Luis Engel plays for the Hamburger SK, which has got off to a very good start with four wins and two losses and is currently in fourth place after six rounds. Engel studies law in Hamburg and only plays chess as a hobby, but he still found time to recently publish a three-volume dynamic grandmaster repertoire against 1.e4 based on the Najdorf Sicilian.

Just how much faith Engel has in the Sicilian and how well he masters it was demonstrated by the Hamburg player in round 6 of the Bundesliga against SK Kirchweyhe. Engel won a model game with Black in the Sicilian and his club beat Kirchweyhe 5-3.

Najdorf: A dynamic grandmaster repertoire against 1.e4 Vol.1 to 3

In the first part of the video series, we will look at White’s four main moves: 6. Bg5, 6. Be3, 6. Be2 and 6. Bc4.

SK Kirchweyhe					3	−	5		Hamburger SK
1	GM	2667		Ivan Saric		0	:	1		Nils Grandelius		2639	GM	2
4	GM	2564		Borki Predojevic		½	:	½		Frederik Svane		2664	GM	3
5	GM	2551		Denis Kadric		½	:	½		Rasmus Svane		2624	GM	4
6	GM	2594		Robert Markus		½	:	½		Leon Luke Mendonca		2639	GM	5
7	GM	2541		Hrvoje Stevic		½	:	½		Niclas Huschenbeth		2596	GM	6
8	GM	2523		Zoran Jovanovic		0	:	1		Luis Engel		2549	GM	8
10	GM	2446		Aleksandar Kovacevic		½	:	½		Leonardo Costa		2494	IM	11
15	GM	2413		Petar Genov		½	:	½		Julian Kramer		2480	IM	13

The Hamburger SK fielded six German players against Kirchweyhe. The SC Viernheim, winner of the 2023/2024 season and defending champion, took a different approach and relied entirely on top international players. Four of the eight players who competed for Viernheim against the Schachfreunde Deizisau in round 6 had an Elo rating of over 2700 - the nominally weakest Viernheimer was Anton Korobov, who played on board eight with an Elo rating of 2627. Deizisau was significantly weaker, with five players over 2600 and three over 2500, but Viernheim still only managed a narrow 4.5-3.5.

SC Viernheim					4½	−	3½		Schachfreunde Deizisau
2	GM	2768		Nodirbek Abdusattorov		½	:	½		Dmitrij Kollars		2642	GM	2
3	GM	2740		Jan-Krzysztof Duda		½	:	½		Matthias Blübaum		2643	GM	3
4	GM	2732		Shakhriyar Mamedyarov		½	:	½		Daniel Dardha		2645	GM	4
5	GM	2674		Parham Maghsoodloo		1	:	0		Benjamin Gledura		2661	GM	5
6	GM	2677		Alexey Sarana		0	:	1		Gata Kamsky		2611	GM	6
7	GM	2726		Chithambaram VR. Aravindh		1	:	0		Jules Moussard		2599	GM	9
8	GM	2664		David Anton Guijarro		½	:	½		Rustem Dautov		2564	GM	11
9	GM	2627		Anton Korobov		½	:	½		Andreas Heimann		2547	GM	12

The Iranian grandmaster Parham Maghsoodloo, who is famous for his imaginative and aggressive play, contributed an important point for Viernheim.

Parham Maghsoodloo | Photo: David Llada (Archiv)

Bundesliga 2024/2025 - Standings after 6 rounds

Links

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