Ruslan Ponomariov drew his sixth round game against Peter Leko, taking him to a score of 4/6 at the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting, good for first in the six player field. Ponomariov is a half-point ahead of Le Quang Liem, who despite being the lowest-rated player in the field, stands alone in second and won his head-to-head game with Ponomariov.
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov has had a tough last two rounds. After round four, the Azerbaijani grandmaster was sitting pretty with a 3/4 score. However, he lost a key game against Ponomariov in the fifth round, and then hung a piece before resigning in his sixth round game against Arkadij Naiditsch. Mamedyarov now shares 3rd place with Vladimir Kramnik with three points. Naiditsch is fifth with 2.5, while Peter Leko rounds out the field at 2 points.
A quick note from here in the United States before I go: congratulations to Irina Krush for winning the US Women's Championship with a great 8/9 score! Congrats also to Sam Shankland, who won the US Junior Chess Championship after winning a three-way playoff over Ray Robson and Parker Zhao.
Comments
Well done by Ponmariov. Kramnik seems to have lost some momentum and Leko is certainly struggling. I guess a slight falling off in form at this level can mean a big difference in placings.
I enjoy your notes, but can you tell me if it is possible to play the games out on my screen? Hope you can find time – I play on GameKnot at a humble 1560, but want to play good games through to learn more. Thanks Bob Loosemore