exd5!

16.07.2010
– The organizers of Dortmund have to be extra pleased this year. Their roster may be lacking a few of the absolute top Elos, which is usually the best way to keep the general public’s attention, but the players are clearly all in prime fighting mood. In round two all three games had the potential for full point scores, in the end it was only Ruslan Ponomariov who beat top seed Vladimir Kramnik. Report.

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Lubomir Ftacnik: 1.d4 - a classical repertoire for White
This DVD by Lubomir Ftacnik is an ambitious project, presenting a comprehensive set of ideas and structures in chess openings, arising after the first move 1.d4. In 34 videos (plus intro and conclusion) the author covers all 1.d4 openings - classical ones, like all Queen’s Gambit lines and the Indian defences, but also many interesting gambits, like the Benko, Blumenfeld and Budapest. The suggested choices are approved and active, but also safe for the first player. Many hours of explanations and suggestions will significantly shorten the time needed for building up a complete and workable set of opening weapons, usually called a repertoire.
More information...

From Thursday July 15 to Sunday, July 25, 2010 the 38th edition annual Sparkassen
Chess-Meeting is taking place in Dortmund, Germany. It is a six-player round
robin, in which each player has to play two games against each other, one with
white and one with black pieces. Draw offers are not allowed – a game
can only be declared a draw, by the arbiter, if there is no possible win for
one side, or if a position is repeated three time. The winner of this tournament
will be determined after ten rounds. Games start at 15:00h = 3 p.m. local time
(CEST, = 17:00 Moscow, 14:00 p.m. London, 9:00 a.m. New York). All games will
be broadcast by the official web site's "Live
Games" page and on the Playchess.com
server, with live audio commentary, in German, by Dennis Breder (July 15-18),
Niclas Huschenbeth (19-21), Merijn van Delft (22, 24, 25) and Julian Zimmermann
(July 23).

Round 2: Friday, July 16, 15:00h
Peter Leko	½-½	Shak. Mamedyarov
Le Quang Liem	½-½	Arkadij Naiditsch
Ruslan Ponomariov	1-0	Vladimir Kramnik
Games – Report

In the first round, no less than two out of three games ended in decisive results,
but the second round could have raised the bar to three in three had the middlegames
all followed to their logical outcomes.

Top German Naiditsch was paired as black against Quang Liem Le, and seemed
not to have completely recovered from the previous day’s fiasco. The Vietnamese
prodigy deviated first in a QGD Ragozin Defense, and his opponent quickly went
astray getting himself into deep trouble. Perhaps excited by the prospect of
his first win in a tournament of this level, he returned the favor with several
inaccuracies that allowed Arkadij to salvage the game and a draw was agreed
on move 35.

Le Quang Liem (2681) - Naiditsch,A (2684) [D37]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (2), 16.07.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.e4 Bb4 6.Bg5 c5 7.Bxc4 cxd4 8.Nxd4
Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Qa5 10.Bb5+ Bd7 11.Bxf6 gxf6 12.Bxd7+ Nxd7 13.0-0 a6 14.Rb1 Qc7
15.Qf3 [Usual is 15.Qh5 Nc5 16.Rb4 Qe5] 15...0-0-0 16.Rb4 Nc5 17.Rfb1
e5 18.Rc4 Rd6 19.Nb3 b6 20.Qf5+ Kd8 21.Nxc5 bxc5 22.h4 Ke7 23.Rxc5 Qxc5 24.Rb7+
Ke8 25.Rb8+ Ke7 26.Rxh8 Rd1+ 27.Kh2 Rd2 28.Rc8 Qxf2 29.Rc7+ Kf8 30.Qc8+ Kg7
31.Qg4+ Kf8 32.Rc8+ Ke7 33.Rc7+ Kf8 34.Rc8+ Ke7 35.Rc7+ 1/2-1/2. [Click
to replay]

Ponomariov is undoubtedly one person who is even more elated than the organizers.
After an energetic win over Leko in the first round, he now faced Kramnik in
the second, and there are no comfortable games against him.

