Dortmund Round 1: Four fighting draws

by Klaus Besenthal
7/15/2018 – At the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund the four games of the first round ended drawn. However, if you think about symmetrical structures and a lot of early exchanges, you are completely wrong, because all boards were struggling hard for the full point. The only player with significant chances to win probably was the birthday boy Ian Nepomniachtchi (against Giri), but the position was pretty tricky. There was also a draw between Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Vladislav Kovalev that went almost the full seven hours possible. The ceremonial first move was made by the mayor of Dortmund, Birgit Jörder. | Photo: sparkassen-chess-meeting.de
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46th Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2018

The grandmaster tournament in Dortmund is once again being played in the "Orchesterzentrum NRW", a joint institution of the four state music colleges of North Rhine-Westphalia. The pace is leisurely: players have to make 40 moves in 100 minutes, 20 moves in 50 minutes, the rest 15 minutes + 30 seconds for each move.

In the first round, one game went the distance, nearly the full seven hours before ending in a draw. But the first to finish Saturday took just two hours.

Wojtaszek - Meier

The 2017 Dortmund winner, Radek Wojtaszek got caught in home preparation by Georg Meier, although it was Meier who was surprised on move one by 1.c4 and spent a full five minutes to reply 1...b6.

After the game he explained, "I actually wanted to get this line but of course when he starts c4 there are lots of options so I was trying to figure out if I was going to get this one or not. After d4 I would have played e6 and then after c4 b6."

The game transposed as intended and Meier whipped out a rare move 6...e5.

 
Wojtaszek vs Meier
Position after 6...e5

This position was last seen just two months ago, but first seen 40 years ago in a game from Hastings between a couple of 22-year-old up-and-coming IMs Larry Christiansen and Jon Speelman.

Wojtaszek was critical of his reply 7.Ne2 calling it "too simple for black" and noting the knight is well placed on e7. He suggested 7.a3 was more testing.

He called 17.O-O-O the crucial point, prefering 17.Ne3 after the game.

 
Position after 16...Qd7
White played 17.O-O-O

After 17...Bxd5 18.Qxd5 Qf7 the players soon exchanged into an equal ending for which neither side has significant chances to play for more than a draw.

Kramnik - Nisipeanu

Kramnik had an extra pawn, but that was part of a structure that left the ex-World Champion with no opportunity to make any progress. Nisipeanu knew exactly what to do to keep his balance:

 
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1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 Nf6 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Bf5 7.Qf3 Bg6 8.Bxf6 Qxf6 9.Qxf6 gxf6 Despite a miniscule advantage here with a slightly better structure, Kramnik was still willing to work. 10.Nf3 Nd7 11.Nh4 Be7 12.Ne2 f5 13.g3 Bxh4 14.gxh4 but there's not much to work with. Nf6 15.f3 Ke7 16.Rg1 Nh5 17.Kf2 Rae8 18.b4 f4 With a pawn sacrifice Black opens his light-squared bishop. 19.Nxf4 Nxf4 20.exf4 Kf6 This looks good - Black finds a strong square for his king. The black king is not vulnerable and covers the possible invasion squares of e7 and g7 perfectly. With the king close to the centre, White must also watch out for possibilities for it to advance further if he's not careful. 21.a4 Bf5 22.Ra2 Re7 23.Re2 Rxe2+ 24.Bxe2 a6 25.Ke3 h6 Taking the g5 square away from the white rook. 26.Kd2 Ra8 27.a5 Re8 28.h5 Rc8 29.Ke3 Re8+ 30.Kf2 Rc8 31.Ke1 Re8 32.Kd2 Rc8 33.Bd3 Bxd3 34.Kxd3 Re8 35.h4 Rc8 36.Ke3 Re8+ 37.Kf2 Rc8 38.Re1 Ra8 39.Re5 Rb8 Black threatens to break with b7-b6. The white rook must return to stand guard and be ready to counterattack the weakened black pawns in that case. 40.Re3 Ra8 40...b6? 41.Rc3 41.f5 Rc8 41...Kxf5? 42.Re7 42.Re1 Rd8 43.Kg3 Rc8 44.Kf2 Rd8 45.Kg3 Rc8 46.Kf2 Rd8 Unfortunately, nothing works. Every way is blocked. ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Kramnik,V2792Nisipeanu,L2672½–½2018D3546. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20181.3

the stage

A long and narrow stage

Nepomniachtchi - Giri

In a long game, Nepomniachtchi had probably reached a promising position twice at different times. Once there was a difficult piece sacrifice in position, then a very tough queen endgame: 

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bf5 7.0-0 Be7 8.Re1 0-0 9.Nc3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 Bxd3 11.Qxd3 Nc6
12.Re2 12.c4 dxc4 13.Qxc4= was obvious but 'Nepo' goes a different way. 12...a6 13.Bf4 Qd7 14.Rae1 Rfe8 15.h4 h6 16.Qe3 b5 17.h5 Rac8 18.Nh2 b4
19.Qg3 Here an option was 19.Bxh6 gxh6 20.Qxh6 and White gains great compensation for the sacrificed material. Black could fight back (e.g. with Bh4) but White's h-pawn and ideas of Ng4 lead to a strong attack. 19...Bd6 20.Ng4 Kh8 21.Rxe8+ Rxe8 22.Rxe8+ Qxe8 23.Bxd6 cxd6 24.Qxd6 Qe1+ 25.Kh2 Qe6 Nepomniachtchi has an extra pawn and does his utmost ot use it. 26.Qf8+ Kh7 27.Ne3 bxc3 28.Qc5 Qf6 29.Qxc3 Qxf2 30.Qxc6 Qf4+ 31.g3 Qxe3 32.Qxd5 Qf2+ 33.Kh3 Qxc2 34.Qxf7 Qc8+ 35.Kg2 Qc2+ 36.Qf2 Qe4+ 37.Kg1 a5 38.a4 Kg8 39.Qa2+ Kf8 40.Qc4 Qg4 41.Qc5+ Kg8 42.Qd5+ Kh7 43.Kf2 Qd1 44.Qe4+ Kg8 45.Qe6+ Kh7 46.d5 Qxa4 After this move, the advantage tilts in White's favour. 47.d6 Qc2+ 48.Kf3 48.Ke3! Qc3+ 49.Ke4 Qc6+ 50.Qd5 The positioning of the queen on d5 seems to be quite important. Black can no longer attack the white king from h1, and must avoid a queen exchange. Qa4+ 51.Ke5 Qa1+ 52.Kf5 Qf6+ 53.Kg4+- 48...Qd3+ 49.Kg2 Qc2+ 50.Kh3 Qc6 Now white can no longer make progress. Giri has worked out a path to a draw. 51.Qf5+ Kg8 52.d7 Qd6 53.Kh2 a4 54.Qg4 Kf7 55.Qxa4 Ke7 56.Qe4+ Kxd7 57.Qg4+ Ke8 58.Qxg7 Qd2+ 59.Kh3 Qd7+ 60.Qg4 Kd8 ½–½
  • Start an analysis engine:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nepomniachtchi,I2757Giri,A2782½–½2018C4246. Sparkassen Chess-Meeting 20181.4

Nepo's birthday

Ian Nepomniachtchi got serenaded for his birthday

Games of Round 1

 
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Standings after Round 1

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Translation from German and additional reporting: Macauley Peterson

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Klaus Besenthal is computer scientist, has followed and still follows the chess scene avidly since 1972 and since then has also regularly played in tournaments.

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