10/23/2017 – One of the world's strongest team events, the Bundesliga, pits 16 teams with eight boards each against each other, on seven weekends over six months for a round-robin tournament. As each team can nominate as many non-German players as money allows, top players such as Fabiano Caruana, Vishy Anand, and Anatoly Karpov, to name just a few, regularly show their skills in the league. This season's favourite is the OSG Baden-Baden, which has dominated for more than a decade. But Hockenheim and Solingen hope to have a shot at the title should Baden-Baden stumble. On the first weekend it did not.
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The perennial favourite
The OSG Baden-Baden is reigning champion and favourite to win again. Last season the team was absolutely dominating: the OSG won all its 15 matches and scored 92½ from 120 possible board points, distancing their closest rivals by 6 team points. This season Baden-Baden nominated Fabiano Caruana, Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Vishy Anand, and Peter Svidler on the first five boards. Number 13 on the list of nominees is Hou Yifan, 14 is Alexei Shirov, 15 is Jan Gustafsson, and 16 is Peter-Heine Nielsen.
Hockenheim has Anatoly Karpov, Baadur Jobava, Evgeny Tomashevsky, Ruslan Ponomariov, and David Howell on the first five boards, Solingen starts with Anish Giri, Pentala Harikrishna, Richard Rapport, Markus Ragger, and Loek Van Wely.
Video presentation of OSG Baden-Baden | GRENKE Chess on YouTube
Round 1
In round 1 the OSG did not play with its top two players but the team was still strong enough to win comfortably against Schwäbisch Hall:
OSG Baden-Baden
5½
−
2½
SK Schwäbisch Hall
3
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
1
:
0
Inarkiev, Ernesto
1
4
Anand, Viswanathan
½
:
½
Li, Chao
2
5
Svidler, Peter
0
:
1
Jakovenko, Dmitry
4
6
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw
½
:
½
Laznicka, Viktor
6
7
Adams, Michael
½
:
½
Cornette, Matthieu
8
9
Bacrot, Etienne
1
:
0
Michalik, Peter
10
10
Naiditsch, Arkadij
1
:
0
Womacka, Mathias
13
12
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam
1
:
0
Zpevak, Pavel
16
OSG Baden-Baden seems to be travelling with its own video crew posting many short clips on the GRENKE Chess YouTube channel. Here's Maxime Vachier-Lagrave interviewed by his teammate GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov:
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SF Deizisau — like OSG Baden-Baden — is sponsored by GRENKELEASING AG, the same sponsor (not surprisingly) of the GRENKE Chess Classic. As a result, some players have switched from Baden-Baden to Deizisau in recent years, but one notable change in this off-season saw rising star Matthias Blübaum move to Deizisau from Werder Bremen.
With Peter Leko on board one, Deizisau outgunned their opponents even more dramatically, and consequently won their match by a larger margin than Baden-Baden.
Sarah Hoolt was the only woman playing this weekend in the top league but, facing strong opposition, lost both her games with Speyer-Schwegenheim.
Speyer-Schwegenheim
1½
−
6½
SF Deizisau
3
Kantans, Toms
0
:
1
Leko, Peter
2
7
Shytaj, Luca, Dr.
½
:
½
Bluebaum, Matthias
3
8
Yankelevich, Lev
0
:
1
Meier, Georg
4
11
Hoolt, Sarah
0
:
1
Heimann, Andreas
8
12
Farmani Anosheh, Armin
0
:
1
Graf, Alexander
10
13
Commercon, Simon
1
:
0
Keymer, Vincent
11
14
Kraemer, Enrico
0
:
1
Dautov, Rustem
12
17
Mager, Denis
0
:
1
Schlosser, Philipp
14
Aachen's top board this year is Julio Granda Zuniga from Peru, but this weekend they went with Venezuelan GM Eduardo Iturrizaga.
DJK Aachen
6
−
2
FC Bayern München
3
Iturrizaga Bonelli, Eduardo
1
:
0
Dragnev, Valentin
1
6
Parligras, Mircea Emilian
½
:
½
Bischoff, Klaus
3
7
Bindrich, Falko
0
:
1
Fedorovsky, Michael
6
9
Handke, Florian, Dr.
1
:
0
Schneider, Stefan
8
11
Zaragatski, Ilja
1
:
0
Schenk, Andreas
10
13
Swinkels, Robin
1
:
0
Belezky, Alexander
12
14
Hoffmann, Michael
½
:
½
Meister, Peter
14
15
Braun, Christian
1
:
0
Unzicker, Ferdinand, Dr.
16
SG Solingen starts with three new players this season (Ganguly, Bok, and Loek van Wely) and is another one of the strongest challengers to Baden-Baden. They travel together with Aachen.
