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Leko wins 3rd title in Dortmund (update with video)
6 July 2008 17:42 PM | Last modified: 9:53
Peter Leko won his 3rd title in Dortmund today. He drew his game against Naiditsch, and not long afterwards his pursuers Nepomniachtchi and Gustafsson did the same. Update with interview Leko.
And so it was the solid but powerfull chess of Peter Leko that decided the tournament. He won his Sparkassen title for the third time, while it’s “normally” Vladimir Kramnik who ends first. But of course the Hungarian also managed to stay ahead Vassily Ivanchuk, who has shown great form in the last couple of months. Leko beat him in their individual game, which turned out to be crucial for the tournament. Below the games you’ll find a lengthy video interview with the tournament winner.
Ivanchuk eventually fought himself to a second place, by Kramnik in the last round. The Ukrainian shares the spot with Mamedyarov, Nepomniachtchi and Gustafsson - the four of them ended on “plus one”.
Naiditsch played OK as well and his fifty percent is fine in this field. And of course his win against Kramnik is enough to remember this tournament with a smile. Talking about Kramnik - the Russian just had a very disappointing tournament. Whenever he made the news it was in a negative way, and both his losses were in his beloved Petroff Defence. This must give Anand a small boost.
And then there’s Loek van Wely, who scored just two half points in seven games. Just before I left Dortmund, I said to him: “Well, just forget about this tournament as soon as you can.” He replied: “Why?” Throughout the weekend, the Dutchman was in quite a good mood and of course this is because he just knows that these kind of tournaments are inevitable with his uncompromising playing style. Surely he’ll be back, kicking some ass soon in a new tournament!
(Replay the games in a separa window)
Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2008
| Round 1: Saturday, June 28, 15:00 CET | Round 2: Sunday, June 29, 15:00 CET |
| Gustafsson – Kramnik ½-½ | Kramnik – Van Wely 1-0 |
| Naiditsch – Nepomniachtchi ½-½ | Leko – Ivanchuk 1-0 |
| Mamedyarov – Leko ½-½ | Nepomniachtchi – Mamedyarov ½-½ |
| Ivanchuk – Van Wely ½-½ | Gustafsson – Naiditsch 1-0 |
| Round 3: Tuesday, July 01, 15:00 CET | Round 4: Wednesday, July 02, 15:00 CET |
| Naiditsch – Kramnik 1-0 | Kramnik – Leko ½-½ |
| Mamedyarov – Gustafsson ½-½ | Nepomniachtchi – Van Wely 1-0 |
| Ivanchuk – Nepomniachtchi ½-½ | Gustafsson – Ivanchuk ½-½ |
| Van Wely – Leko ½-½ | Naiditsch – Mamedyarov ½-½ |
| Round 5: Friday, July 04, 15:00 CET | Round 6: Saturday, July 05, 15:00 CET |
| Mamedyarov – Kramnik ½-½ | Kramnik – Nepomniachtchi ½-½ |
| Ivanchuk – Naiditsch 1-0 | Gustafsson – Leko 0-1 |
| Van Wely – Gustafsson 0-1 | Naiditsch – Van Wely 1-0 |
| Leko – Nepomniachtchi ½-½ | Mamedyarov – Ivanchuk ½-½ |
| Round 7: Sunday, July 06, 13:00 CET | |
| Ivanchuk – Kramnik 1-0 | |
| Van Wely – Mamedyarov 0-1 | |
| Leko – Naiditsch ½-½ | |
| Nepomniachtchi – Gustafsson ½-½ |
Sparkassen Chess Meeting 2008 Final Standings
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | ||||||
| 1 | Leko,P | 2741 | +49 | * | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.5/7 | |
| 2 | Ivanchuk,V | 2740 | -1 | 0 | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | ½ | 4.0/7 | 13.00 |
| 3 | Mamedyarov,S | 2752 | -15 | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0/7 | 12.50 |
| 4 | Nepomniachtchi,I | 2634 | +119 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0/7 | 12.50 |
| 5 | Gustafsson,J | 2603 | +154 | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | * | 1 | ½ | 1 | 4.0/7 | 12.00 |
| 6 | Naiditsch,A | 2624 | +81 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | 1 | 1 | 3.5/7 | |
| 7 | Kramnik,V | 2788 | -156 | ½ | 0 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | * | 1 | 3.0/7 | |
| 8 | Van Wely,L | 2677 | -290 | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | * | 1.0/7 |
Leko-Naiditsch
Nepomniachtchi-Gustafsson
Ivanchuk-Kramnik
Van Wely-Mamedyarov
Links:
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Geez Louise — Kramnik finished seventh.
Kramnik hides his form. He is saving energy for the match later this year!
For sure!!
To me excuses like this sounds strange!
Germans proved once again that they can’t stage super tournaments properly. I didn’t see good journalism and game coverage. Their website is below all criticism. Thanks to websites like chessvibes and chesspro from where I got information about the tournament.
I’m happy with the results, and yes, Kramnik probably didn’t want to play his novelties in the opening.
Kramnik plays like always.. Starts with drawish openings and waits for oponent mistakes, but his oponents already learned that kramnik is not so stong like he is acting and kramniks strategy turned on himself.
Jonas
You must know very litle of Chess.
Gran victoria de Leko.
Ya era hora de que remontase el “vuelo”. Leko habÃa decepcionado en sus últimos años después de un esperanzador comienzo de su carrera.
Por otro lado tenemos a la gran decepción del ajedrez mundial: Kramnik.
great coverage as always, happy to see the videos as well … I think Leko tried and studied many different things after his loss against Kramnik, and is coming back little by little, but he is for sure coming back … And i Don’t agree with mister JONAS … Kramnik is preparing for the world championship match against Anand, that’s all there is … He is a very secret man, and who wouldn’t be in that case ?!?!?! on the other hand, why not resting at home ??? Maybe someone can answer this question …
Regarding the Ivanchuk-Kramnik game, instead of Kramnik’s terrible blunder 48…Nf8??, 48…Qh1 was the most accurate way to draw according to ChessBase’s express report.
