Dominguez Wins Dortmund Ahead Of Surging Nepomniachtchi
The new world number-10 Leinier Dominguez Perez managed to maintain his narrow lead to win first place in the 47th Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting with 4.5/7. Just a half-point behind Dominguez were four players, all at 4/7: Ian Nepomniachtchi, Teimour Radjabov, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, and Richard Rapport.
This continues an excellent year for Dominguez, who earlier tied for first place in the strong Natanya Masters, tied for second in the U.S. Championship, and scored 6/7 in the Russian league. With a live rating of 2763, Dominguez is just a few points shy of his all-time peak, 2768, which he reached in May 2014.
The critical game of the last round was between Wojtaszek and Dominguez, where a win would allow Wojtaszek to overtake the lead and win the tournament. However, he was not able to pose too many problems against Dominguez's Semi-Tarrasch Defense and eventually had to settle for a draw:
Both Radjabov and Rapport had a chance to catch Dominguez with a last-round win but could not defeat their respective opponents, Kaido Kulaots and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu.
Although the tournament contained quite a bit of fighting chess, the only decisive points scored in rounds five to seven were by Nepomniachtchi, who managed to override a slow start with wins over Nisipeanu and Daniel Fridman.
Nepomniachtchi's game in round six certainly turned a few heads, as he dismantled Nisipeanu's Petroff in 19 moves:
His final round win against Fridman was less flashy, but no less valuable: he took a small advantage in the endgame and slowly converted it into a full point:
47th Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting | Final Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Pts | SB |
| 1 | Dominguez Perez,Leinier | 2760 | 2798 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.5/7 | |||
| 2 | Rapport,Richard | 2735 | 2750 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 4.0/7 | 14 | ||
| 3 | Radjabov,Teimour | 2759 | 2747 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | 4.0/7 | 13.25 | ||
| 4 | Wojtaszek,Radoslaw | 2737 | 2749 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 1 | ½ | 4.0/7 | 13.25 | ||
| 5 | Nepomniachtchi,Ian | 2775 | 2745 | 0 | 0 | ½ | ½ | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4.0/7 | 11.5 | ||
| 6 | Kulaots,Kaido | 2560 | 2623 | ½ | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | ½ | 2.5/7 | 9.5 | ||
| 7 | Fridman,Daniel | 2638 | 2612 | ½ | ½ | ½ | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2.5/7 | 8.75 | ||
| 8 | Nisipeanu,Liviu-Dieter | 2672 | 2608 | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 0 | ½ | 1 | 2.5/7 | 7.75 |
The Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting is a traditional super-tournament held annually in Dortmund, Germany. This year it was an eight-player round robin that took place July 13-21, 2019 in the Orchestra Center in Dortmund.
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