Peter Leko wins Dortmund 2008

Submitted by SonofPearl on Sun, 07/06/2008 at 1:59pm.

Leko takes third title

Peter Leko (pictured) comfortably drew his last round game with Arkadij Naiditsch to take his third Dortmund title to add to his wins in 1999 and 2002.  Despite Naiditsch playing the Marshall Gambit, early exchanges meant it never looked like being anything other than a draw, which duly arrived on move 31.

There were, however, two decisive games on the final day, and the first occurred in the clash of the pre-tournament favourites Kramnik and Ivanchuk.  Ivanchuk held a slight edge throughout the game and kept up the pressure until Kramnik finally cracked with 48. Nf8?? losing on the spot.

Kramnik therefore finishes a hugely disappointing 7th out of 8, with only Loek Van Wely below him in the final standings.  Poor Loek lost again today, this time against Mamedyarov and will no doubt want to forget this tournament as soon as possible.

Congratulations to Peter Leko -  he was undefeated and beat Gustafsson and Ivanchuk to take the title!

The results in the final round:

Leko, Peter - Naiditsch, Arkadij ½-½ 31 C89 Ruy Lopez Marshall
Ivanchuk, Vassily - Kramnik, Vladimir 1-0 49 C42 Petroff's Defence
Nepomniachtchi, Ian - Gustafsson, Jan ½-½ 22 C77 Ruy Lopez Anderssen
Van Wely, Loek - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar 0-1 39 D38 QGD Ragozin

 

The final standings:


Leko, Peter   HUN   2741 
*   1 ½   ½   1 ½   ½   ½     

Ivanchuk, Vassily  UKR  2740 
0 *  ½  ½  ½  1 1 ½  4

Nepomniachtchi, Ian  RUS  2634 
½  ½  *  ½  ½  ½  ½  1 4

Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar  AZE  2752 
½  ½  ½  *  ½  ½  ½  1 4

Gustafsson, Jan  GER  2603 
0 ½  ½  ½  *  1 ½  1 4

Naiditsch, Arkadij  GER  2624 
½  0 ½  ½  0 *  1 1  

Kramnik, Vladimir  RUS  2788 
½  0 ½  ½  ½  0 *  1 3

Van Wely, Loek  NED  2677 
½  ½  0 0 0 0 0 *  1

 

 

 

 

 


 

Comments:

by cyborg3000 - 3 months ago
"New York City" United States
Member Since: Sep 2007
Member Points: 11
Nepomniachtchi,I (2634) vs. Gustafsson,J (2603)
Sparkassen / Dortmund GER
Round 7 | 6 Jul 2008
ECO: C77 | 1/2-1/2
 
i dont understand what happened.... its late i'll have to review it... 

by ashwath - 3 months ago
bangalore India
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 45

well played leko..


by eternaloptimist - 3 months ago
Orange Beach, AL United States
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 210
Well, the final standings weren't even close to what I expected them to be @ the start of the trnt.. Leko really surprised me by winning this trnt.. He has been lackluster until this trnt. for a while now. Now he is playing about as well as he did back when he played against Kramnik for the 2004 (Classical) World Championship. Chucky got off to a slow start, but finished well. Kramnik looked really rusty; I can't believe he finished in 7th place. Gusti played much better than his rating, but unfortunately didn't quite play well enough to win the trnt.. Nepo should have kept on playing against Gusti because I thought he had a slight advantage when he agreed to a draw. I mean if he would have won that game he would have tied for 1st place. There's always a chance Gusti might have made a blunder because of the pressure involved in a trnt. of this caliber. & then we have Van Wely...well...he needs to stop competing in super-GM trnts..
by Artemi - 3 months ago
Imus, Cavite Philippines
Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 89
What's wrong with Kramnik?
by ronald - 3 months ago
Philippines
Member Since: Jun 2007
Member Points: 34
i think the better move of van wely is push pawn on a d5 file. not e5. he has a bishop i think the black can not easly push his pawn cause white has a bishop the white can push his pawn to a queen. if they analyzed. now may be they chance his mind. they push e5 well. i dont think it is good move.
by tas58 - 3 months ago
Midwest United States
Member Since: Mar 2008
Member Points: 179
Way to go Leko!!  My pick all the way. Now if I could only get the lottery numbers right.
by Phobetor - 3 months ago
Eindhoven Netherlands
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 657

Compare Ivanchuk vs. Kramnik from round 7 with Naiditsch vs. Kramnik from round 3. Where Naiditsch played 16. Bf4 and won convincingly, Ivanchuk played 16. Qh5 and after a (I think) drawish middlegame/endgame, Ivanchuk eventually won as well.

Also compare Gustafsson vs. Leko from round 6 with Mamedyarov vs. Kramnik from round 5. With 15... Nd7, Kramnik drew against Mamedyarov, but with 15... Qb7 Leko beat Gustafsson as black.

 

Even in such short events, theoretical battles are fought in several openings. Leko found an improvement(?) against Gustafsson in the Queen's Indian on move 15, and Ivanchuk played a different (better? worse?) move in the Petroff to make Kramnik resign in his pet opening again.

 

Anyway it's a nice comeback by Ivanchuk (after a disappointing start), a bad tournament for Kramnik, another nice tournament win for Leko, and nearly everyone enjoyed the generosity of Van Wely.


 

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