Dortmund: Kramnik wins again, Ponomariov recovers

Vladimir Kramnik also won his second game at the Sparkassen Chess Festival in Dortmund, Germany. In the second round the Russian defeated Georg Meier of Germany. Ruslan Ponomariov recovered from his first round loss and defeated Anish Giri. Le Quang Liem and Hikaru Nakamura drew their game.

General info

The 39th Sparkassen Chess Meeting takes place July 21-31, 2011 in the City Theater of Dortmund, Germany. Like Biel, it’s a 6-player double round robin event. This year Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, Ruslan Ponomariov, Anish Giri, Le Quang Liem and Georg Meier play. For the second time Dortmund uses an anti-draw rule: the players are not allowed to offer a draw during the game. The game will be declared a draw when a win for either side is not possible any more, or in case of a three-fold repetition.

Round 2

The game between Le Quang Liem and Hikaru Nakamura ended rather quickly. The opening was promising: a 4.f3 Nimzo-Indian, and indeed the game became interesting quickly. However, the players quickly went for a move repetition. After that he went looking for a yoga place.

The next game to finish was Ruslan Ponomariov vs Anish Giri. The Ukrainian bounced back from his first round loss when his opponent started to play inaccurately in the middlegame.

Ponomariov-Giri
Dortmund, 2011

22. a4!
Fixing the a5 pawn before attacking it.
22… Bc6 23. Nb3 Qa7 24. Qxa7 Rxa7 25. f3

25… Rd8?
After this, amazingly, Black is already lost.
26. Bb5! Rxd1+
26… Bd7 27. Rd2 and Black cannot avoid the loss of a pawn.
27. Rxd1 Bxb5 28. axb5 Kf8 29. Nc5 Ra8 30. b6 Ke7 31. b7 Rb8 32. e5 Nd5 33. Ra1 Kd8 34. Rxa5 1-0

The game of the day was Georg Meier vs Vladimir Kramnik. In a Queen’s Indian, the young German grandmaster was doing fine against the great Russian for long, and at move 25 the players repeated moves. Then, Kramnik wanted more:

Meier-Kramnik
Dortmund, 2011

Instead of playing 27…Na2 for the second time, Kramnik decides to play for a win with an amazing move:
27… Nc4!? 28. bxc4 d4 29. Bxg5?
The wrong choice. White had two good moves:
a) 29. Nxd4 Qxc5 30. Nf5 Rxd1+ 31. Qxd1 Qxc4 32. Nd6 Rd8 33. Bb6! Rxd6 34. Qxd6 g4 35. Qb8+ Bf8 36. Qxb7 gxh3 37. Qc8! and
b) 29. Rxd4 Rxd4 30. Nxd4! Qxc5 31. Nf5 Qe5 32. Nb5 Bf8 33. Qd2 and in both cases the complications seem to favour White.
29… Qxc5!
29… hxg5 30. Rxg5
30. Bxd8 d3!

The pointe of Black’s 27th. White is in trouble.
31. Ne1?
Going down without a fight, but the alternatives were no picnic either:
a) 31. e4 Qxa7 (31… Rxd8 32. Nb5 Bxe4 33. Bg2) 32. Bh4 Qxa4 33. Rf1 Bxe4;
b) 31. Rd2 Qxa7 (31… dxe2 32. Ne1 Bd4 33. Rxd4 Qxd4 34. Qxh6) 32. Ne1 (32. Bh4 Rxe2 33. Rxe2 dxe2 34. Ne1 Qd4) 32… Rxd8 33. Nxd3 Nxd3 34. Rxd3 Rxd3 35. exd3 Qxa4.31… Rxe2 32. Qf4 Rxf2! 0-1

Dortmund 2011 | Schedule & results

Round 1	21.07.11	15:00 CET		Round 6	27.07.11	15:00 CET
Meier	½-½	Le Quang Liem		Le Quang Liem	-	Meier
Kramnik	1-0	Ponomariov		Ponomariov	-	Kramnik
Giri	½-½	Nakamura		Nakamura	-	Giri
Round 2	22.07.11	15:00 CET		Round 7	28.07.11	15:00 CET
Le Quang Liem	½-½	Nakamura		Nakamura	-	Le Quang Liem
Ponomariov	1-0	Giri		Giri	-	Ponomariov
Meier	0-1	Kramnik		Kramnik	-	Meier
Round 3	23.07.11	15:00 CET		Round 8	29.07.11	15:00 CET
Kramnik	-	Le Quang Liem		Le Quang Liem	-	Kramnik
Giri	-	Meier		Meier	-	Giri
Nakamura	-	Ponomariov		Ponomariov	-	Nakamura
Round 4	24.07.11	15:00 CET		Round 9	30.07.11	15:00 CET
Giri	-	Le Quang Liem		Ponomariov	-	Le Quang Liem
Nakamura	-	Kramnik		Nakamura	-	Meier
Ponomariov	-	Meier		Giri	-	Kramnik
Round 5	25.07.11	15:00 CET		Round 10	31.07.11	13:00 CET
Le Quang Liem	-	Ponomariov		Le Quang Liem	-	Giri
Meier	-	Nakamura		Kramnik	-	Nakamura
Kramnik	-	Giri		Meier	-	Ponomariov

Dortmund 2011 | Round 2 Standings

#	Name	Rtg	Perf	1	2	3	4	5	6	Pts	SB
1	Kramnik,V	2781	3013				1		1	2	1.5
2	Nakamura,Hi	2770	2708			½		½		1	0.75
3	Le Quang Liem	2715	2713		½				½	1	0.75
4	Ponomariov,R	2764	2741	0				1		1	0.5
5	Giri,A	2701	2576		½		0			0.5	0.5
6	Meier,Geo	2656	2557	0		½				0.5	0.5