Bluebaum, Wojtaszek New Leaders In Dortmund

In round two Vladimir Fedoseev lost his game to Matthias Bluebaum, and with it his early lead at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund. Radoslaw Wojtaszek joined Bluebaum in first place as he beat Wang Yue.

Round two starts in Dortmund. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis.

After his excellent win against Kramnik, Fedoseev almost seemed like a different player in round two. Again playing as Black, his opening wasn't great this time, and his kingside got ripped apart by Bluebaum. Wojtaszek can be more satisfied, being on the better side of the draw vs MVL, and beating Wang Yue the very next day.

2017 Sparkassen Chess Meeting | Round 2 Results

Sure, Bluebaum's win needed quite a bit of calculation, but he made it look simple. The 20-year-old German grandmaster, who is making his debut in Dortmund, steamrolled Fedoseev off the board.

Giving up the bishop pair so easily was already a decision few Black players would have made, and after one more inaccuracy Fedoseev faced big problems with the development of his queenside. All Bluebaum had to do was running with his f-pawn, and then his attack on the king played by itself.

"I did not expect this quick victory, of course, but he couldn't free himself from his passive position," said Bluebaum.

A relatively easy win for Matthias Bluebaum. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis.

Radoslaw Wojtaszek also plays his first Sparkassen Chess Meeting, and he also scored his first win in the second round. It looked like a straight, smooth win out of the opening, but things were more complicated than that.

Wang Yue's voluntary bishop retreat on move nine (a novelty) basically gave White a good version of a line in the Panov Caro-Kann. It was one of those rare positions where 10.c5, to create a pawn majority on the queenside, was good. White has strong control of the e5-square, so that the pawn break ...e6-e5 is hard to achieve.

Wojtaszek and Wang Yue quietly awaiting the start of the round. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis.

However, Wojtaszek's followup was not good, and Wang Yue missed a good chance that involved ...e6-e5. As it went, the endgame was about equal, but still more pleasant to play for White thanks to his passed c-pawn.

At some point the players thought that White was building up a winning advantage, but the computer pointed out a way for Black to save the game. "I thought I was going to win, but this salvation was really hard to see," said Wojtaszek.

A good start for Radek Wojtaszek. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis.

Players like Baadur Jobava and Richard Rapport are known for their creative opening play, but perhaps Dmitry Andreikin should be included in the list as well. One of his 1.d4 openings is the Trompowsky, and also with 1.e4 he sometimes plays off-beat stuff. A novelty on move five in the Vienna is quite an achievement, isn't it? 

"This is modern chess. You have to take risks if you want to play for a win," said Andreikin.

Vladimir Kramnik probably wasn't too impressed, as he got a very comfortable position out of the opening with the black pieces. At some point he chose to go for an endgame which proved rather easy to hold for White.

Andreikin playing for a win with the Vienna vs Kramnik. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis.

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu decided not to test Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in his Gruenfeld repertoire, but in the Symmetrical English that came on the board he didn't achieve anything as White. 10.d4 was already move that could be seen as a silent draw offer.

That was a very easy draw for MVL. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis.

2017 Sparkassen Chess Meeting | Round 2 Standings

The pairings for the third round, on Tuesday, are Vachier-Lagrave - Bluebaum, Wang Yue - Nisipeanu, Kramnik - Wojtaszek, and Fedoseev - Andreikin.

The 45th Sparkassen Chess Meeting takes place 15-23 July, 2017 in the Orchesterzentrum NRW in Dortmund, Germany. 17 and 20 July are rest days. The time control is 100 Minuten for 40 moves, then 50 minutes for 20 moves and then 15 minutes to end the game, with a 30-second increment from move 1.

You can follow the games each day starting from 15:15 CEST (9:15 a.m. New York, 6:15 Pacific) in Live Chess.

Previous report:

• 'Mr Dortmund' Starts With A Loss Again