The Chess Mind

Peter Leko came into the final round of Dortmund with a half-point lead, and that's how he left it, drawing Arkadij Naiditsch on the white side of a Marshall Gambit. Two players could have caught him with a win, but two of them, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Jan Gustafsson, drew quickly against each other to tie for second. They were joined by two others, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vassily Ivanchuk, who defeated Loek van Wely and Vladimir Kramnik, respectively. Van Wely-Mamedyarov was complex, a race of passed pawns and attacks on opposite sides, and was objectively equal until just before the end. The tournament has been a disaster for the Dutchman, however, and his run of poor form continued. Ivanchuk-Kramnik revisited the Petroff line from round 3's Naiditsch-Kramnik game, and once again Kramnik lost. This time it wasn't due to the opening, however. Ivanchuk had a very slight edge, but Kramnik kept everything under control until after the time control, when an inaccuracy and then a blunder did him in.

The final standings are amusing, and it's a shame that Naiditsch didn't somehow beat Leko - then there would have been a six way tie for first! Here are the Garrison Keillor-approved standings:

1. Leko 4.5 (of 7)
2-5. Ivanchuk, Nepomniachtchi, Mamedyarov, Gustafsson 4
6. Naiditsch 3.5
7. Kramnik 3
8. van Wely 1 (and a dismal 2388 TPR)

The last round games (with my comments) are here.

With one round to go, Peter Leko has leaped into the lead, defeating Jan Gustafsson with surprising ease with the black pieces. Gustafsson's novelty, 16.Qb3, left him doubled, backward pawns on the b-file after 16...Qxb3 17.axb3, and at the end of the day that weakness proved decisive. Leko's technique was good enough, though his error on move 35 gave his opponent a chance to put up more resistance. Leko thus leads with 4 points, half a point ahead of Gustafsson and Ian Nepomniachtchi, who managed to hold on with Black against Vladimir Kramnik.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov-Vassily Ivanchuk was also drawn, and quickly, but for those who take the time to closely examine the game, you'll discover genuine value therein. The pawn roller plan used by Mamedyarov can be devastating - witness the famous Botvinnik-Capablanca game from AVRO 1938 - so it's valuable to reflect on the way Ivanchuk coped with that plan.

Finally, the tournament victim (Loek van Wely) was sacrificed on the altar once more, this time to Arkadij Naiditsch, who plastered him in 26 moves. With one round to go, van Wely's TPR isn't even enough for an IM norm, making this almost surely the worst tournament of his adult life.

The games, with my comments, are here.

Standings after Round 6:

1. Leko 4
2-3. Nepomniachtchi, Gustafsson 3.5
4-7. Mamedyarov, Ivanchuk, Kramnik, Naiditsch 3
8. van Wely 1

Last Round Pairings:

Ivanchuk - Kramnik
van Wely - Mamedyarov
Leko - Naiditsch
Nepomniachtchi - Gustafsson

Here's the full list. A comment: 2002 really shouldn't be included, as it was a Candidates event to see who would face Kramnik for the world championship.

1928 Sämisch, Fritz
1951 O'Kelly de Galway, A.
1961 Taimanov, Mark
1973 Hecht, Hans-Joachim
1974 Ciocâltea, Victor
1975 Westerinen, Heikki
1976 Romanishin, Oleg
1977 Smejkal, Jan
1978 Andersson, Ulf
1979 Giorgadze, Tamaz
1980 Keene, Raymond
1981 Kuzmin, Gennady
1982 Hort, Vlastimil
1983 Suba, Mihai
1984 Gruenfeld, Yehuda
1985 Razuvayev, Yuri
1986 Ribli, Zoltán
1987 Balashov, Yuri
1988 Lputian, Smbat
1989 Geller, Efim
1990 Chernin, Alexander
1991 Stohl, Igor
1992 Kasparov, Garry
1993 Karpov, Anatoly
1994 Piket, Jeroen
1995 Kramnik, Vladimir
1996 Kramnik, Vladimir
1997 Kramnik, Vladimir
1998 Kramnik, Vladimir
1999 Leko, Peter
2000 Kramnik, Vladimir
2001 Kramnik, Vladimir
2002 Leko, Peter
2003 Bologan, Viktor
2004 Anand, Viswanathan
2005 Naiditsch, Arkadij
2006 Kramnik, Vladimir
2007 Kramnik, Vladimir

(HT: ChessBase)

Dortmund is a very funny tournament. Either Kramnik wins (this has happened eight times), or else it's a complete outsider who takes the title. This year, it looks like another instance of plan B, as German GM Jan Gustafsson, the lowest-rated player in the event (considered probable "chum" by at least one commentator), is in clear first with two rounds to go. This was the result of a very quick, strange win against tournament tail-ender Loek van Wely, whose move 14 novelty gave him an immediately lost position that he resigned four moves later. My best guess is that he was simply unprepared for Gustafsson's move order, threatening the Noteboom Variation, and hadn't reviewed his prep for the Marshall (Slav) Gambit in some time. A disaster for van Wely, but happy days for his opponent.

