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TOURNAMENT STANDINGS
Dortmund Sparkassen Tournament
Fabiano Caruana5.5/7(+5 -1 =1)[games]
Wesley So4/7(+3 -2 =2)[games]
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu4/7(+2 -1 =4)[games]
Vladimir Kramnik3.5/7(+3 -3 =1)[games]
Arkadij Naiditsch3/7(+2 -3 =2)[games]
Ian Nepomniachtchi3/7(+1 -2 =4)[games]
Yifan Hou2.5/7(+0 -2 =5)[games]
Georg Meier2.5/7(+0 -2 =5)[games]
*

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
Dortmund Sparkassen (2015)

The 43rd Dortmund Sparkassen Chess-Meeting took place in the Orchesterzentrum NRW in Dortmund, Germany 27 June - 5 July 2015. Rest days: June 29 and July 2. Chief organizer: Ralf Chadt-Rausch. Players received 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 50 more minutes for the next 20 moves, then 15 more minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment from move one. Fabiano Caruana won the event for the 3rd time with 5.5/7.

                        1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 
1 Caruana         2805  * 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 1  5½
2 So              2778  1 * 0 1 0 1 ½ ½  4
3 Nisipeanu       2654  0 1 * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½  4
4 Kramnik         2783  0 0 ½ * 0 1 1 1  3½
5 Naiditsch       2722  0 1 0 1 * 0 ½ ½  3
6 Nepomniachtchi  2720  ½ 0 ½ 0 1 * ½ ½  3
7 Yifan	Hou       2676  0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½  2½
8 Meier           2654  0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ *  2½
Category: XIX (2724). Chief arbiter: Andrzej Filipowicz

The Open A swiss was won on tiebreak by Glen de Schampheleire with 7/9.

Wikipedia article: Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting#2015
Sparkassen Open: http://www.scm-open.de/OpenA_Tabell...
Chess.com: https://www.chess.com/news/view/5-g...
ChessBase: https://en.chessbase.com/post/fabia...
Chess24: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-t...
DSB: https://www.schachbund.de/scm-dortm...
TWIC: https://theweekinchess.com/chessnew...
FIDE: https://ratings.fide.com/tournament...

Previous: Dortmund Sparkassen (2014). Next: Dortmund Sparkassen (2016)

 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 28  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Kramnik vs Naiditsch 0-1572015Dortmund SparkassenD41 Queen's Gambit Declined, Semi-Tarrasch
2. G Meier vs Y Hou ½-½592015Dortmund SparkassenE06 Catalan, Closed, 5.Nf3
3. Nisipeanu vs So 1-0282015Dortmund SparkassenB23 Sicilian, Closed
4. Nepomniachtchi vs Caruana ½-½462015Dortmund SparkassenA07 King's Indian Attack
5. Nepomniachtchi vs G Meier ½-½252015Dortmund SparkassenC11 French
6. Y Hou vs Kramnik 0-1282015Dortmund SparkassenC65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
7. Caruana vs So 0-1692015Dortmund SparkassenB90 Sicilian, Najdorf
8. Naiditsch vs Nisipeanu 0-1492015Dortmund SparkassenB12 Caro-Kann Defense
9. So vs Naiditsch 0-1362015Dortmund SparkassenD37 Queen's Gambit Declined
10. Kramnik vs Nepomniachtchi 1-0552015Dortmund SparkassenA04 Reti Opening
11. Nisipeanu vs Y Hou ½-½332015Dortmund SparkassenE16 Queen's Indian
12. G Meier vs Caruana 0-1512015Dortmund SparkassenA04 Reti Opening
13. Caruana vs Naiditsch 1-0412015Dortmund SparkassenE04 Catalan, Open, 5.Nf3
14. Nepomniachtchi vs Nisipeanu ½-½752015Dortmund SparkassenB12 Caro-Kann Defense
15. G Meier vs Kramnik 0-1542015Dortmund SparkassenC67 Ruy Lopez
16. Y Hou vs So ½-½402015Dortmund SparkassenB18 Caro-Kann, Classical
17. So vs Nepomniachtchi 1-0492015Dortmund SparkassenD70 Neo-Grunfeld Defense
18. Kramnik vs Caruana 0-1382015Dortmund SparkassenD78 Neo-Grunfeld, 6.O-O c6
19. Naiditsch vs Y Hou  ½-½642015Dortmund SparkassenE48 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 O-O 5.Bd3 d5
20. Nisipeanu vs G Meier ½-½422015Dortmund SparkassenE42 Nimzo-Indian, 4.e3 c5, 5.Ne2 (Rubinstein)
21. Kramnik vs Nisipeanu ½-½832015Dortmund SparkassenA13 English
22. Caruana vs Y Hou 1-0392015Dortmund SparkassenD31 Queen's Gambit Declined
23. G Meier vs So ½-½432015Dortmund SparkassenD12 Queen's Gambit Declined Slav
24. Nepomniachtchi vs Naiditsch 1-0682015Dortmund SparkassenD36 Queen's Gambit Declined, Exchange, Positional line, 6.Qc2
25. Nisipeanu vs Caruana 0-1302015Dortmund SparkassenC52 Evans Gambit
 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 28  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 16 OF 22 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Jul-04-15  choosea: >> "Elo rating calculates (and this is an important point) the results, not the skill of players"

>> "..important point is that ratings measure the relative skill of players in the rating pool.."

