TWIC is 29. First issue 17th September 1994.
Dortmund 2010 (5)
Ponomariov leads Dortmund at the half way stage
Mark Crowther - Tuesday 20th July 2010
Ponomariov leads at half way. Photo © Georgios Souleidis. | http://www.sparkassen-chess-meeting.de/2010/fotos.html
Ruslan Ponomariov leads the Dortmund tournament at the half way stage. He slowly the leader Shakhriyar Mamedyarov who became so disenchanted with his position that he resigned in a position where there was still some work to do. Vladimir Kramnik got back to 50% by beating Arkadij Naiditsch in a technical game where he gradually exploited a trapped rook. Le Quang Liem beat Peter Leko to move into joint second. Alexander Khalifman has worked with Le recently and has been very complimentary about his talent. He is now well and truly on his way in this tournament. Peter Leko's talent has never been in question but his heart has. He turned down the chance to play for a win against Kramnik and today he went down to a slow loss where he couldn't overcome structural problems.
| Sparkassen GM Dortmund (GER), 15-25 vii 2010 | cat. XX (2731) | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |||||||||||||
| 1. | Ponomariov, Ruslan | g | UKR | 2734 | * | * | 0 | . | 1 | . | 1 | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | 3½ | 2879 |
| 2. | Le Quang Liem | g | VIE | 2681 | 1 | . | * | * | 0 | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | 1 | . | 3 | 2812 |
| 3. | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | g | AZE | 2761 | 0 | . | 1 | . | * | * | ½ | . | 1 | . | ½ | . | 3 | 2796 |
| 4. | Kramnik, Vladimir | g | RUS | 2790 | 0 | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | * | * | 1 | . | ½ | . | 2½ | 2718 |
| 5. | Naiditsch, Arkadij | g | GER | 2684 | ½ | . | ½ | . | 0 | . | 0 | . | * | * | ½ | . | 1½ | 2591 |
| 6. | Leko, Peter | g | HUN | 2734 | 0 | . | 0 | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | ½ | . | * | * | 1½ | 2581 |
| Round 5 (July 19, 2010) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ponomariov, Ruslan | - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | 1-0 | 51 | E32 | Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2 | |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | - Naiditsch, Arkadij | 1-0 | 51 | E04 | Catalan | |
| Leko, Peter | - Le Quang Liem | 0-1 | 59 | B12 | Caro Kann Advanced | |
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov had a bad day at the office. Photo © Georgios Souleidis : http://www.sparkassen-chess-meeting.de/2010/fotos.html
Ruslan Ponomariov gradually outplayed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and in this position Mamedyarov decided he'd had enough and resigned. I don't think there are many players who would resign here. This is almost certainly winning for white but there was no guarantee Ponomariov would play perfectly.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
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Ruslan Ponomariov
Position after 51.Kc4
Vladimir Kramnik against Arkadij Naiditsch. Photo © Georgios Souleidis : http://www.sparkassen-chess-meeting.de/2010/fotos.html
Vladimir Kramnik has looked a bit rusty so far. In round 5 he beat Arkadij Naiditsch in a game where he exploited black's misplaced rook.
Arkadij Naiditsch
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Vladimir Kramnik
Position after 23.Nxc2
Here in retrospect I'm sure that Naiditsch would have played 23...axb4. I don't suppose he dreamed that the rook was in trouble here but it never escaped and cost him the game.
23... Bf5? 24. Nxd4 Bxb1 25. Nc6 Re8 26. Nxa5 Be4 27. Bb2 Bxf3 28. exf3 e4 29. fxe4 Rxe4 30. Rd1 h5 31. Rd8+ Kh7 32. Kf1 h4 33. f3 Re7 34. g4 Rc7 35. Ke2 Nd7 36. Kd2 f6 37. f4 Nc5 38. Rd4 Kg6 39. Kc3 Kf7 40. f5 Ne4+ 41. Kb3 Nc5+ 42. Ka2 Na6 43. Rc4 Rxc4 44. Nxc4 Nc7 45. Na5 Na6 46. Kb3 Nc5+ 47. Kc4 Ne4 48. Kb5 Nc3+ 49. Bxc3 Rxa3 50. Kc4 Ra2 51. b5 1-0
Le Quang Liem against Peter Leko. Photo © Georgios Souleidis : http://www.sparkassen-chess-meeting.de/2010/fotos.html
Le Quang Liem won a long game against Peter Leko.
Le Quang Liem
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Peter Leko
Position after 22...Nd5
Whilst it would be far too strong to say that black is winning this position black's knight is far better than white's bishop. Leko didn't find a way to solve his problems.
Le Quang Liem
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Peter Leko
Position after 43...Rxg3
The main features of the position haven't changed. White's bishop looks really useless now and black's pawn is about to cost white his bishop. White couldn't save the resulting ending.
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