Ponomariov stumbles

The newcomer to elite tournaments Le Quang Liem earned his maiden victory today against Ruslan Ponomariov.
Mamedyarov is now the sole leader on 3/4 after drawing in today's fourth round.

The young Vietnamese player won a pawn with a neat combination. Then, despite Ponomariov's best efforts to draw by engineering an opposite bishop ending, Le Quang Liem's connected passed pawns saw him home. An impressive display which suggests that we will be seeing more of him in elite tournaments.

Dortmund: A well established tournament

The other co-leader fared somewhat better, Mamedyarov drawing with Kramnik. The Russian top seed accepted an isolated pawn, and obtained adequate counterplay by advancing it when Mamedyarov opted to win a wing pawn.

In the other game Naiditsch kept slight pressure but when he eventually won a pawn the rook ending, with all the pawns on one wing, was too drawish.

NameRatingCountryResultNameRatingCountryOpeningNo. of Moves
Arkadij Naiditsch2684GER0.5-0.5Peter Leko2734HUNSpanish Defence (Modern Archangel)55
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov2761AZE0.5-0.5Vladimir Kramnik2790RUSQueen's Gambit Declined (5.Bf4)31
Le Quang Liem2681VIE1-0Ruslan Ponomariov2734UKRGrünfeld Defence (Exchange Variation 7.Bc4)52

Shakriyar Mamedyarov leads and is now the only unbeaten player, whereas the bottom three players have yet to win a game.

PositionNameCountryRatingWorld RankingPoints
1stShakhriyar MamedyarovAZE276163
2ndRuslan PonomariovUKR2734142.5
3rdLe Quang LiemVIE2681552
4th-6thVladimir KramnikRUS279041.5
4th-6thPeter LekoHUN2734161.5
4th-6thArkadij NaiditschGER2684511.5

Le Quang Liem is back on 50% and is only half-a-point behind Ponomariov after today's game.

A view of the playing hall © official site.

For more information see the Official site


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