Ponomariov,R (2734) - Kramnik,V (2790) [E00]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (2), 16.07.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Be7 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Qc2
b6 9.Rd1 Ba6 10.Ne5 Qc8. Though not a novelty per se, this move has only
been played once before, whereas 10...Nfd7 is the usual continuation. 11.Nc3
Nbd7 12.Rac1N Nxe5 13.dxe5 Nd7 14.cxd5 cxd5. White's pieces are now beautifully
positioned, and a number of tactical themes are starting to rear their ugly
heads based on the g2-a8 diagonal as well as discovered attacks based on a timely
knight move. 15.Bf4. White is threatening e4 which would maximize the
power of his artillery. 15...g5

16.Bxd5! Strong and precise, the Ukrainian forces Kramnik's hand. 16...exd5
17.Nxd5 Qd8. The queen could not be taken with 17...Qxc2?? since after
18.Nxe7+ Kg7 19.Rxc2 gxf4 20.Rxd7 White's two extra pawns would be more than
enough. 18.Nc7 Rc8

This was the final mistake, and Ponomariov does not miss his chance.
Better was 18...gxf4 19.Qf5! Bc8 20.Nxa8 fxg3 21.hxg3 Nc5 22.Rxd8 Bxf5 23.Rxf8+
Bxf8 though White's chances are still preferable thanks to his rook and two
pawns for the two pieces. 19.e6! fxe6 20.Qc6 Qe8 21.Qxe6+ Qf7. In truth,
Kramnik could easily have resigned her as the next moves are forced, after which
he is left with a dead lost endgame. Still, he may have continued just as easily
for the benefit of the public, as to the fact he had no desire to have a 21-move
loss listed in his curriculum. 22.Qxf7+ Kxf7 23.Nxa6 gxf4 24.Rxc8 Rxc8 25.Rxd7
Rc2 26.Nb4 Rxb2 27.Nc6 Rxe2 28.Rxa7 f3 29.h4 h5 30.Rxe7+ Rxe7 31.Nxe7 Kxe7 32.g4
hxg4 33.Kh2 Ke6 34.Kg3 Kf5 35.a4 Ke4 36.Kxg4 1-0. [Click
to replay]

Leko also had huge winning chances against Mamedyarov, and after 35 moves he

had reached the following position:

Leko,P (2734) - Mamedyarov,S (2761) [E62]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (2), 16.07.2010

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5.Nc3 d6 6.Nf3 c6 7.0-0 Qa5 8.e4 Qh5
9.Ng5 Qxd1 10.Rxd1 e5 11.d5 h6 12.Nf3 cxd5 13.cxd5 Bd7 14.Nd2 Rc8 15.Bf1 Bf8
16.f3 Na6 17.Nc4 Nb4 18.Ne3 Nh7 19.h4 Be7 20.Bd2 f5 21.a3 Na6 22.exf5 gxf5 23.Bb5
Bxb5 24.Nxb5 Rf8 25.g4 fxg4 26.fxg4 Rf4 27.Nf5 Rxg4+ 28.Kh2 Bf8 29.Bxh6 Nf6
30.Bxf8 Kxf8 31.Rac1 Nc5 32.Nbxd6 Nce4 33.Nxe4 Rxe4 34.d6 Rd8

35.Rc7? Unfortunately he missed 35.Rf1! which would have sealed Black's
fate after 35...Kf7 36.Rc7+ Ke6 37.Re7+ Kd5 38.Rxb7+–. 35...Rf4 36.Ne7?
Better was 36.Ne3 Rxh4+ 37.Kg3 Rd4 38.Rh1 R8xd6 39.Rh8+ Ng8 with some chances
still. 36...Rxh4+ 37.Kg3 Rg4+ 38.Kh3 Rg7 39.Rxb7 Ne4 40.Rf1+ Ke8 41.Rb4 Rxd6
42.Nf5 Rh7+ 43.Kg4 Rg6+ 44.Kf3 Nd2+ 45.Ke2 Nxf1 46.Rb8+ Kf7 47.Rb7+ Kg8 48.Rb8+
Kf7 49.Rb7+ Kg8 50.Rb8+ Kf7 1/2-1/2. [Click
to replay]

Though only one win instead of three, all three games showed exemplary fighting
spirit, and were a credit to the participants.

All photos: Georgios Souleidis

Current standings

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!

Previous reports

• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2010
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2009
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2008
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2007
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2006
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2005
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2004
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2003

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16.07.2010
– 15-year-old GM Ray Robson, top seed in the Junior section of the US championships, easily won his round six game to join surprise leader Parker Zhao, who lost to FM Conrad Holt, at the top of the table. Nobody will be surprised if it is all RR from now to the end. In the Women's both top contenders Anna Zatonskih and Irina Krush won their games to leave Zatonskih in the lead. Round six report.

