Month: July 2015

Dortmund 05: Caruana beats Kramnik; enters joint lead

USA’s GM Fabiano Caruana defeated Russia’s GM Vladimir Kramnik (2783) with the black pieces to join the lead with GM Dieter Nisipeanu (2654) at 3.5/5.

GM Nisipeanu of Germany meanwhile drew with compatriot GM Georg Meier and is all set to have a title clash in the seventh round with GM Caruana.

Standings after Round 5:

Rank Name Score Elo
1 Caruana, Fabiano 3.5/5 2805
2 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 3.5/5 2654
3 Kramnik, Vladimir 3.0/5 2783
4 Naiditsch, Arkadij 2.5/5 2722
5 So, Wesley 2.5/5 2778
6 Hou, Yifan 2.0/5 2676
7 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 1.5/5 2720
8 Meier, Georg 1.5/5 2654

Porticcio Open Final: Areshchenko triumphs!

The final round of the Porticcio Open 2015 witnessed hard-fought games on most of the top tables. GM Areshchenko overran GM Bacrot out of a relatively quiet Ruy Lopez while GM Laznicka’s heavy Queen-side attack triumphed against Bartosz Socko’s King-side play.

As a result, Areshchenko and Laznicka tied for the first place with 7.5 points each but it was Areschenko who won the laurels, thanks to his better tie-break score. GM Fressinet took the third spot.

Meanwhile, GM S.P. Sethuraman, the lone Indian hope at this event, won his last round game convincingly to finish 4th with a total of 7 points.

Final Standings: http://www.echecs.asso.fr/Resultats.aspx?URL=Tournois/Id/34158/34158&Action=Cl

Hainan Danzhou 01: Sasikiran loses to Yangyi

The 6th Hainan Donzhou Super GM Tournament is being held in China from 2nd July, 2015 and 11th July, 2015. Chinese GM Yu Yangyi (2736) continued delivering stellar results with a victory playing the white pieces against Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran (2640).

World Junior Champion GM Lu Shanglei (2595) meanwhile could not hold up against GM Wang Yue (2716), who joined Yangyi in the lead. Other games ended in draws.

You may check the pairings here.

Dortmund 04: Kramnik wins again to enter joint lead

Former World Champion GM Vladimir Kramnik of Russia won his third straight game to enter into joint lead with GM Dieter Nisipeanu of Germany, who could only draw his game with GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. Both stand at 3.0/4.

GM Fabiano Caruana of USA meanwhile accounted for German GM Arkadij Naiditsch to stay in pursuit with 2.5/4.

Standings after Round 4:

Rank Name Score Elo
1 Kramnik, Vladimir 3.0/4 2783
2 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 3.0/4 2654
3 Caruana, Fabiano 2.5/4 2805
4 Naiditsch, Arkadij 2.0/4 2722
5 So, Wesley 1.5/4 2778
6 Hou, Yifan 1.5/4 2676
7 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 1.5/4 2720
8 Meier, Georg 1.0/4 2654

Dortmund 03: Kramnik wins with a devious swindle

Russian GM Vladimir Kramnik (2783) lost his advantage in the middle-game against GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2720) and was well on his way to draw the game when he set up a fantastically complex trap, and his opponent walked right into it. He is now tied for second with GM Arkadij Naiditsch (2733) of Germany who accounted for an out of sorts GM Wesley So (2778).

GM Nisipeanu meanwhile was under some pressure from GM Hou Yifan, however, he held on to a draw to maintain his lead atop the table with 2.5/3.

Rank Name Score Elo
1 Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter 2.5/3 2654
2 Naiditsch, Arkadij 2.0/3 2722
3 Kramnik, Vladimir 2.0/3 2783
4 Caruana, Fabiano 1.5/3 2805
5 So, Wesley 1.0/3 2778
6 Hou, Yifan 1.0/3 2676
7 Nepomniachtchi, Ian 1.0/3 2720
8 Meier, Georg 1.0/3 2654