>> "..notably Mark Glickman, have proposed using more sophisticated statistical methods to estimate ratings.."

Jul-04-15  1 2 3 4: So is probably smiling to see Caruana have so much wins in a row, because he did previously.
Jul-04-15  Absentee: Caruana-Hou was a hate crime.
Jul-04-15  choosea: >> "There isn't a woman player in the world I can't give knights-odds to and still beat." Bobby Fischer
Jul-04-15  Tiggler: <choosea: >> "There isn't a woman player in the world I can't give knights-odds to and still beat." Bobby Fischer>

Too bad he is not still around to get his butt kicked.

Jul-04-15  Absentee: <Tiggler: <"There isn't a woman player in the world I can't give knights-odds to and still beat." Bobby Fischer>

Too bad he is not still around to get his butt kicked.>

Sounds likely.

Jul-04-15  Tiggler: <Absentee> While fischer was still alive, Chiburdanidze would have kicked his butt with knight odds. If he had ever dared to sit down to play, that is.
Jul-04-15  epistle: A must win for Kramnik next round. Lets pray for the old man.
Jul-04-15
Premium Chessgames Member		  plang: It's a chess game - not life or death.

He is eliminated from first place anyway

Jul-04-15  Conrad93: < While fischer was still alive, Chiburdanidze would have kicked his butt with knight odds. If he had ever dared to sit down to play, that is.>

Highly unlikely.

Jul-04-15  breaker90: Thing is, when Fischer made that comment, there were no strong female players at that time.
Jul-04-15
Premium Chessgames Member		  keypusher: <breaker90: Thing is, when Fischer made that comment, there were no strong female players at that time.>

Nonsense. Nona Gaprindashvili

Jul-04-15  tappingfoot: <epistle: A must win for Kramnik next round. Lets pray for the old man.>

epistle aka Joselito Oliveros

Now who do you think is the older man? and the one who needs prayer?

Jul-04-15  visayanbraindoctor: <choosea: see "The Rating of Chessplayers" by Dr. Arpad Elo which discusses the development of the Elo rating system

"Serious mathematicians have devoted hard work to the rating system trying to improve it, only to have their recommendations ignored."

" For women's tournaments, the categories are 200 rating points lower.."

"..the K factor varies and there are bonus points.."

"..1980, George Cunningham, a man with limited mathematical background, became the rating statistician. He introduced what he himself called "fiddle points". Everybody's rating went up about 100 points">

If Elo himself wrote this, he is clearly saying that rating inflation exists. That's straight from the horse's mouth, the man who invented the rating system and who probably has given more serious thought to it than any other human being on the planet.

I have given up on arguing with inflation deniers. I believe that no amount of logic will change their messages, and I believe it's because

1. They have an agenda to promote certain favored players and tournaments. Perhaps out of pure fanboyism, but there are more serious considerations. For instance, it would be impossible to argue with a hypothetical guy who is promoting a tournament as the 'highest rated' in history if he stands to gain financial benefits if this tournament proceeds and all the sponsors convinced. It would be like hoping an oil company would stop oil exploration in a town if they see a set of data that indicate that its explorations would destroy much of the town's water supply.

2. Other inflation deniers that I read in CG.com don't seem to have a good understanding of the chess game itself. They hardly post good explanations on game pages (except if purely copy pasted from computers). With such people, it's impossible to point out simple facts that Fischer played stronger chess than Nakamurs (apologies to the GM, he plays good strong chess but not in Fischer's league) yet had a lower rating. Since they don't actually replay and study Fischer's chess games (maybe Naka's too), it's impossible for them to see this and they end up proclaiming that Naka plays stronger chess than Fischer (and Petrosian, Spassky, Karpov), based purely on ratings. Fortunately this is not the general rule for most chess fans, who are willing to play through the games of past greats and appreciate and learn.

<choosea: .. the rating system has been the subject of political manipulation over the years, with bonus points, feedback points, fiddle points, inflation, deflation and just about everything else.>

Good point.

There are other ways to misuse the rating system. Recently I pointed out the Rajabov scenario, in which the rating system can be manipulated to increase one's chances for getting into the Candidates. (Again with apologies to the GM, who did not go through it on purpose but was having personal problems then.)

Another way to manipulate the rating system is detailed here Claude Frizzel Bloodgood

I believe that such manipulations can only become feasible in a rating-obsessed chess culture that is beginning to place greater importance on rating numbers than on the chess game itself. It's why I openly advocate against further sanctifying this obsession by a subset of chess fans.

(Now expect flak from inflation deniers. Especially one who has been trailing along all my posts on ratings. But I won't argue as I mentioned above. Let any one who denies rating inflation argue with Professor Elo.)

