Dortmund: Half-point Lead for Adams, Faces Kramnik Tomorrow
The 41st Sparkassen Chess Meeting is going to have an exciting final round, with a dream pairing. Michael Adams is half a point ahead of Vladimir Kramnik, and these two players face each other tomorrow in Dortmund, with the Englishman playing the white pieces. Adams beat Daniel Fridman on Friday and then played a solid draw with Georg Meier on Saturday. Kramnik surprisingly lost to Dmitry Andreikin, but then recovered by beating Fabiano Caruana in a very long game. (This report cover rounds 7 and 8.)
Adams played another wonderful white game on Friday. In a sideline of the Caro-Kann (7...Nf6 was considered dubious for a long time but now seems quite playable) he outplayed Daniel Fridman completely after the German took back on f6 wrongly. 16...exf6 17. Rh3 Be7 is OK for Black; in the game he quickly lost a pawn and his king was stuck in the center.
In the next round, Adams (whose performance rating had peaked to 3019 by then!) held Georg Meier to a draw with Black in what was a very solid game for the English grandmaster.
Vladimir Kramnik suffered a surprising loss to Dmitry Andreikin, who seemed to be completely out of form in Dortmund. However, after the rest day the young Russian grandmaster beat Igor Khenkin, followed by a quick draw with Meier. Kramnik was surely warned, because he lost to the same opponent at this year's Tal Memorial. Most surprising was how much Andreikin was in full control, from start to finish.
And so Adams was suddenly a full point ahead of Kramnik, with two rounds to go. This gap was decreased to half a point today, as Kramnik managed to grind down Fabiano Caruana in a very long game. OK, it was "only" 76 moves, but the players actually sat at the board for seven hours! For Caruana it was quite a disappointing affair, because he defended very well and missed a draw one move before the end, with 75...b2. In the game the white knight is in time for a deadly fork on c3...
Wang Hao played quite OK, until he lost both of his games in rounds 7 and 8. On Friday he started a furious attack, sacrificing a knight and then an exchange, only to find out that there was no mate.
The next day, Wang Hao was completely outplayed by Igor Khenkin:
Let's finish with another puzzle, from Peter Leko's win against Arkadij Naiditsch. Can you find what was wrong with Naiditsch's last move 30...Rxf3?
Dortmund 2013 | Pairings & results
| Round 1 | 15:00 CET | 26.07.13 | Round 2 | 15:00 CET | 27.07.13 | |
| Khenkin | ½-½ | Leko | Leko | ½-½ | Caruana | |
| Meier | 1-0 | Naiditsch | Adams | 1-0 | Andreikin | |
| Kramnik | 1-0 | Wang Hao | Wang Hao | 1-0 | Fridman | |
| Fridman | ½-½ | Adams | Naiditsch | ½-½ | Kramnik | |
| Andreikin | 0-1 | Caruana | Khenkin | ½-½ | Meier | |
| Round 3 | 15:00 CET | 28.07.13 | Round 4 | 15:00 CET | 29.07.13 | |
| Meier | ½-½ | Leko | Leko | ½-½ | Adams | |
| Kramnik | ½-½ | Khenkin | Wang Hao | 1-0 | Caruana | |
| Fridman | ½-½ | Naiditsch | Naiditsch | 1-0 | Andreikin | |
| Andreikin | ½-½ | Wang Hao | Khenkin | ½-½ | Fridman | |
| Caruana | 0-1 | Adams | Meier | 0-1 | Kramnik | |
| Round 5 | 15:00 CET | 30.07.13 | Round 6 | 15:00 CET | 01.08.13 | |
| Kramnik | 1-0 | Leko | Leko | ½-½ | Wang Hao | |
| Fridman | ½-½ | Meier | Naiditsch | 0-1 | Adams | |
| Andreikin | 1-0 | Khenkin | Khenkin | ½-½ | Caruana | |
| Caruana | ½-½ | Naiditsch | Meier | ½-½ | Andreikin | |
| Adams | 1-0 | Wang Hao | Kramnik | 1-0 | Fridman | |
| Round 7 | 15:00 CET | 02.08.13 | Round 8 | 15:00 CET | 03.08.13 | |
| Fridman | ½-½ | Leko | Leko | 1-0 | Naiditsch | |
| Andreikin | 1-0 | Kramnik | Khenkin | 0-1 | Wang Hao | |
| Caruana | ½-½ | Meier | Meier | ½-½ | Adams | |
| Adams | 1-0 | Khenkin | Kramnik | 1-0 | Caruana | |
| Wang Hao | 0-1 | Naiditsch | Fridman | ½-½ | Andreikin | |
| Round 9 | 13:00 CET | 04.08.13 | ||||
| Andreikin | - | Leko | ||||
| Caruana | - | Fridman | ||||
| Adams | - | Kramnik | ||||
| Wang Hao | - | Meier | ||||
| Naiditsch | - | Khenkin |
Dortmund 2013 | Round 8 standings
| # | Player | Rating | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | Points | SB |
| 1 | Adams,M | 2740 |  |
½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 6.5/8 | ||
| 2 | Kramnik,V | 2784 | |
1 | 1 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6.0/8 | ||
| 3 | Meier,G | 2610 | ½ | 0 | |
½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 4.0/8 | 15.25 | |
| 4 | Leko,P | 2737 | ½ | 0 | ½ | |
½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.0/8 | 15.00 | |
| 5 | Andreikin,D | 2727 | 0 | 1 | ½ | |
1 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 3.5/8 | 14.50 | |
| 6 | Khenkin,I | 2605 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | |
½ | ½ | 1 | 3.5/8 | 13.00 | |
| 7 | Naiditsch,A | 2710 | 0 | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
½ | ½ | 1 | 3.5/8 | 12.50 | |
| 8 | Fridman,D | 2629 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | |
0 | 3.0/8 | 12.50 | |
| 9 | Caruana,F | 2796 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | |
0 | 3.0/8 | 11.00 | |
| 10 | Wang Hao | 2752 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
3.0/8 | 9.75 |
Photos courtesy of the official website; games via TWIC
