Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 R1-3: Aryan Chopra and Leon Luke Mendonca win three in-a-row

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/06/2023

The historic 50th International Dortmund Chess Days is having four tournaments in which a combined total of 568 players are taking part. 326 in Sparkassen Chess Trophy Open A, 228 in Open B, ten in Sportland NRW Cup and four in NC World Masters 2023 from a total of 43 countries across the world. GM Aryan Chopra and GM Leon Luke Mendonca are in an eight-pack lead with GM Matthias Bluebaum (GER), GM Alexander Donchenko (GER), GM Michael Adams (ENG), GM Frederik Svane (GER), GM Ori Kobo (ISR) and IM Arthur Guo (USA) with a perfect 3/3. GM Karthik Venkataraman is the sole Indian in the Sportland NRW Cup. He won two games in-a-row after starting the event with a loss. GM Vladimir Kramnik and GM Fabiano Caruana won their first games of the NC World Masters. Photo: FI Niklesh Jain

Karthik Venkataraman bounces back

GM Aryan Chopra and... | Photo: FI Niklesh Jain

GM Leon Luke Mendonca are at 3/3 each | Photo: FA Lana Afandiyeva

The English legend, Michael Adams is also at 3/3 | Photo: Official site

Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 - 50th International Dortmund Chess Days | Photo: Official site

Sportland NRW Cup Round 2: Arthur - Karthik: 0-1

The reigning National Senior champion, GM Karthik Venkataraman (2548) bounced back from a first-round loss by winning a sharp battle against FM Arthur De Winter (NED, 2378).

Position after 27.Rh1

White sacrificed his knight on d4 to launch an attack on the kingside. 26.Kg2 Nxd4 27.Rh1 f5 28.gxf6 Qxc2! 29.fxg7 Qe4+ 30.Kf1 Qe2+ 31. Kg2 Qe4+ players repeated moves once to gain some time then 32.Kf1 Qf5 33.Qh8+ Kf7 34.g8Q+ Rxg8 35.Rh7+ Ke7 36.Rxa6+ White threw everything at the black king to salvage something. 36...Ndc6 Black showed his resilience and won the game in the next few moves.

In the third round, GM Karthik Venkataraman defeated IM Vadim Petrovskiy (UKR, 2423) comfortably to take his score to 2/3.

GM Karthik Venkataraman is making a strong comeback 2/3 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Bluebaum - Raja Rithvik, Round 3

Position after 49.Rxg5

49...e3 50.Re5 e2 51.Kb6 Kd7 52.g5 Rg2 saves the game for Black. The idea behind it is, Black will give up the e-pawn to gain the c-pawn. Thus, getting a draw would be easier. However, this is not something easy to find over-the-board when the clock is ticking down. 49...Rf4?? 50.Rd5+ better was Kc6. 50...Kc7 51.g5 e3 52.Re5 Rg4?? 53.Re7+ Kc8 54.c6 and it's over. The key idea to saving the game was to exchange the e-pawn with White's c-pawn instead of the g-pawn. The reason behind that is simple, the g-pawn is farthest from the white king and promotion square. Hence, it becomes difficult for White to use it to his advantage and win the game.

GM Raja Rithvik R played really well against Germany no.2 GM Matthias Bluebaum | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Aditya Samant - Priyanka Nutakki, Round 3

Position after 16...Nc5

IM Aditya Samant (2503) made an inaccuracy 16.Nh4. His opponent, WGM Priyanka Nutakki (2352) correctly found 16...Nc5! which started a series of chain exchange 17.Rxe8+ Qxe8 18.Nxg6 Nxd3 19.Be3 Ne1 20.Qe2 and now Black needed to play Nxg2 first. She went 20...hxg6 21.Nc3 Nxg2 and the effect is not the same. White developed his knight with a tempo and the d5-pawn can no longer be defended.