Jul-04-15  Imran Iskandar: I personally hope that Caruana extends his winning streak to five, but I think he would pragmatically settle with a draw since that is all that is needed for him to win.
Jul-05-15
Premium Chessgames Member		  Sally Simpson: None of you understand Bobby Fischer or what he was about.

He made that statement in 1962 when he a boastful 19/20 year old with all the confidence of youth.

The same year he played the then current world champion Botvinnik in the Varna Olympiad.

Does he go up to him like a peasant cowering before a king. No.

He stands in front of him at the board, points his thumb towards his chest and says 'Fischer!' then he sits down and plays chess.

Nona Gaprindashvili's name is thrown into the ring.

We have to look at what Bobby saw of Nona before 1962 - not how good a player she or any of the other very good female were to become.

Even with todays databases there are only 10 games of Nona's before she played and won the world final.

Most of them are Womens Olympiads. Now we know Fischer was rumoured to devour everything on chess but can you honestly imagine him sitting down to look at the games of a 1959 women's Olympiad.

So where did he see a Nona game?

We go back to 1961 when Nona won the women's candidates. Lisa lane appears on the cover of the 1961 Chess Life telling us she is off to play in the women's candidates.

She gets a draw with the eventual candidate winner Nona Gaprindashvili.

L Lane vs N Gaprindashvili, 1961

Cue the Kibitizers complaing that this game should never have been GOTD.

GM Ray Keens states:

" From 23 g4?? onwards this game is insanely inaccurate by both sides-its awful-i can scarcely believe some of the moves."

So you can imagine what the Young Bobby Fischer thought of this game.

Going by some of the outrageous statements he made then, It was around this time Fischer called Lasker a coffee house player, I'm surprised he stopped at Knight odds and not offered them Queen odds.

I don't think he was right, I'm sure a dozen or so of the then top female players would have (and should have) gave him a game to prove him wrong.

Instead of standing around like a bunch of pious monk shaking your weary heads you have to recall when you were 19 or 20.

Did you never say foolish things?

The difference here is that this silly moment was captured in an interview and therefore set in stone.

Jul-05-15  toyosaki: There's no elo inflation.
Jul-05-15  Appaz: <<Sally Simpson> Did you never say foolish things? The difference here is that this silly moment was captured in an interview and therefore set in stone.>

Should be kept in mind as a general consideration, before rushing to judge any GM for statements taken out of context.

A favorite technique for all GM-bashers, as watched on this site daily.

Jul-05-15  bobthebob: Some people confuse Elo manipulation (bloodgood) with Elo inflation.

Although the win/loss rates of baseball teams may be similar than they were 100 years ago, there is no denying that the training and tools they have to day has resulted in stronger players.

There is no Elo inflation.

Jul-05-15  choosea: >> "A shocked Hou Yifan and a shocked Chinese Women's coach (Yu Shaoteng)"

>> http://tinyurl.com/qzerqwz

>> http://tinyurl.com/pbk95j8

>> "..Hou Yifan's Ragozin has served her well for many ... Now her bishop is trapped on a5.."

>> Lahno vs Hou Yifan, 2014

>> "..she must at least lose the exchange. There is also not a good way to get decent compensation for it."

>> "A very tough loss for Hou Yifan and one that could not have come at a worse moment."

Jul-05-15  choosea: >> World Championship of Lightning Chess (5-minute games) ... Tal marveled that, “During the entire tournament he ["Bobby" Fischer] didn’t leave a single pawn en prise!”, while the other players “blundered knights and bishops galore”.

>> "Chess statistician Jeff Sonas observes that “for about a year, Bobby Fischer dominated his contemporaries to an extent never seen before or since”."

>> Sonas concludes that ... Fischer ... “highest single-match performance rating ever”.

>> On the July 1972 FIDE rating list, his Elo rating of 2785

>> ↓6 Hou Yifan 2670.6

Jul-05-15  choosea: >> "Kaufman has written that Kasparov could give pawn and move odds to a low grandmaster (2500 FIDE rating) and be slightly favored, and would have even chances at knight odds against a player with a FIDE rating of 2115."

>> Knight odds: One of the stronger player's knights is removed, usually the queen knight on b1. [..the odds-giver plays White unless otherwise indicated..]

>> "The purpose of a handicap, or odds, is to compensate for the difference in skill between two chess players.."

Jul-05-15  mysql: I don't think that will work against Gatus.
Jul-05-15  virginmind: Nisipeanu. +1 is a good result in Dortmund. +2 would be a very good performance. Will he be able to make +3?

Stay tuned...

Jul-05-15  Pedro Fernandez: <<Absentee>: Caruana-Hou was a hate crime.> Your observation is cruel but sadly true my dear <Absentee>. Nevertheless she is young and maybe she can reach Judith skills. And yes, as well aimed discussed here by our pals, ELO is like IQ, unable to measure the true talent of women/men but then you have a Carlsen.
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