Dortmund 2011, Round 8: Kramnik Survives, Clinches a Tie For First With Two Rounds to Go
Le Quang Liem hasn't had many opportunities at the super-GM level, but he has excelled with the chances he has been given. Last year he took clear second in Dortmund, and he's well on his way to repeating. Indeed, he was very close to reopening the race for first, as he had tournament leader Vladimir Kramnik on the ropes. Le's choice of the Zukertort System was an inspired choice, getting to the shallower waters of the ocean of Kramnik's preparation. His 16.c5 was a new move, and the plan it inaugurated - mobilizing the queenside majority - proved effective. Maybe Kramnik was never officially losing, but it was awfully close, and some GM commentators during the game were writing him off around the time control.
With the draw Kramnik maintains his two point lead over Le, and since there are only two rounds left any result but two Kramnik losses combined with two Le wins means Kramnik gets his 10th Dortmund title. Le still has the inside track for second place*, as he remains half a point ahead of Ruslan Ponomariov and Anish Giri.
Ponomariov made it back to 50% by beating Hikaru Nakamura for the second time this tournament, fully avenging his match defeat earlier this year. As in St. Louis, Nakamura chose the King's Indian, and Ponomariov chose what looked like the most insipid line imaginable. Somehow, though, the game managed to get interesting anyway, and Ponomariov managed to extract a full point from an initially drawish double rook + opposite-colored bishop ending.
Finally, Georg Meier was again forced into a long defensive struggle, but this time he held. Anish Giri grabbed a pawn in the opening in exchange for Meier's pleasant dark-squared grip. Giri managed to hold the pawn to the end of the game, but he was only able to break the bind by going into a drawn rook ending Meier held without too much trouble.
Standings After Round 8:
1. Kramnik 6.5
2. Le 4.5
3-4. Ponomariov, Giri 4
5-6. Nakamura, Meier 2.5
Round 9 Pairings:
- Ponomariov - Le
- Nakamura - Meier
- Giri - Kramnik
Tournament site here, games (Le-Kramnik with notes) here.
* But only because of the traditional scoring. If Dortmund, like Biel, was using 3-1-0 scoring then Ponomariov would be in second with 11 points; Le and Giri tied for third-fourth with 10.
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