WGM Priyanka Nutakki spotted her opponent's mistake but did not follow through correctly | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

NC World Masters Round 1: GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR) - GM Vladimir Kramnik: 0-1 | Photo: Official site

Vladimir Kramnik and Pavel Eljanov analyse their game at Dortmund 2023 | Video: Dortmund Chess Channel

GM Dmitrij Kollars (GER) - GM Fabiano Caruana (USA): 0-1 | Photo: Official site

Sebastian Junker, board member of Sparkassen Dortmund, made the ceremonial first move on Eljanov-Kramnik's board | Photo: Official site

Replay 50th International Dortmund Chess Days 2023 Day 3 Live commentary by GM Artur Yusupov and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni | Video: Dortmund Chess Channel

Replay Sportland NRW Cup Round 1-3 games

Replay Sparkassen Chess Trophy Open A Round 1-3 games

Replay NC World Masters Round 1 games

Sparkassen Chess Trophy Open A Round 3 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	GM	Blübaum,Matthias,	2673	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Raja Rithvik R,	2488	22
2	23	IM	Dudin,Gleb,	2486	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Donchenko,Alexander,	2667	2
3	3	GM	Adams,Michael,	2666	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Janzelj,Tim,	2453	29
4	26	IM	Feuerstack,Aljoscha,	2462	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Aryan Chopra,	2626	6
5	30	IM	Willow,Jonah B,	2447	2	0 - 1	2	GM	Mendonca,Leon Luke,	2623	8
6	9	GM	Svane,Frederik,	2622	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Buckels,Valentin,	2442	33
7	32	IM	Guo,Arthur,	2445	2	1 - 0	2	GM	Prohaszka,Peter,	2585	12
8	13	IM	Laurent-Paoli,Pierre,	2572	2	½ - ½	2	IM	Muthaiah AL,	2439	35
9	15	GM	Kobo,Ori,	2556	2	1 - 0	2	IM	Wadsworth,Matthew J,	2431	37
10	17	GM	Pranav Anand,	2510	2	½ - ½	2	WIM	Dolzhykova,Kateryna,	2329	68

Details

Standings after Round 3

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	2	GM	Donchenko,Alexander,	GER	2667	2656	OSG Baden-Baden	3	4	10
	3	GM	Adams,Michael,	ENG	2666	2631	OSG Baden-Baden	3	4	10
	6	GM	Aryan Chopra,	IND	2626	0		3	4	10
4	1	GM	Blübaum,Matthias,	GER	2673	2673	SF Deizisau	3	4	9,5
	8	GM	Mendonca,Leon Luke,	IND	2623	2606	Hamburger SK von 1830 eV	3	4	9,5
	9	GM	Svane,Frederik,	GER	2622	2622	Hamburger SK von 1830 eV	3	4	9,5
	15	GM	Kobo,Ori,	ISR	2556	0		3	4	9,5
8	32	IM	Guo,Arthur,	USA	2445	0		3	3,5	10
9	190		Thieme,Daniel Otis,	GER	2091	2091	FC ST.Pauli 1910 eV SAbt	3	1	10,5
10	17	GM	Pranav Anand,	IND	2510	0		2,5	4,5	9,5
11	13	IM	Laurent-Paoli,Pierre,	FRA	2572	2572	SC Ötigheim	2,5	4,5	9
	68	WIM	Dolzhykova,Kateryna,	GER	2329	2329	SV Oberursel	2,5	4,5	9
13	43	GM	Akesson,Ralf,	SWE	2402	0		2,5	4,5	8,5
14	7	GM	Svane,Rasmus,	GER	2625	2625	Hamburger SK von 1830 eV	2,5	4	9,5
	18	GM	Raja Harshit,	IND	2510	0		2,5	4	9,5
16	4	GM	Ponomariov,Ruslan,	UKR	2664	0		2,5	4	9
	35	IM	Muthaiah AL,	IND	2439	0		2,5	4	9
	38		Jinan Jomon,	IND	2428	0		2,5	4	9
19	27	IM	Vogel,Roven,	GER	2461	2461	USV TU Dresden	2,5	3,5	10
20	11	GM	Safarli,Eltaj,	AZE	2609	0		2,5	3,5	9,5

