Dortmund Sparkassen Meeting 2015

The 2015 Sparkassen Chess-Meeting elite tournament is currently in progress in the NRW Orchestra Centre in Dortmund, Germany.

Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu and Vladimir Kramnik are in the lead with 3 points out of 4 games, leaving the nearest follower, Fabiano Caruana, only half a point behind.

Nisipeanu defeated Arkadij Najditsch and Wesley So, drew against Ian Nepomniachtchi and Yifan Hou, while Kramnik started the tournament with a loss against Naiditsch but came back with three consecutive wins.

Naiditsch’s uncompromising and aggressive style of play keeps him on fourth position after two wins and two losses. The highest rated German player defeated former World champion Kramnik in a great manner and checkmated Wesley So, but lost against Nisipeanu and Caruana.

Wesley So, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Yifan Hou have 1.5/4 points, while Georg Meier is currently last with 1 point.

Curious fact: Untypically for an elite tournament, just as many games so far were won by Black, as by White.

You can find some of the most interesting fragments of the tournament below:


Black to move (Kramnik – Naiditsch, Round 1, 0-1)


Black to move (Naiditch – Nisipeanu, Round 2, 0-1)


Black to move (Hou – Kramnik, Round 2, 0-1)


Black to move (Caruana – So, Round 2, 0-1)