Marcin Dziuba POL 2559 GM 2
8 IM 2478 GER Maximilian Neef   ½ : ½   Igor Khenkin GER 2548 GM 3
9 GM 2525 GER Uwe Bönsch   ½ : ½   Artur Jakubiec POL 2474 GM 6
10 GM 2432 GER Jens-Uwe Maiwald   1 : 0   Jonny Hector SWE 2478 GM 7
11 GM 2435 GER Raj Tischbierek   ½ : ½   Zbigniew Pakleza POL 2498 GM 8
12 IM 2390 GER Paul Hoffmann   ½ : ½   Carsten Hoi DEN 2354 GM 10
15 FM 2374 GER Hans Möhn   0 : 1   Thorbjorn Bromann DEN 2387 IM 11

Berlin 4½ : 3½ Hamburg

1 GM 2660 Kacper Piorun   ½ : ½   Rasmus Svane 2605 GM 3
3 GM 2597 Wojciech Moranda   ½ : ½   Niclas Huschenbeth 2608 GM 4
4 GM 2628 Jacek Tomczak   1 : 0   Sune Berg Hansen 2590 GM 7
7 GM 2482 Dr. Jan Michael Sprenger   1 : 0   Lubomir Ftacnik 2516 GM 10
8 IM 2477 Peter Schreiner   ½ : ½   Thies Heinemann 2497 GM 11
12 IM 2464 Felix Blohberger   1 : 0   Dorian Rogozenco 2497 GM 12
14 IM 2429 Alexander Seyb   0 : 1   Luis Engel 2490 IM 13
17 FM 2393 Emil Schmidek   0 : 1   Dirk Sebastian 2455 IM 14

Before the last round Zugzwang München (Munich) had lost all previous matches but against Hofheim they finally scored. Zugzwang still finished last (DJK Aachen had withdrawn before round on but too late to allow team to replace them) and will to have to leave the League, just as their opponents Hofheim.

Hofheim 3½ : 4½  Zugzwang München

1 GM 2637 Andrei Volokitin   0 : 1   Leon Mons 2553 GM 1
2 GM 2577 Jan-Christian Schröder   1 : 0   Stefan Kindermann 2498 GM 2
3 IM 2450 Thore Perske   ½ : ½   Gerald Hertneck 2490 GM 3
6 GM 2430 Gennadi Ginsburg   ½ : ½   Robert Zysk 2404 IM 4
7 GM 2449 Mathias Womacka   0 : 1   Stefan Bromberger 2476 GM 5
8 IM 2424 Davit Lobzhanidze   ½ : ½   Erasmus Gerigk 2341 FM 8
9 GM 2473 Vladimir Gurevich   ½ : ½   Dr. Falk Hoffmeyer 2342 FM 9
10 IM 2402 Boris Margolin   ½ : ½   Markus Lammers 2318 IM 11

Viernheim 5½ : 2½ Mülheim

4 GM 2675 Anton Korobov   1 : 0   Michael Feygin 2480 GM 5
5 GM 2669 David Anton Guijarro   ½ : ½   Thomas Beerdsen 2483 IM 6
6 GM 2708 Dr. Bassem Amin   ½ : ½   Liam Vrolijk 2465 IM 7
7 GM 2580 Sebastien Maze   ½ : ½   Daniel Hausrath 2458 GM 10
8 GM 2604 Sergey A. Fedorchuk   ½ : ½   Patrick Zelbel 2434 IM 11
9 GM 2662 Igor Kovalenko   1 : 0   Dr. Volkmar Dinstuhl 2378 IM 12
11 GM 2437 Thal Abergel   1 : 0   Max Warmerdam 2472 IM 13
12 GM 2554 Konstantin Tarlev   ½ : ½   Valentin Buckels 2453 IM 17

With the win against Mülheim, Viernheim made it to the top 5. Top scorer of Viernheim is Igor Kovalenko who finished the season with 10½/12.