That game finished pretty quickly, as you might imagine. Next up was a short draw between Leko and Nepomniachtchi. Leko had a small advantage on the white side of a 3.Bb5+ Sicilian, but he was unable to achieve anything with it. When Black played 25...e5 and 26...f5 the game turned double-edged, and a few moves later, just as the game was getting lively, Leko offered a draw, which was accepted.

The next draw was Mamedyarov-Kramnik, a game which caught my eye thanks to Kramnik's surprising - and good - 27...f5. The move looks like positional suicide, but it highlights the need and value of activity in even the quietest positions.

Finally, Ivanchuk won a nice ending against Naiditsch, outplaying him from an almost dead equal position in the opening. A remarkable technical display by the Ukranian, bringing him back to 50% overall.

The games can be replayed here, with my comments.

Standings after Round 5:

1. Gustafsson 3.5
2-3. Leko, Nepomniachtchi 3
4-6. Mamedyarov, Kramnik, Ivanchuk 2.5
7. Naiditsch 2
8. van Wely 1

Pairings for Round 6:

Kramnik - Nepomniachtchi
Gustafsson - Leko
Naiditsch - van Wely
Mamedyarov - Ivanchuk

Round 4 of the Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund saw three more draws, but it had its moments.

The first game to finish was Kramnik-Leko (shock, horror), a 22 move draw by repetition. Despite the quick and uninspiring conclusion, there were places where the game could have livened up, and the game may have a little theoretical significance as well.

Another short draw, finishing just a few seconds later, was Gustafsson-Ivanchuk, but this game was almost everything Kramnik-Leko was not. The opening was very sharp and neither player backed down from the complications. Ivanchuk's opening choice was quite clever: he entered the Vienna Variation of the Queen's Gambit, but then went down a sideline resulting in what looks like a favorable version of the Botvinnik Variation of the Semi-Slav. I think he had a very nice edge, but on move 16, perhaps overly concerned with the possibility of 17.d5, he preferred solidity over aggression, and that allowed Gustafsson to level the game.

After another hour or so, the remaining games finished in a near dead-heat. First came the only non-draw of the round, Nepomniachtchi-van Wely. White sacrificed a pawn for control of d5 and kingside prospects. Black's position was okay, but he wasn't able to find a solution to those problems - even after sacrificing the exchange, the same difficulties remained. White won a further pawn, and despite a hiccup on move 27, Nepomniachtchi's technique was good enough to win with the extra exchange.

Finally, Naiditsch-Mamedyarov ended too, a Taimanov Sicilian where first White and then Black enjoyed a very small edge, but accurate play from both players kept the game balanced.

The games, with my comments, are here.

Standings after Round 4:

1-3. Gustafsson, Leko, Nepomniachtchi 2.5
4-6. Mamedyarov, Naiditsch, Kramnik 2
7. Ivanchuk 1.5
8. van Wely 1

Pairings for Round 5: (On Friday; Thursday is a rest day)

Mamedyarov - Kramnik
Ivanchuk - Naiditsch
van Wely - Gustafsson
Leko - Nepomniachtchi

The games were decided early on today, though not all the games were drawn.

With White, Ivanchuk chose Fischer's 6.Bc4 against Nepomniachtchi's Najdorf, but got nothing. If anything, it was his opponent who had some chances, but apparently neither player felt very comfortable and a draw was agreed on move 19.

Mamedyarov-Gustafsson didn't last much longer, and like the Ivanchuk-Nepomniachtchi game, it ended too soon. With 26.Be2 (instead of repeating with 26.Qe2) Mamedyarov seemed to have a promising position, but he disagreed and called it a day.

The third game to finish was in a sense the first one to end. Naiditsch produced a very clever novelty against Kramnik's Petroff, 19.Qd2. The move offers a full rook, but its real value was psychological. It's often possible to decline a sacrifice and achieve reasonable play, but this was not one of those occasions. After 19...Ng6? 20.Ree1 f6 21.Rad1 Kf7 22.Qe3, White was clearly winning. Kramnik gave up his queen for a rook and knight, hoping to achieve a fortress. It seemed unlikely to succeed, but with a blunder on move 41 he didn't get the chance to find out.

Last but least, the supremely dull van Wely-Leko game yawned to a finish.

Games here, with my comments.

Standings after Round 3:

1-2. Gustafsson, Leko 2
3-6. Kramnik, Naiditsch, Nepomniachtchi, Mamedyarov 1.5
7-8. Ivanchuk, van Wely 1

Pairings for Round 4:

Kramnik - Leko
Nepomniachtchi - van Wely
Gustafsson - Ivanchuk
Naiditsch - Mamedyarov