Sportland NRW Cup 2023: Karthik Venkataraman second, Sparkassen Open: Leon Luke Mendonca third

by Shahid Ahmed - 03/07/2023

Fabiano Caruana (USA) defeated Pavel Eljanov (UKR) in the final round to win NC World Masters 2023. WGM Dinara Wagner (GER) drew against IM Ruben Gideon Köllner (GER) to become the champion in Sportland NRW Cup and earn her second GM-norm. GM Karthik Venkataraman scored 6.5/9 to finish second. Germany no.3 GM Alexander Donchenko defeated GM Ori Kobo (ISR) in a 96-move long battle to win Sparkassen Chess Open A on tie-breaks. The sole leader GM Frederik Svane (GER) drew against IM Gleb Dudin to finish second. GM Leon Luke Mendonca finished with a score 7/9 to be placed third. GM Pranav Anand also made 7/9. He was placed seventh. GM Aryan Chopra and IM Rathanvel V S are the only two other Indians to make a top ten finish. They scored 6.5/9 each to secure eighth and tenth place respectively. Photos: Official site

Fabiano Caruana, Dinara Wagner and Alexander Donchenko are the winners of 50th International Dortmund Chess Days

The top three prizes in the Sparkassen Chess Trophy Open A were €5000, €3000 and €2000 each.

NC World Masters 2023 champion: Fabiano Caruana (USA) 4/6

Sportland NRW Cup 2023 champion - WGM Dinara Wagner (GER) 7/9

Interview with WGM Dinara Wagner after winning Sportland NRW Cup 2023 and scoring her second GM-norm (German audio) | Video: Dortmund Chess Channel

Sportland NRW Cup 2023 runner-up: GM Karthik Venkataraman 6.5/9 | Photo: Dariusz Gorzinski

Sparkassen Chess Open A champion - GM Alexander Donchenko (GER) 7.5/9

Sparkassen Chess Open A second runner-up - GM Leon Luke Mendonca 7/9

Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 - 50th International Dortmund Chess Days

Bagrationi - Karthik, Sportland NRW Cup

Position after 19.a3

GM Karthik Venkataraman (2548) already has a significant advantage against GM Alexander Bagrationi (ISR, 2454). 19.a3? provoked Black to expose the white king Nxa3! 20.bxa3 Qxa3+ 21.Qb2 Qxb2+ 22.Kxb2 b5 time for a pawn storm. 23.Ka2 c4 24.Bb1 b4 25.Nce4 c3 26.Nxc3 White decided to return the piece to reduce the sheer number of black pawns bxc3 27.Bxc3 Re3 28.Bxf6 Rxg3 29.Bxg7 Rxg2+ 30.Ka3 Kxg7 31.Rd4 Rb8 and it's over.

Aditya Samant - Josefine, Sparkassen Open

Position after 32.Ng5+!

Move of the round has to be 32.Ng5+! by IM Aditya S Samant (2503) against WGM Josefine Heinemann (GER, 2276). White already had a fantastic position. 31...Nd7 allowed the beautiful 32.Ng5+ which gave him a decisive advantage. No matter how Black decides to take the knight, White is going to recapture 33.fxg5 and there is no good defense for her.

Sparkassen Chess Open A: 7th GM Pranav Anand 7/9

8th GM Aryan Chopra 6.5/9

10th IM Rathanvel V S 6.5/9

One of the official commentators of 50th International Dortmund Chess Days and Luxembourg no.4 woman WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni, made the ceremonial move on Kramnik-Kollars' board | Photo: Official site

Replay 50th International Dortmund Chess Days 2023 Day 9 Live commentary by GM Artur Yusupov and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni | Video: Dortmund Chess Channel

