Kramnik Wins Ninth Dortmund Title

They might want to think about renaming the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess-Meeting to the Vladimir Kramnik Invitational. Kramnik finished off this year's tournament with a 6.5/10 score, a full point ahead of the pack and good enough for his 9th Dortmund championship. Kramnik clinched his victory by defeating local GM Arkadij Naiditsch. The game was very competitive until Naiditsch blundered badly on move 38, and was forced to resign just four moves later.

Kramnik took the title by a point over three chasing players: Peter Leko, Magnus Carlsen and Dmitry Jakovenko. Carlsen led for some time, but was passed when Kramnik defeated him in Round Eight. French GM Etienne Bacrot scored 4 points to finish 5th, while Naiditsch managed just six draws against four losses, finishing last.

Can Kramnik make it to double figures at Dortmund next year? Only time will tell, but he should be near the top of the world rankings for at least a few more years, which means you have to expect him to get #10 at some point. Here is Kramnik's critical win over Carlsen in Round 8:

White: Vladimir Kramnik
Black: Magnus Carlsen
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 0-0 6.e3 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.a3 Nc6 9.Qc2 Qa5 10.Rd1 Be7 11.Be2 dxc4 12.Bxc4 Nh5 13.0-0 Nxf4 14.exf4 g6 15.g3 Rd8 16.Rxd8+ Qxd8 17.Rd1 Bd7 18.f5 gxf5 19.Qd2 Qb6 20.Qh6 Be8 21.Ng5 Bxg5 22.Qxg5+ Kf8 23.Qh6+ Kg8 24.Qg5+ Kf8 25.Rd6 Qc7 26.Qh6+ Ke7 27.Qh4+ Kf8 28.Qh6+ Ke7 29.Nb5 Qa5 30.b4 Nxb4 31.Rxe6+ fxe6 32.Qxe6+ Kd8 33.Qf6+ Kc8 34.Qxf5+ Kd8 35.Qf6+ Kc8 36.axb4 1-0