Dortmund: Giri & Ponomariov win in 3rd round

Ruslan Ponomariov won his second game in a row at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting in Dortmund, Germany. On Saturday he beat Hikaru Nakamura with the black pieces, and is now half a point behind Vladimir Kramnik, who drew with Le Quang Liem. Anish Giri defeated Georg Meier, who blundered in a drawn ending.

General info

The 39th Sparkassen Chess Meeting takes place July 21-31, 2011 in the City Theater of Dortmund, Germany. Like Biel, it's a 6-player double round robin event. This year Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, Ruslan Ponomariov, Anish Giri, Le Quang Liem and Georg Meier play. For the second time Dortmund uses an anti-draw rule: the players are not allowed to offer a draw during the game. The game will be declared a draw when a win for either side is not possible any more, or in case of a three-fold repetition.

Round 3

Last year's winner Ruslan Ponomariov recovered quite well from his first round loss against Vladimir Kramnik. The Ukrainian also defeated Hikaru Nakamura and is now second, half a point behind Kramnik, who drew with Le Quang Liem. Anish Giri didn't have more than a small advantage with the white pieces against Georg Meier, until the German GM blundered in the ending.

The game Nakamura-Ponomariov was especially interesting since the two played a match against each other recently in St. Louis, USA. That match was won by the American, but this time the Ukrainian took some revenge. In a well known Nimzo-Indian tabiya, Nakamura played some inaccurate moves and soon he was left with an isolated c-pawn that blocked his own bishop. A few moves later Nakamura decided to sac that pawn, but it didn't give much relief. A good game by Ponomariov, but against a Nakamura who hasn't been able to show his superb Wijk aan Zee form for a while now.



Le Quang Liem stopped the run by Vladimir Kramnik. Just like last year the two played a Slav Defence, but the Vietnamese deviated first, perhaps to avoid an improvement by his opponent. Le showed once again how incredibly solid a player he is, defending accurately against Kramnik's quite aggressive play. In the final phase the Russian first avoided a move repetition and then sacrificed a piece, but his attack only led to a different perpetual.



The longest game of the day was played by Giri and Meier. The two left the stage of the theater after six hours and twenty minutes of fighting, including a dramatic finale. From a line of the Catalan Opening the 17-year-old Dutchman got a small positional advantage, and soon he managed to win a pawn. However, Meier's pieces were so actively placed that the German was never in real trouble. After a long period of manoeuvring the local hero suddenly blundered.

Giri-Meier Dortmund, 2011



Quiz question: why can't Black take on b3?

Games round 3

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Dortmund 2011 | Schedule & results

Round 1	21.07.11	15:00 CET		Round 6	27.07.11	15:00 CET
Meier	½-½	Le Quang Liem		Le Quang Liem	-	Meier
Kramnik	1-0	Ponomariov		Ponomariov	-	Kramnik
Giri	½-½	Nakamura		Nakamura	-	Giri
Round 2	22.07.11	15:00 CET		Round 7	28.07.11	15:00 CET
Le Quang Liem	½-½	Nakamura		Nakamura	-	Le Quang Liem
Ponomariov	1-0	Giri		Giri	-	Ponomariov
Meier	0-1	Kramnik		Kramnik	-	Meier
Round 3	23.07.11	15:00 CET		Round 8	29.07.11	15:00 CET
Kramnik	½-½	Le Quang Liem		Le Quang Liem	-	Kramnik
Giri	1-0	Meier		Meier	-	Giri
Nakamura	0-1	Ponomariov		Ponomariov	-	Nakamura
Round 4	24.07.11	15:00 CET		Round 9	30.07.11	15:00 CET
Giri	-	Le Quang Liem		Ponomariov	-	Le Quang Liem
Nakamura	-	Kramnik		Nakamura	-	Meier
Ponomariov	-	Meier		Giri	-	Kramnik
Round 5	25.07.11	15:00 CET		Round 10	31.07.11	13:00 CET
Le Quang Liem	-	Ponomariov		Le Quang Liem	-	Giri
Meier	-	Nakamura		Kramnik	-	Nakamura
Kramnik	-	Giri		Meier	-	Ponomariov

Dortmund 2011 | Round 3 Standings

Photos © Georgios Souleidis

Links

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• Games in PGN via TWIC