Advertisement

Lubomir Ftacnik: 1.d4 - a classical repertoire for White
This DVD by Lubomir Ftacnik is an ambitious project, presenting a comprehensive set of ideas and structures in chess openings, arising after the first move 1.d4. In 34 videos (plus intro and conclusion) the author covers all 1.d4 openings - classical ones, like all Queen’s Gambit lines and the Indian defences, but also many interesting gambits, like the Benko, Blumenfeld and Budapest. The suggested choices are approved and active, but also safe for the first player. Many hours of explanations and suggestions will significantly shorten the time needed for building up a complete and workable set of opening weapons, usually called a repertoire.
More information...

2010 U.S. Women's and Junior Closed Championships

Two of the most prestigious tournaments in the country, the 2010 U.S. Women's
Championship and the 2010 U.S. Junior Closed Championship are taking place July
9-20 at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. IM Anna Zatonskih
is looking to defend her crown, which
she won for two years in succession. In the Junior section Ray Robson is
the top seed.

Women round six – July 15, 2010
Foisor, Sabina-Francesca	0-1	Krush, Irina
Melekhina, Alisa	1-0	Baginskaite, Camilla
Zenyuk, Iryna	0-1	Rohonyan, Katerina
Marinello, Beatriz M	0-1	Abrahamyan, Tatev
Marshall, Abby	0-1	Zatonskih, Anna

Zenyuk,I (2236) - Rohonyan,K (2319) [D15]
ch-USA w St Louis USA (6), 15.07.2010
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 a6 5.cxd5 cxd5 6.Bg5 Ne4 7.Nxe4 dxe4
8.Nd2 Nc6 9.e3 Qa5 10.Bf4 e5 11.dxe5 Be6 12.a3 Rd8 13.b4 Nxb4 14.axb4 Qxb4 15.Qa4+
b5 16.Qxb4 Bxb4 17.0-0-0 0-0 18.Be2 a5 19.Nxe4 Ra8 20.Nd6 a4 21.Bxb5 a3 22.Kc2
Ra5 23.Bc4 Rc5 24.Kd3 a2 25.Ra1 Ra8 26.e4 Ra3+ 27.Kd4 Rca5 28.Bxe6 Bc3+ 29.Kc4
R5a4+ 30.Kb5 Rb4+ 31.Kc5 fxe6 32.Rxa2 Rxa2 After surviving the "iron
king" march up the board White is fairly safe, but now blunders: 33.Bg3?
(33.Rc1 was required).

33...Rc2. The mate-in-one threats 33...Ra7 34.Kc6 Bd4 would
have finished it off faster. 34.Ne8 Rxe4 (or 34...Be1+ and
mate to follow) 35.Kd6 Kf7 36.Kd7 Bxe5 37.Bxe5 Rxe5 38.Nd6+ Kf6 39.Ne8+
Kg6 40.f4 Ree2 41.g4 Rxh2 42.Rxh2 Rxh2 43.Kxe6 Re2+ 44.Kd7 Re4 45.f5+ Kh6 46.f6
gxf6 47.Nxf6 Re1 48.Kd6 Kg6 49.Nh5 Re4 0-1.

Everyone's watching you! Beatriz Marinello under pressure from Tatev Abrahamyan

WIM Beatriz M. Marinello, former President of the USCF (2003 to 2005) and Member
of FIDE Verification Commission since 2006, is part of the Presidential
ticket of Mr. Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Marinello, born in Chile, became a National
Women's Champion when she was 16 years old. She organized her first national
championship in Chile at the age of 20 years old, and later organized other
international competitions. She moved to the US in 1990, became a chess teacher
in Miami and represented the US in two Interzonals (1991 and 1993) and in the
1994 Chess Olympiad in Moscow.

Irina Krush discusses her game with commentators Jennifer Shahade
and Ben Feingold

IM Irina Krush returned to her winning way with a fine a+b-pawn win over Sabina-Francesca
Foisor. But at the same time Irina's main rival Anna Zatonskih walked all over
the position of tail-ender Abby Marshall and stayed half a point ahead.

Standings after six rounds – Women

Juniors round six – July 15, 2010
Yang, Darwin	0-1	Shankland, Samuel L
Robson, Ray	1-0	Hughes, Tyler B
Rosen, Eric S	½-½	Bryant, John Daniel
Zierk, Steven C	1-0	Harper, Warren
Holt, Conrad	1-0	Zhao, Parker

FM Conrad Holt beat leader Parker Zhao to take away his one-point lead over
the field

15-year-old GM Ray Robson, top seed in this tournament, easily outplayed Tyler
Hughes
to join Parker Zhao in the lead. Nobody will be surprised if it is all RR from
now to the end

Standings after six rounds – Juniors

Statistics

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN: Women – Juniors The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!

