With Nine Wins, a Russian Dominates a German Event

There may not be a home-field advantage in chess, but some players have triumphed at the same tournaments over and over.
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Garry Kasparov, the former world champion, has won the annual super tournament in Linares, Spain, nine times. Viswanathan Anand, the current world champion, has won the rapid chess tournament in Mainz, Germany, 11 times. He has also won the Magistral Ciudad de León in Spain seven times. And Bobby Fischer won all eight United States championships in which he competed.
Those tournaments may have suited the champions’ styles. Anand has been among the best at rapid chess (where players have 20 or 25 minutes per player per game) for 20 years, and that is the format of the Mainz and León tournaments. Fischer, on the other hand, was just plain better than any players in the United States when he won his titles in the 1950s and 1960s.
Some players have placed more emphasis on certain events, as Kasparov did on Linares.
That is one reason Vladimir Kramnik of Russia has dominated the annual Sparkassen Chess-Meeting in Dortmund, Germany. Last weekend, Kramnik, a former world champion, won the event for the ninth time.
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He trailed through the first seven rounds, but in Round 8 he beat Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who had led until then.
Kramnik’s 11 Be2 was unusual; more common is 11 Nd2 which can lead to a complicated position after 11 ... e5 12 Bg5 d4 13 Nb3 Qd8 14 Be2 Ng4 15 Be7 Qe7. But that is not Kramnik’s style. He prefers less tactical positions. After 12 Bc4, White had a small edge based on his freer development.
Kramnik’s 18 f5 was a nice idea, but it should not have led to victory. After 19 ... Qb6, White could not play 20 Qd7 because 20 ... Rd8 wins White’s queen.
Carlsen blundered with 25 ... Qc7. Instead, 25 ... Qc5 26 Ne4 Qc4 27 Nf6 Ke7 28 Rd1 Nd4 29 Ne8 Ke8 30 Qg8 Ke7 31 Qa8 Qd5 32 Rd4 (the only way to defend the weaknesses around White’s king) Qd4 33 Qb7 Kf6 gives Black good prospects to draw. Or 25 ... Rd8 26 Qh6 Kg8 27 Re6 Qd4 28 Rf6 Qc4 29 Rc6 Qd3, and Black should survive. In this line, Black cannot play 27 ... fe6 because of 28 Qe6 Kg7 29 Qg8 Kf6 30 Qf8 Ke5 31 Nb5 Qb5 32 Bb5.
After 28 Qh6, Black could not play 28 ... Kg8 because of 29 Re6 fe6 30 Be6 Bf7 31 Nd5 Qd8 32 Nf6 Qf6 33 Qf6 is an easy win for White.
Carlsen resigned because mate was inevitable.