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Dortmund: Kramnik wins again, Ponomariov recovers

PeterDoggers
| 0 | Chess Event Coverage
Kramnik beats Ponomariov in first round DortmundVladimir Kramnik also won his second game at the Sparkassen Chess Festival in Dortmund, Germany. In the second round the Russian defeated Georg Meier of Germany. Ruslan Ponomariov recovered from his first round loss and defeated Anish Giri. Le Quang Liem and Hikaru Nakamura drew their game.

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 2

The game between Le Quang Liem and Hikaru Nakamura ended rather quickly. The opening was promising: a 4.f3 Nimzo-Indian, and indeed the game became interesting quickly. However, the players quickly went for a move repetition. After that he went looking for a yoga place.

The next game to finish was Ruslan Ponomariov vs Anish Giri. The Ukrainian bounced back from his first round loss when his opponent started to play inaccurately in the middlegame.

Ponomariov-Giri Dortmund, 2011

Ponomariov-Giri

22. a4! Fixing the a5 pawn before attacking it. 22... Bc6 23. Nb3 Qa7 24. Qxa7 Rxa7 25. f3

Ponomariov-Giri

25... Rd8? After this, amazingly, Black is already lost. 26. Bb5! Rxd1+ 26... Bd7 27. Rd2 and Black cannot avoid the loss of a pawn. 27. Rxd1 Bxb5 28. axb5 Kf8 29. Nc5 Ra8 30. b6 Ke7 31. b7 Rb8 32. e5 Nd5 33. Ra1 Kd8 34. Rxa5 1-0

Ponomariov-Giri

The game of the day was Georg Meier vs Vladimir Kramnik. In a Queen's Indian, the young German grandmaster was doing fine against the great Russian for long, and at move 25 the players repeated moves. Then, Kramnik wanted more:

Meier-Kramnik Dortmund, 2011

Meier-Kramnik

Instead of playing 27...Na2 for the second time, Kramnik decides to play for a win with an amazing move: 27... Nc4!? 28. bxc4 d4 29. Bxg5? The wrong choice. White had two good moves: a) 29. Nxd4 Qxc5 30. Nf5 Rxd1+ 31. Qxd1 Qxc4 32. Nd6 Rd8 33. Bb6! Rxd6 34. Qxd6 g4 35. Qb8+ Bf8 36. Qxb7 gxh3 37. Qc8! and b) 29. Rxd4 Rxd4 30. Nxd4! Qxc5 31. Nf5 Qe5 32. Nb5 Bf8 33. Qd2 and in both cases the complications seem to favour White. 29... Qxc5! 29... hxg5 30. Rxg5 30. Bxd8 d3!

Meier-Kramnik

The pointe of Black's 27th. White is in trouble. 31. Ne1? Going down without a fight, but the alternatives were no picnic either: a) 31. e4 Qxa7 (31... Rxd8 32. Nb5 Bxe4 33. Bg2) 32. Bh4 Qxa4 33. Rf1 Bxe4; b) 31. Rd2 Qxa7 (31... dxe2 32. Ne1 Bd4 33. Rxd4 Qxd4 34. Qxh6) 32. Ne1 (32. Bh4 Rxe2 33. Rxe2 dxe2 34. Ne1 Qd4) 32... Rxd8 33. Nxd3 Nxd3 34. Rxd3 Rxd3 35. exd3 Qxa4. 31... Rxe2 32. Qf4 Rxf2! 0-1

Meier-Kramnik

Games round 2



Game viewer by ChessTempo


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 - Le Quang Liem Le Quang Liem - Kramnik
Giri - Meier Meier - Giri
Nakamura - 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 2 Standings




Photos © Georgios Souleidis



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PeterDoggers
Peter Doggers

Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.

Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools.

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