Dortmund sparks into life

Three wins in the second round

Now that's more like it  After a disappointing first round of safety-first play, the 2008 Dortmund tournament sparked spectacularly into life in the second round.  

Kramnik opened his account by defeating Van Wely's Slav Defence with effortless ease in just 29 moves.  Van Wely's pieces were bunched up helplessly on the Queenside while Kramnik created lethal threats on the Kingside.  Between the dominant Knight on e5, raking Bishop on b2 and active Queen the Black monarch never stood a chance.

Peter Leko (pictured) also reminded everyone that he is a force to be reckoned with in this tournament by beating Ivanchuk to keep pace with Kramnik at the top of the leaderboard.  In a Sicilan Paulsen, Leko avoided a possible 3-fold repetition as early as move 9 and instead caught Ivanchuk's King in the middle of the board.

Ivanchuk rustled up a pawn storm on the Queenside, achieving doubled, isolated passed pawns on c3 and c2!  However, Leko ended up the winner after 57 moves of a fascinating game.

The other decisive game of the day was also the quickest.  The derby match between the two local boys, Jan Gustafsson and Arkadij Naiditsch ended in a win for the former when he pounced on a Naiditsch error, finding a sweet combination with 20. exf6+ to end the game early enough for both of them to watch their countrymen lose in the Euro 2008 Football Championship Final.  Well done Spain!

Tomorrow (30 June) is a rest day.  Yes, I know they've only just started, but that's the schedule!  The third round will take place on 1 July.

The full results in round 2:

The standings after round 2: