The 44. Sparkassen Chess Meeting Dortmund starts on Saturday

The 44. Dortmunder Schachtage - the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting

The beginning of the "Dortmunder Schachtage" goes back to the World Championship match 1972 between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer. Dortmund wanted to host the match but history took a different turn and it was given to Reykjavik. However, Dortmund had warmed to the idea to organise chess events and in 1973 the International German Championships took place in Dortmund. A year later the 1. Dortmunder Schachtage were played. Heikki Westerinen from Finland won.

For many years the Dortmunder Sparkassen Chess-Meeting has been the flagship of German chess and this year sees its 44. edition. 2016 will again be a top event. After all Vladimir Kramnik, Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave are  currently number two, three and four on the world's ranking list.

Participants

Vladimir Kramnik (RUS)
Fabiano Caruana (USA)
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (F)
Leinier Dominguez (CUB)
Jewgeni Najer (RUS)
Rainer Buhmann (D)
Ruslan Ponomariov (UKR)
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (D)

"Tournament veteran" in this field is Vladimir Kramnik who first played in Dortmund in 1992, when he was just 16 years old - back then he started in the A-tournament. 1993 he gave his debut in the grandmaster tournament and finished second behind Karpov.

This year Kramnik plays his 22nd tournament in Dortmund and the 14. World Champion could win his eleventh title. However, the last two tournaments were won by Fabiano Caruana. The venue of this year's Sparkassen Chess-Meeting is the Orchesterzentrum NRW (Brückstraße 47).

Schedule:

Round 1: 9. July, 15.00 h
Caruana – Vachier-Lagrave
Nisipeanu – Ponomariov
Najer – Buhmann
Dominguez Perez – Kramnik

Round 2: 10. July, 15.00 h
Vachier-Lagrave – Kramnik
Buhmann – Dominguez Perez
Ponomariov – Najer
Caruana – Nisipeanu

Round 3: 12. July, 15.00 h
Nisipeanu – Vachier-Lagrave
Najer – Caruana
Dominguez Perez – Ponomariov
Kramnik – Buhmann

Round 4: 13. July, 15.00 h
Vachier-Lagrave – Buhmann
Ponomariov – Kramnik
Caruana – Dominguez Perez
Nisipeanu – Najer

Round 5: 15. July, 15.00 h
Najer – Vachier-Lagrave
Dominguez Perez – Nisipeanu
Kramnik – Caruana
Buhmann – Ponomariov

Round 6: 16. July, 15.00 h
Vachier-Lagrave – Ponomariov
Caruana – Buhmann
Nisipeanu – Kramnik
Najer – Dominguez Perez

Round 7: 17. July, 13.00 h
Dominguez Perez – Vachier-Lagrave
Kramnik – Najer
Buhmann – Nisipeanu
Ponomariov – Caruana

Entry: One hour before the start of the round

Autograph session: 14. July, 15.00 h
with the stars of the Supergrandmaster tournament in the "Kundenzentrum" of the Sparkasse Dortmund, Freistuhl 2–4

Previous winners of the Grandmaster Tournament Dortmund

1973 Westerinen
1974 Szabó
1975 Westerinen
1976 Romanischin
1977 Smejkal
1978 Andersson
1979 Georgadse
1980 Keene
1981 Kusmin
1982 Hort
1983 Suba
1984 Gruenfeld
1985 Rasuwajev
1986 Ribli
1987 Balaschov
1988 Lputjan
1989 Geller
1990 Tschernin
1991 Stohl
1992 Kasparov
1993 Karpov
1994 Piket
1995 Kramnik
1996 Kramnik
1997 Kramnik
1998 Kramnik
1999 Leko
2000 Kramnik
2001 Kramnik
2002 Leko
2003 Bologan
2004 Anand
2005 Naiditsch
2006 Kramnik
2007 Kramnik
2008 Leko
2009 Kramnik
2010 Ponomariov
2011 Kramnik
2012 Caruana
2013 Adams
2014 Caruana
2015 Caruana

Tournament page Sparkassen Chess-Meeting...