Hockenheim 4 : 4 Bremen

9 GM 2673 Ruslan Ponomariov   ½ : ½   Laurent Fressinet 2639 GM 2
10 GM 2701 David W L Howell   1 : 0   Luke J McShane 2686 GM 3
11 GM 2646 Alexander Moiseenko   0 : 1   Alexander Areshchenko 2663 GM 4
12 GM 2602 Arik Braun   ½ : ½   Zahar Efimenko 2633 GM 5
13 GM 2595 David Baramidze   ½ : ½   Romain Edouard 2650 GM 6
14 GM 2581 Rainer Buhmann   ½ : ½   Wouter Spoelman 2582 GM 9
15 GM 2577 Dennis Wagner   ½ : ½   Jan Werle 2556 GM 11
16 GM 2614 Tamas Banusz   ½ : ½   Martin Zumsande 2461 IM 13

Final standings

  Team                                Games TP BP BW
1. OSG Baden-Baden  +  4 5 4½ 4 5 6 6 7 6 6 6 7 7 5½ 14 26 79 352
2. SV Hockenheim 4  +  5 4½ 5½ 4 5 3½ 7 7½ 4½ 6½ 7 4½ 6 14 24 74½ 328½
3. SG Solingen 3 3  +  2½ 5½ 4½ 5½ 6 4½ 5 5 6½ 6 4½ 6 14 22 67½ 277½
4. SF Deizisau 3½ 3½ 5½  +  4 3 5½ 4½ 5½ 7½ 4½ 7½ 6 5 7½ 14 21 73 315½
5. SC Viernheim 4 2½ 2½ 4  +  5 4 4 4½ 5 5½ 4 6½ 5 4½ 14 19 61 297½
6. SV Werder Bremen 3 4 3½ 5 3  +  3 4 5 5½ 4 5 5½ 5 7 14 17 62½ 291
7. USV TU Dresden 2 3 2½ 2½ 4 5  +  4½ 2½ 4 5½ 4½ 5 5 5 14 16 55 262½
8. Hamburger SK 2 4½ 2 3½ 4 4 3½  +  3½ 4½ 5½ 4 4½ 6 6 14 15 57½ 244
9. SF Berlin 1 1 3½ 2½ 3½ 3 5½ 4½  +  3½ 2½ 4 5 5½ 6 14 11 51 230
10. BCA Augsburg 2 ½ 3 ½ 3 2½ 4 3½ 4½  +  4 5½ 4½ 2½ 5 14 10 45 202
11. SV Mülheim Nord 1931 2 3½ 3 3½ 2½ 4 2½ 2½ 5½ 4  +  5½ 3½ 3 5 14 8 50 232
12. SG Turm Kiel 2 1½ 1½ ½ 4 3 3½ 4 4 2½ 2½  +  4½ 4 5 14 8 42½ 186
13. Düsseldorfer SK 1 1 2 2 1½ 2½ 3 3½ 3 3½ 4½ 3½  +  4½ 4½ 14 6 40 200
14. SV 1920 Hofheim 1 3½ 3½ 3 3 3 3 2 2½ 5½ 5 4 3½  +  3½ 14 5 46 202½
15. MSA Zugzwang 2½ 2 2 ½ 3½ 1 3 2 2 3 3 3 3½ 4½  +  14 2 35½ 159
16. DJK Aachen                                +       

Apart from DJK Aachen Düsseldorf, Hofheim and Zugzwang München also have to leave the league. Next year Speyer-Schwegenheim, Bayern München, the SV Lingen, and the Aachener SV will try their luck.

All Games

 

(Just before the time control the live transmission in Mülheim went on strike and therefore the games of the matches Hockenheim-Bremen and Viernheim-Mülheim are incomplete.)

Top scorer of the season is the Latvian grandmaster Igor Kovalenko (SC Viernheim) with 10½/12 (9 wins, 3 draws). Richard Rapport (Baden-Baden, 10½/13) and Mads Andersen (SG Solingen, 10½/14) reached the same number of points but played more games.

Igor Kovalenko | Photo: OIBM Tegernsee

Luis Engel (Hamburger SK) finished the season with a GM norm. Engel was certain to reach a norm after getting a big, surprising and curious gift in round 14, when he was playing against Paul Hoffmann from the USV Dresden. In a position with king and queen vs. king and rook Hoffmann was so focused on finding a win that he forgot about the clock and lost on time. But with his last round win Engel showed that he does not need such gifts, though he gratefully accepts them.

Luis Engel | Photo: André Schulz

The second GM norm in this season was made by yours truly (Marco Baldauf). I secured the norm in round 12 and thus could afford the luxury to follow the last matches of my team Berliner Schachfreunde from home.

Translation from German: Johannes Fischer

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Marco Baldauf, born 1990, has been playing since he was eight. In 2000 and 2002 he became German Junior Champion, in 2014 he became International Master. He plays for SF Berlin in the Bundesliga.