Chessbase.com

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16.07.2010
– Akadij Naiditsch displayed courage when he played a well-known Najdorf line that Nigel Short had refuted 14 years ago. Had the German GM found something new and effective? Obviously not, as his opponent Shakh Mamedyarov proved. The "technicians" Ponomariov and Leko played an exciting game which the former won. Rookie Le Quang Liem drew with the top seed Kramnik. Round one report.

Advertisement

Lubomir Ftacnik: 1.d4 - a classical repertoire for White
This DVD by Lubomir Ftacnik is an ambitious project, presenting a comprehensive set of ideas and structures in chess openings, arising after the first move 1.d4. In 34 videos (plus intro and conclusion) the author covers all 1.d4 openings - classical ones, like all Queen’s Gambit lines and the Indian defences, but also many interesting gambits, like the Benko, Blumenfeld and Budapest. The suggested choices are approved and active, but also safe for the first player. Many hours of explanations and suggestions will significantly shorten the time needed for building up a complete and workable set of opening weapons, usually called a repertoire.
More information...

From Thursday July 15 to Sunday, July 25, 2010 the 38th edition annual Sparkassen
Chess-Meeting is taking place in Dortmund, Germany. It is a six-player round
robin, in which each player has to play two games against each other, one with
white and one with black pieces. Draw offers are not allowed – a game
can only be declared a draw, by the arbiter, if there is no possible win for
one side, or if a position is repeated three time. The winner of this tournament
will be determined after ten rounds. Games start at 15:00h = 3 p.m. local time
(CEST, = 17:00 Moscow, 14:00 p.m. London, 9:00 a.m. New York). All games will
be broadcast by the official web site's "Live
Games" page and on the Playchess.com
server, with live audio commentary, in German, by Dennis Breder (July 15-18),
Niclas Huschenbeth (19-21), Merijn van Delft (22, 24, 25) and Julian Zimmermann
(July 23).

Participants

Player	Title	Nat.	born	Rating
Kramnik, Vladimir	GM	RUS	1975	2790
Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar	GM	AZE	1985	2760
Ponomariov, Ruslan	GM	UKR	1983	2737
Leko, Peter	GM	HUN	1979	2735
Naiditsch, Arkadij	GM	GER	1985	2691
Le, Quang Liem	GM	VIE	1991	2689

Before play started, it was hard to know what to expect from this year’s
Dortmund, though the line-up is certainly not without interest. At the top of
the Elo ladder, we have Kramnik, who is knocking once more on the 2800 door,
and the all-time record holder of win in this event. Then there is Mamedyarov,
a fascinating player whose games are rarely dull. Leko and Ponomariov tend to
be ultra-technical players, though Ponomariov can easily swing into quite crazy
positions, if the mood suits him. This is followed by the top German player,
Naiditsch, who is also in hot pursuit of magic 2700. Completing the group is
the 19-year-old Vietnamese prodigy, Le Quang Liem, who after tying for first
in the Moscow Open, followed it up with a spectacular win in the Aeroflot Open,
thus granting him a spot in the Dortmund event.

Round one

Round 1: Thursday, July 15, 15:00h
Ruslan Ponomariov	1-0	Peter Leko
Vladimir Kramnik	½-½	Le Quang Liem
Arkadij Naiditsch	0-1	Shak. Mamedyarov
Games – Report

The first round set the tone, and it seems a quiet event is not in the cards.
In his first Super GM tournament, Quang Liem drew Kramnik, with black no less,
and it was up to him to show he was ready for this level of competition. He
played his customary Slav, and while Kramnik tried to outsmart his opponent,
he was unable to create anything tangible, leading to a draw after 64 moves.

Vladimir Kramnik at the start of his round one game in Dortmund 2010

19-year-old Le Quang Liem, who drew the top seed with black

Naiditsch-Mamedyarov was a surprising affair. They played a well-known Najdorf
position made famous in 1996, when in the first round of the Amsterdam VSB Super-GM
event, Topalov had beaten Kasparov in a famous game. Remarkably, two rounds
later, Topalov repeated the opening, only to run into a fantastic novelty by
Short as Black, losing the game, and pretty much burying the line into the annals
of opening theory. For fourteen years, this position has not been played by
a single GM, so the question was whether Naiditsch had found something that
might revive the opening. Unfortunately, it would seem not, and after leaving
theory he had a difficult position that he eventually lost.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov before his game against Naiditsch

Naiditsch,A (2684) - Mamedyarov,S (2761) [B90]
Sparkassen GM Dortmund GER (1), 15.07.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Nbd7
8.f4 Nc5 9.0-0 Nfxe4 10.Nxe4 Nxe4 11.f5 e5 12.Qh5

