Fabiano Caruana Wins Dortmund!
Fabiano Caruana won his last two games to take victory in the 2012 Dortmund tournament, just ahead of Sergey Karjakin by superior tie-breaks.
Caruana ended the winning chances of Vladimir Kramnik in the penultimate round and finished with another win against Mateusz Bartel to take first place. Instead of an 11th title for Kramnik, we have the first for Caruana!
Going into the final round there were no fewer than five players sharing the same score at the top of the standings, but when the dust had cleared at the end of the tournament only Caruana and Karjakin shared the top score of 6/9 points and Caruana's 4 wins to Karjakin's 3 was enough to secure the title.
The final standings:
| Caruana, Fabiano | ITA | * | ½ | 0 | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Karjakin, Sergey | RUS | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | UKR | 1 | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 0 | 1 | 5½ |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5½ |
| Naiditsch, Arkadij | GER | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5½ |
| Leko, Peter | HUN | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 5½ |
| Meier, Georg | GER | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | 1 | ½ | 4 |
| Fridman, Daniel | GER | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | 3½ |
| Bartel, Mateusz | POL | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | * | ½ | 2 |
| Gustafsson, Jan | GER | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 1½ |
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Fabiano Caruana: champion of Dortmund 2012
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The results in round eight:
| Caruana, Fabiano | 1-0 | Kramnik, Vladimir |
| Leko, Peter | 1-0 | Bartel, Mateusz |
| Meier, Georg | ½-½ | Karjakin, Sergey |
| Fridman, Daniel | ½-½ | Naiditsch, Arkadij |
| Gustafsson, Jan | 0-1 | Ponomariov, Ruslan |
The results in round nine:
| Karjakin, Sergey | 1-0 | Gustafsson, Jan |
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | ½-½ | Fridman, Daniel |
| Naiditsch, Arkadij | ½-½ | Leko, Peter |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | 1-0 | Meier, Georg |
| Bartel, Mateusz | 0-1 | Caruana, Fabiano |
Photos: Georgios Souleidis