SG Solingen
6½
−
1½
MSA Zugzwang
4
Ragger, Markus
½
:
½
Mons, Leon
1
6
Ganguly, Surya Shekhar
½
:
½
Kindermann, Stefan
2
8
Bok, Benjamin
½
:
½
Bromberger, Stefan
3
9
Smeets, Jan
1
:
0
Hoffmeyer, Falk
6
10
L'Ami, Erwin
1
:
0
Schramm, Christian
7
13
Nikolic, Predrag
1
:
0
Gerigk, Erasmus
8
15
Sandipan, Chanda
1
:
0
Eichler, Christoph
9
16
Naumann, Alexander
1
:
0
Lammers, Markus
10
Once powered by top Azerbaijani players Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vugar Gashimov, SV Werder Bremen is still anchored by longtime teammates Fressinet, Areshchenko, and McShane.
SV Werder Bremen
6
−
2
SV Hofheim
1
Areshchenko, Alexander
½
:
½
Schroeder, Jan-Christian
2
3
Fressinet, Laurent
1
:
0
Savchenko, Stanislav
3
4
McShane, Luke J
1
:
0
Ginsburg, Gennadi
5
6
Edouard, Romain
1
:
0
Perske, Thore
6
7
Hracek, Zbynek
½
:
½
Lobzhanidze, Davit
7
9
Spoelman, Wouter
1
:
0
Gurevich, Vladimir
8
10
Babula, Vlastimil
½
:
½
Margolin, Boris
9
17
Koop, Thorben
½
:
½
Zude, Arno
11
We'll have to wait to see an appearance by Anatoly Karpov, but David Howell at an Elo of 2698 played board one, as Hockenheim cruised.
SV Mülheim Nord
1½
−
6½
SV Hockenheim
3
Fridman, Daniel
½
:
½
Howell, David W L
5
8
Zelbel, Patrick
0
:
1
Sasikiran, Krishnan
6
9
Hausrath, Daniel
½
:
½
Balogh, Csaba
8
10
Saltaev, Mihail
½
:
½
Wagner, Dennis
9
11
Vrolijk, Liam
0
:
1
Saric, Ivan
10
12
Warmerdam, Max
0
:
1
Buhmann, Rainer
11
13
Dinstuhl, Volkmar, Dr.
0
:
1
Baramidze, David
12
15
Rezasade, Amir
0
:
1
Braun, Arik
14
Dresden vs. Hamburg was the only tied match of the first round as the teams exchanged two wins apiece.
USV Dresden
4
−
4
Hamburger SK
1
Eljanov, Pavel
0
:
1
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof
1
2
Almasi, Zoltan
½
:
½
Svane, Rasmus
3
3
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter
1
:
0
Miton, Kamil
5
5
Bartel, Mateusz
1
:
0
Kempinski, Robert
6
9
Vogel, Roven
½
:
½
Lampert, Jonas
10
10
Neef, Maximilian
½
:
½
Ftacnik, Lubomir
11
11
Maiwald, Jens-Uwe
0
:
1
Rogozenco, Dorian
13
16
Hoffmann, Paul
½
:
½
Sebastian, Dirk
15
Norderstedt's Andrey Ostrovskiy scored an impressive double-rook endgame upset with black over GM Vocaturo, but his team dropped too many points on the lower boards.
Schachfreunde Berlin
5
−
3
SK Norderstedt
1
Piorun, Kacper
½
:
½
Trent, Lawrence
2
3
Vocaturo, Daniele
0
:
1
Ostrovskiy, Andrey
3
4
Mista, Aleksander
½
:
½
Kopylov, Michael
4
5
Tomczak, Jacek
1
:
0
Krause, Benedict
5
7
Schneider, Ilja
½
:
½
Parvanyan, Ashot
6
11
Baldauf, Marco
1
:
0
Powierski, Emil
8
13
Seyb, Alexander
½
:
½
Kahlert, Thomas
12
14
Schmidek, Emil
1
:
0
Michna, Christian
13
With so many top players every round leads to a lot of interesting games. English Grandmaster Luke McShane started the season with a little brilliancy:
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Round 2
The favourites continued to win in round 2 though Hockenheim only narrowly beat Bremen.
SV Hockenheim
4½
−
3½
SV Werder Bremen
5
Howell, David W L
½
:
½
Areshchenko, Alexander
1
6
Sasikiran, Krishnan
0
:
1
Fressinet, Laurent
3
8
Balogh, Csaba
½
:
½
McShane, Luke J
4
9
Wagner, Dennis
0
:
1
Edouard, Romain
6
10
Saric, Ivan
1
:
0
Hracek, Zbynek
7
11
Buhmann, Rainer
½
:
½
Spoelman, Wouter
9
12
Baramidze, David
1
:
0
Babula, Vlastimil
10
14
Braun, Arik
1
:
0
Koop, Thorben
17
SV Hofheim got on the board in the second round.
SV Hofheim
4½
−
3½
SV Mülheim Nord
2
Schroeder, Jan-Christian
0
:
1
Fridman, Daniel
3
3
Savchenko, Stanislav
1
:
0
Zelbel, Patrick
8
5
Ginsburg, Gennadi
½
:
½
Hausrath, Daniel
9
6
Perske, Thore
1
:
0
Saltaev, Mihail
10
7
Lobzhanidze, Davit
0
:
1
Vrolijk, Liam
11
8
Gurevich, Vladimir
½
:
½
Warmerdam, Max
12
9
Margolin, Boris
1
:
0
Dinstuhl, Volkmar, Dr.
13
11
Zude, Arno
½
:
½
Rezasade, Amir
15
Schwäbisch Hall also bounced back from their first round loss.
SK Schwäbisch Hall
6½
−
1½
Speyer-Schwegenheim
1
Inarkiev, Ernesto
0
:
1
Kantans, Toms
3
2
Li, Chao
1
:
0
Shytaj, Luca, Dr.
7
4
Jakovenko, Dmitry
1
:
0
Yankelevich, Lev
8
6
Laznicka, Viktor
1
:
0
Hoolt, Sarah
11
8
Cornette, Matthieu
1
:
0
Farmani Anosheh, Armin
12
10
Michalik, Peter
1
:
0
Kraemer, Enrico
14
13
Womacka, Mathias
1
:
0
Flierl, Pascal
15
16
Zpevak, Pavel
½
:
½
Mager, Denis
17
Sharing a team sponsor doesn't necessarily engender any mercy between Deizisau and Baden-Baden, and the champions won handily in Sunday's matchup.
SF Deizisau
2½
−
5½
OSG Baden Baden
2
Leko, Peter
½
:
½
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime
3
3
Bluebaum, Matthias
½
:
½
Anand, Viswanathan
4
4
Meier, Georg
0
:
1
Svidler, Peter
5
8
Heimann, Andreas
½
:
½
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw
6
10
Graf, Alexander
1
:
0
Adams, Michael
7
11
Keymer, Vincent
0
:
1
Bacrot, Etienne
9
12
Dautov, Rustem
0
:
1
Naiditsch, Arkadij
10
14
Schlosser, Philipp
0
:
1
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam
12
No Zugzwang, apparently, in the match Zugzwang vs. Aachen, which ended drawn.
MSA Zugzwang
4
−
4
DJK Aachen
1
Mons, Leon
½
:
½
Iturrizaga Bonelli, Eduardo
3
2
Kindermann, Stefan
½
:
½
Parligras, Mircea Emilian
6
3
Bromberger, Stefan
0
:
1
Bindrich, Falko
7
6
Hoffmeyer, Falk
0
:
1
Handke, Florian, Dr.
9
7
Schramm, Christian
1
:
0
Zaragatski, Ilja
11
8
Gerigk, Erasmus
½
:
½
Swinkels, Robin
13
9
Eichler, Christoph
½
:
½
Hoffmann, Michael
14
10
Lammers, Markus
1
:
0
Braun, Christian
15
Erwin l'Ami put Solingen over the line against Munich.
FC Bayern München
3½
−
4½
SG Solingen
1
Dragnev, Valentin
½
:
½
Ragger, Markus
4
3
Bischoff, Klaus
½
:
½
Ganguly, Surya Shekhar
6
6
Fedorovsky, Michael
½
:
½
Bok, Benjamin
8
9
Vidonyak, Roman
½
:
½
Smeets, Jan
9
10
Schenk, Andreas
0
:
1
L'Ami, Erwin
10
12
Belezky, Alexander
½
:
½
Nikolic, Predrag
13
14
Meister, Peter
½
:
½
Sandipan, Chanda
15
16
Unzicker, Ferdinand, Dr.
½
:
½
Naumann, Alexander
16
The Polish top boards played to a draw, but IM Ilja Schneider rode a passed a-pawn to victory for Berlin.
Hamburger SK
3½
−
4½
Schachfreunde Berlin
1
Duda, Jan-Krzysztof
½
:
½
Piorun, Kacper
1
3
Svane, Rasmus
½
:
½
Vocaturo, Daniele
3
5
Miton, Kamil
½
:
½
Mista, Aleksander
4
6
Kempinski, Robert
½
:
½
Tomczak, Jacek
5
10
Lampert, Jonas
0
:
1
Schneider, Ilja
7
11
Ftacnik, Lubomir
½
:
½
Baldauf, Marco
11
13
Rogozenco, Dorian
½
:
½
Seyb, Alexander
13
15
Sebastian, Dirk
½
:
½
Schmidek, Emil
14
Norderstedt joined Munich, Mülheim and Speyer-Schwegenheim starting the season 0-2.
SK Norderstedt
2½
−
5½
USV Dresden
2
Trent, Lawrence
½
:
½
Eljanov, Pavel
1
3
Ostrovskiy, Andrey
½
:
½
Almasi, Zoltan
2
4
Kopylov, Michael
0
:
1
Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter
3
5
Krause, Benedict
½
:
½
Bartel, Mateusz
5
6
Parvanyan, Ashot
½
:
½
Vogel, Roven
9
8
Powierski, Emil
0
:
1
Neef, Maximilian
10
12
Kahlert, Thomas
0
:
1
Maiwald, Jens-Uwe
11
13
Michna, Christian
½
:
½
Hoffmann, Paul
16
Standings after Round 2
The four teams at the bottom of the standings at the end of the season are relegated to the 2nd Bundesliga.
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