Details

Round 4 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	8	GM	Mendonca,Leon Luke,	2623	3		3	GM	Blübaum,Matthias,	2673	1
2	2	GM	Donchenko,Alexander,	2667	3		3	GM	Svane,Frederik,	2622	9
3	15	GM	Kobo,Ori,	2556	3		3	GM	Adams,Michael,	2666	3
4	6	GM	Aryan Chopra,	2626	3		3	IM	Guo,Arthur,	2445	32
5	4	GM	Ponomariov,Ruslan,	2664	2½		2½	IM	Vogel,Roven,	2461	27
6	35	IM	Muthaiah AL,	2439	2½		2½	GM	Svane,Rasmus,	2625	7
7	43	GM	Akesson,Ralf,	2402	2½		2½	GM	Safarli,Eltaj,	2609	11
8	67	FM	Woelk,Tom-Frederic,	2330	2½		2½	IM	Laurent-Paoli,Pierre,	2572	13
9	190		Thieme,Daniel Otis,	2091	3		2½	GM	Pranav Anand,	2510	17
10	18	GM	Raja Harshit,	2510	2½		2½	IM	Materia,Marco,	2436	36

Details

NRW Cup Round 3 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	2548	GM	Karthik Venkataraman,	1 - 0	IM	Petrovskiy,Vadim,	2423	10
2	3	2325	FM	Besou,Hussain,	½ - ½	FM	De Winter,Arthur,	2378	1
3	4	2447	WGM	Wagner,Dinara,	½ - ½	IM	Souleidis,Georgios,	2419	9
4	5	2326	FM	Schneider,Jana,	0 - 1	GM	Bagrationi,Alexander,	2454	8
5	6	2429	IM	Köllner,Ruben Gideon,	1 - 0	GM	Saltaev,Mihail,	2462	7

Details

Standings after Round 3

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	4	WGM	Wagner,Dinara,	GER	2447	SC Viernheim 1934 e.V.	2,5	2	2,50
2	6	IM	Köllner,Ruben Gideon,	GER	2429	SF Deizisau	2,5	2	1,75
3	2	GM	Karthik Venkataraman,	IND	2548		2	2	2,00
4	9	IM	Souleidis,Georgios,	GRE	2419	Hamburger SK von 1830 eV	2	1	4,25
5	3	FM	Besou,Hussain,	GER	2325	LSV Turm Lippstadt	2	1	2,25
6	10	IM	Petrovskiy,Vadim,	UKR	2423	Sfr. Bad Emstal/Wolfhagen	1,5	1	1,75
7	8	GM	Bagrationi,Alexander,	ISR	2454		1	1	0,50
8	1	FM	De Winter,Arthur,	NED	2378	SV Erkenschwick 1923 e	0,5	0	1,00
9	5	FM	Schneider,Jana,	GER	2326	SC Bavaria Regensburg von 1881 e	0,5	0	0,25
	7	GM	Saltaev,Mihail,	UZB	2462	SV Mülheim-Nord 1931 e	0,5	0	0,25

Details

Round 4 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	10	2423	IM	Petrovskiy,Vadim,		GM	Saltaev,Mihail,	2462	7
2	8	2454	GM	Bagrationi,Alexander,		IM	Köllner,Ruben Gideon,	2429	6
3	9	2419	IM	Souleidis,Georgios,		FM	Schneider,Jana,	2326	5
4	1	2378	FM	De Winter,Arthur,		WGM	Wagner,Dinara,	2447	4
5	2	2548	GM	Karthik Venkataraman,		FM	Besou,Hussain,	2325	3

Details

NC World Masters Round 1 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	1	2694	GM	Eljanov,Pavel,	0 - 1	GM	Kramnik,Vladimir,	2753	4
2	2	2618	GM	Kollars,Dmitrij,	0 - 1	GM	Caruana,Fabiano,	2773	3

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	2618	GM	Kollars,Dmitrij,		GM	Kramnik,Vladimir,	2753	4
2	3	2773	GM	Caruana,Fabiano,		GM	Eljanov,Pavel,	2694	1

Details

Links

Official site

NC World Masters 2023

Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 tournaments

Sparkassen Chess Trophy on facebook, youtube, twitter and instagram

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