No Doubt In Dortmund: Duda Is The Real Thing
Jan-Krzysztof Duda won his third-round game today at the Sparkassen Chess Meeting. He kept his lead by beating his compatriot and last year's tournament winner, Radoslaw Wojtaszek.
The round saw two more decisive games. Again using very little time on the clock, Ian Nepomniachtchi outplayed Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu, whereas Anish Giri over-pressed and lost from a better position against Vladislav Kovalev.
Kovalev tried a well-known gambit from the Nimzowitsch Sicilian. Perhaps caught off-guard as an irregular 1.e4-player, Giri didn't go for the most critical line (this author couldn't resist including a game of his from 15 years back in Bojkov's analysis 
) but kept an edge anyway.
After two exhausting rounds doing all I can to revitalize and regain my energy for the next two battles. #restday #DortmundChess pic.twitter.com/tmNVb10wvU
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) July 16, 2018
Or maybe the Dutchman was still in "relax mode."
Playing against an isolated queen's pawn, Giri was the one who was playing for two results. It was hard to believe that a third result was possible, until Kovalev unleashed a devilish pawn sac that turned the tables completely.
Giri suffered only his second loss as White in a classical game this year. The other one was against Magnus Carlsen in Shamkir. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis.
Duda's steady rise to the top is continuing. His surname, incidentally the same as that of the Polish president, means "doubt" in Spanish but his play is leaving less and less doubt.
He ended on top in a tactical Trompowsky skirmish against Wojtaszek, who said he had completely missed 23.Qa4. Duda defeated Wojtaszek two months after doing so at the recent Polish championship.
Duda seems to be the real deal! | Photo: Georgios Souleidis.
Nepomniachtchi repeated his feat of Sunday, again having truckloads of time on his clock at the end of the game. He still had two hours and 11 minutes, to be exact, when Nisipeanu resigned. Afterward the Russian GM explained that he had analysed the position at home, and also was thinking a lot in his opponent's time.
Nisipeanu was completely stuck in the final position but it's not a real zugzwang because doing nothing would also lose, as White can start collecting on c6.
A tremendously powerful and instructive game by Nepomniachtchi, who used both sides of the board to reach a winning position. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis.
Kramnik is not out of contention yet, but his 11th title won't come easy after another draw with the white pieces. Meier got under some pressure, but eventually survived the test of his French defense as he played super accurately in the middlegame.
IM Elisabeth Paehtz making the first move. | Photo: Georgios Souleidis.
Dortmund 2018 | Round 3 Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Duda,Jan-Krzysztof | 2737 | 2966 | ½ | 1 | 1 | 2.5/3 | |||||||
| 2 | Kovalev,Vladislav | 2655 | 2879 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2.0/3 | 3.25 | ||||||
| 3 | Nepomniachtchi,Ian | 2757 | 2823 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 2.0/3 | 2 | ||||||
| 4 | Meier,Georg | 2628 | 2769 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1.5/3 | 1.75 | ||||||
| 5 | Kramnik,Vladimir | 2792 | 2678 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1.5/3 | 1.5 | ||||||
| 6 | Giri,Anish | 2782 | 2560 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1.0/3 | 1.75 | ||||||
| 7 | Wojtaszek,Radoslaw | 2733 | 2599 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1.0/3 | 1.5 | ||||||
| 8 | Nisipeanu,Liviu-Dieter | 2672 | 2483 | 0 | 0 | ½ | 0.5/3 |
Round-four pairings, Wednesday, July 18 at 3 p.m. (6 a.m. Pacific, 9 a.m. Eastern): Meier-Kovalev, Nisipeanu-Giri, Wojtaszek-Nepomniachtchi, Kramnik-Duda. You can follow the games in Live Chess.
Games via TWIC.
Earlier posts:
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.
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