Replay Sportland NRW Cup Round 9 games

Replay Sparkassen Chess Trophy Open A Round 9 games

Replay NC World Masters Round 6 games

Sparkassen Chess Trophy Open A Round 9 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	23	IM	Dudin,Gleb,	2486	6½	½ - ½	7	GM	Svane,Frederik,	2622	9
2	15	GM	Kobo,Ori,	2556	6	0 - 1	6½	GM	Donchenko,Alexander,	2667	2
3	3	GM	Adams,Michael,	2666	6	0 - 1	6	GM	Prohaszka,Peter,	2585	12
4	6	GM	Aryan Chopra,	2626	6	½ - ½	6	GM	Raja Rithvik R,	2488	22
5	7	GM	Svane,Rasmus,	2625	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Raja Harshit,	2510	18
6	8	GM	Mendonca,Leon Luke,	2623	6	1 - 0	6	FM	Seemann,Jakub,	2446	31
7	17	GM	Pranav Anand,	2510	6	1 - 0	6	GM	Wagner,Dennis,	2616	10
8	32	IM	Guo,Arthur,	2445	6	½ - ½	5½	GM	Kamsky,Gata,	2659	5
9	1	GM	Blübaum,Matthias,	2673	5½	1 - 0	5½	GM	Akesson,Ralf,	2402	43
10	42	FM	Bilovil,Bogdan,	2404	5½	½ - ½	5½	GM	Ponomariov,Ruslan,	2664	4

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	2	GM	Donchenko,Alexander,	GER	2667	2656	OSG Baden-Baden	7,5	52	390
2	9	GM	Svane,Frederik,	GER	2603	2622	Hamburger SK von 1830 eV	7,5	52	381
3	8	GM	Mendonca,Leon Luke,	IND	2623	2606	Hamburger SK von 1830 eV	7	51	378,5
4	7	GM	Svane,Rasmus,	GER	2616	2625	Hamburger SK von 1830 eV	7	50	371
5	23	IM	Dudin,Gleb,	FID	2486	2453	SV Deggendorf	7	47	366,5
6	12	GM	Prohaszka,Peter,	HUN	2585	0		7	45,5	362
7	17	GM	Pranav Anand,	IND	2510	0		7	44,5	357
8	6	GM	Aryan Chopra,	IND	2626	0		6,5	52	386,5
9	1	GM	Blübaum,Matthias,	GER	2672	2673	SF Deizisau	6,5	50	380
10	25	IM	Rathanvel,V S,	IND	2463	0		6,5	49	356,5

Details

NRW Cup Round 9 results

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

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	4	WGM	Wagner,Dinara,	GER	2447	SC Viernheim 1934 e.V.	7	5	27,00
2	2	GM	Karthik Venkataraman,	IND	2548		6,5	5	25,25
3	6	IM	Köllner,Ruben Gideon,	GER	2429	SF Deizisau	6,5	5	25,00
4	9	IM	Souleidis,Georgios,	GRE	2419	Hamburger SK von 1830 eV	4,5	3	19,00
5	1	FM	De Winter,Arthur,	NED	2378	SV Erkenschwick 1923 e	4,5	3	17,75
6	10	IM	Petrovskyi,Vadym,	UKR	2423	Sfr. Bad Emstal/Wolfhagen	4,5	3	17,00
7	3	FM	Besou,Hussain,	GER	2325	LSV Turm Lippstadt	4	1	15,50
8	8	GM	Bagrationi,Alexander,	ISR	2454		3,5	2	11,50
9	7	GM	Saltaev,Mihail,	UZB	2462	SV Mülheim-Nord 1931 e	3	1	11,00
10	5	FM	Schneider,Jana,	GER	2326	SC Bavaria Regensburg von 1881 e	1	0	3,50

Details

NC World Masters Round 6 results

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

Details

Final standings

Rk.	SNo		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	3	GM	Caruana,Fabiano,	2773		4	3	10,25
2	4	GM	Kramnik,Vladimir,	2753		3,5	3	9,50
3	2	GM	Kollars,Dmitrij,	2618		2,5	2	7,50
4	1	GM	Eljanov,Pavel,	2694		2	1	6,25

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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