Jonas: Read “Kramnik: My Life and Games”. Need I say more?
Dude: Your comment seems rather rude to me. Just because there was a second-rate website (in your opinion) does not mean that all Germans “can’t stage super-tournaments properly”. Dortmund has been running for ages now and I can assure you that the organisers are very hospitable, and have had very strong elite tournaments (and Bonn is in Germany, remember?). For you to state such a vast overgeneralisation publicly merely reveals your ignorance (which is ironic, given that you read ChessVibes
)
“Germans proved once again that they can’t stage super tournaments properly.”
Kramnik has said just the opposite — that he loves playing in Germany, partly because everything is always so well organized.
What’s the point of interviewing Leko? He’s very strong but boring to talk to. Why didn’t you interview his wife instead?
“pus één”
klinkt een beetje onsmakelijk, wel leuk gevonden!
Did I hear Peter say there’s no prize money? So they play just for fun?
Congrats to Leko, it was about time for hime to win a decent tournament again! He is having a great chess summer.
Kramnik is probably stuck with the need to avoid playing any strong novelties, but he is definitely out of form, too. His two losses really make the Petrov look like a dubious choice; it’s cool to guess what he will play with black against Anand. My bet is closed Spanish…
@Jan
No prize money, only starting fee. That’s why I asked Leko if if this might influence the players’ fighting spirit.
Kramnik is hiding his real openings for his match vs Anand, but still, his preformance was well under par. I guess we all have had a very bad tournament at least once in our life. I hope Anand wins the match. My prediction is a +2 score for him against Kramnik, even on a match so short (12 games).
The one who does not deserve to be in the other semi-final is “crying-baby” Topalov. Let’s hope Kamsky erases him from earth in their match. Topalov and his manager (Danailov) don’t know what a true gentleman is. Kamsky, Kramnik and specially Anand, do..!!!
great result Peter Leko!
Can someone please set up a “player-bashing” forum, so that all the nasty comments go there and not as comments to articles like “Leko wins 3rd title in Dortmund (update with video)”?
Congratulations to Leko, and to zee Germans.
@ Coco Loco
I totally support your proposal.
Everybody complains about thos pros behaving badly, but looking at the comments most chess players are just the same.
So I agree with a Player-Bashin-Forum; I suggest the subcategories
– “Topalov/Danailov is the Anti-Christ”
– “Kramnik is an overrated player who tried to cheat on Topalov”
– “Leko and Kramnik can only play draws”
– “I wrote an essay about chess and shaking hands, here it is”
– “As soon as the name Kasparov is mentioned let’s talk about politics”
– “Chess Nationalism Board: My nation is the best!”
– “Common board: Bash a random player publically to make yourself feel better”
Other suggestions? Peter, what do you think?
O.k., I know, my satire is a bad and unfunny one, but hey: It can’t be worse than the stuff I read on the Net…
Back to topic:
I prefer more fighting players, but of course congrats to Leko! His playing style might not be super-entertaining, but “entertainement” doesn’t equal playing strenght.
Congrats to Chucky too, he’s Number 2 on the Virtual Ranking now. Hope he’ll go 2800+!
Kramnik: His chances are always underestimated. Remember before the match against Kasparov, or the one with Topalov? I think the Anand-Kramnik match will be interesting, both players are well prepared, i predict equal chances. I hope Kramnik will win it, but Anand is a difficult opponent
Lékó: He is certainly not boring, one of the best players in the circuit. His success now demonstrates he can kick some @ss too. There is a point to interview any good chess player.
Ivanchuk: He is one of the greatest now, but he has a tendency to crash in the most important moments.
Dortmund: A great tournament with friendly atmosphere. It’s good to see one like this in our fightagainstdrawseveniftheyareinterestingandbeagainstanyplayerwhodrawmoregamesthan mostofthem chess world. I prefer these friendly tournaments.
The players: I think they all played well, i congratulate them all for a nice tournament.
Interview: I liked it. It was very interesting.
Jonas: I don’t know what do you have against Kramnik and Lékó. Most of your comments are attacks against them.
Chessvibes: You did a great coverage again, i look at your site frequently.
Michel83, can we also have a subcategory “Rating inflation it doesn’t exist yes it does no it doesn’t yes it does”?
Peter Leko made the fewest mistakes of all participants and showed fighting strength in his important games versus Iwantschuk and Gustaffson. Kramnik´s result was so lousy since he couldn´t make much with the whites (and was hit by a strong novelty and a fighting Iwantschuk as black).
In comparison with other chess events, Dortmund’ s homepage didn´t impress me much. There was no press conference or game presentation, and round reports were not very informative, since they focused mostly the leader´s board .
@ ~~~~
Haha, I like that one. In the same style
“FIDE should do exceptions in rating deadlines for Carlsen no they shouldn’t yes they should no they shouldn’t”
I have more categories popping up in my mind right now, but I’ll spare you…
And if we put adds on the site we’ll make loads of money with those millions of hits.
Let’s say we split 50-50?
(@ Others: Sorry for Spamming…
)
sorry to be destructive, but leko is whining like always. why do we wanna here a sum up of all his superb games in dortmund, where he was just unlucky, his failures had nothing to do with chess (with what else?) and where he didn’t get the deserved result.
basically (as he likes to say) every second sentence is an excuse why he is not the best player in the world in the ratinglist.
he better start playing interesting, original and risky chess. otherwise he’ll never be such a great player like aronian, gelfand, ivanchuk or even kramnik.