12...d5! Nigel Short's refutation of this line. Two rounds
earlier Kasparov had played 12...Qe7 and got buried: 13.Qf3 Nc5 14.Nc6 Qc7 15.Bd5
a5 16.Bg5 Ra6 17.Nd8 f6 18.Nf7 Rg8 19.Be3 g6 20.Ng5 Rg7 21.fxg6 Rxg6 22.Bf7+
Qxf7 23.Nxf7 Kxf7 24.Bxc5 dxc5 25.Rad1 Be7 26.Rd5 Bg4 27.Qe4 Kg7 28.Rfd1 Bxd1
29.Rxd1 Re6 30.Qf5 Kf7 31.Re1 b6 32.h4 Rg7 33.Kf1 Bd6 34.Kf2 Bc7 35.Kf3 Ke7
36.Re4 Kf7 37.Rg4 Re7 38.Ke4 Rxg4+ 39.Qxg4 Bd8 40.a4 Kf8 41.c3 Rg7 42.Qc8 Ke8
43.Qe6+ Kf8 44.g4 Rf7 45.h5 Rg7 46.h6 Rg6 47.Qd5 Be7 48.Kf5 Rxh6 49.Qb7 e4 50.Qb8+
Kf7 51.Qxb6 e3 52.Qe6+ Ke8 53.Qxe3 Rg6 54.Qe4 Rg5+ 55.Kf4 Kd7 56.Qb7+ Ke6 57.Qc8+
Kf7 58.Qc7 h5 59.gxh5 Rxh5 60.Qxa5 Bd6+ 61.Ke4 f5+ 62.Kd5 Be7 63.Qc7 Rh6 64.a5
Rd6+ 65.Ke5 Rf6 66.Qc8 1-0 Topalov,V (2700)-Kasparov,G (2775)/Amsterdam 1996/CBM
052

13.Re1 Bc5 14.Rxe4 Bxd4+ 15.Kh1 [15.Be3 0-0 16.Rxd4 exd4 17.Bxd4
f6 18.Bc5 Re8 19.Rd1 Kh8 20.Rxd5 Bd7 21.h3 Re5 22.Rxe5 fxe5 23.Bf7 Be8 24.Bg6
h6 25.Bxe8 Qxe8 26.Qxe8+ Rxe8 27.Bd6 Rd8 28.Bxe5 Rd5 29.Bc3 Rxf5 30.Bd4 b5 31.c3
h5 32.Bf2 Kg8 33.Kf1 Kf7 34.Ke2 Ke6 35.Bd4 g6 36.Bb6 Kd5 37.Bc7 Ke4 38.Bd8 Rd5
39.Bh4 Rd3 40.Bf2 a5 41.Be1 a4 42.Bd2 Rd7 43.Bh6 Rd5 44.Bc1 Rc5 45.Be3 a3 46.Bc1
b4 0-1 Topalov,V (2700)-Short,N (2665)/Amsterdam 1996/CBM 052]

15...Qf6 16.Re1 Bxf5 17.c3 Ba7 18.Bxd5 0-0 19.Rf1 Qd6 20.Rxf5 Qxd5
21.Rxe5 Rae8 22.Bf4 Rxe5 23.Qxe5 Qxe5 24.Bxe5 f6 25.Bc7 Re8 26.Rd1 Re2 27.b3
Rxa2 28.g3 Ra3 29.Rb1 h5 30.Bd6 Ra2 31.Re1 Rd2 32.Bb8 Bxb8 33.Re8+ Kf7 34.Rxb8
Rd7 35.Kg2 Ke6 36.Kf3 Kf5 37.h3 Rd3+ 38.Kf2 b5 39.Rc8 h4 40.gxh4 Rxh3 41.Rc7
Kg6 42.Rc6 b4 43.cxb4 Rxh4 44.Rb6 Re4 45.Kf3 Kf5 46.Rb7 g5 47.b5 a5 0-1. [Click
to replay]

Optimistic: Arkadij Naiditsch at the start of his round one game

If there was any fear that the two most technical players, Leko and Ponomariov,
would lead to a boring game, both clearly had other plans, and after the initial
struggle in a Scotch, Ponomariov was able to use his greater piece activity
to enter a much superior endgame and eventual win.

GM Ruslan Ponomariov, former FIDE world champion (in the
background tournament arbiter Alexander Bakh)

Peter Leko of Hungary, former World Championship challenger

Schedule and results

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!

Previous reports

• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2010
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2009
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2008
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2007
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2006
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2005
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2004
• ChessBase
  reports on Dortmund 2003

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