Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 R5: Leon joins Aryan and Donchenko at the top

by Shahid Ahmed - 29/06/2023

GM Leon Luke Mendonca defeated fellow compatriot GM Pranav Anand in the fifth round of Sparkassen Chess Trophy of 50th International Dortmund Chess Days. Pranav erred in a complex rook and same color bishop endgame. GM Aryan Chopra had a quick 16-move draw against GM Alexander Donchenko (GER). Aryan, Donchenko and Leon are currently at 4.5/5 each. Aryan will face Leon in Round 6. GM Karthik Venkataraman drew against WGM Dinara Wagner (GER) to move his score 3/5. Mr. Dortmund Vladimir Kramnik bounced back by winning against Fabiano Caruana. Pavel Eljanov (UKR) defeated the defending champion Dmitrij Kollars (GER). Round 6 Open and Sportland NRW Cup starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Today is a rest day for the NC World Masters. Photo: IM Patrick Zelbel

Kramnik beats Caruana

After Aryan, Donchenko and Leon, 16 players including the top seed GM Matthias Bluebaum (GER), GM Raja Rithvik R, IM Rathanvel V S and IM Aditya S Samant are at 4/5 each.

GM Leon Luke Mendonca defeated GM Pranav Anand to move to 4.5/5 | Photo: IM Patrick Zelbel

Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 - 50th International Dortmund Chess Days | Photo: Official site

GM Aryan Chopra made a quick 16-move draw against GM Alexander Donchenko (GER) | Photo: IM Patrick Zelbel

Open Round 5: Pranav Anand - Leon: 0-1

In the first-ever rated game between GM Pranav Anand (2510) and GM Leon Luke Mendonca (2623), the latter prevailed. It was a complex rook and same color bishop endgame.

Position after 50...Kf6

White needed to go 51.Kf4 to prevent Re5. 51.f4? turned out to be the incorrect way to achieve that Rc1 52.Re8 Rc3 53.Kg4 Bc4 even Rxa3 was also fine as there is no checkmate threat via Rf8+. Black soon went on to win the game.

GM-elect IM Rathanvel V S drew against GM Rasmus Svane (GER) | Photo: IM Patrick Zelbel

IM Moksh Amit Doshi (pictured) - GM Pierre Bailet (FRA): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

IM Aditya S Samant (pictured) - GM Ralf Akesson (SWE): 1-0 | Photo: Aditya Sur Roy

Sportland NRW Cup 2023: GM Karthik Venkataraman 3/5 | Photo: IM Patrick Zelbel

Mayor of Dortmund, Norbert Schilff made the ceremonial first move of NC World Masters on Kramnik-Caruana's board | Photo: Official site

Kramnik - Caruana, NC World Masters Round 3

Position after 41.c6

White is threatening to runaway with both his passed c6 and e5-pawns. Black should not forget that he has his own at g3. 41...Nb5? 42.Ne6 Na7 43.c7 allowed White to get away with a win. Instead 41...Nf4 42.Bxg3 Nd5 43.e6 Nb5 44.Ke2 Kg6 would have saved the half point for Fabiano Caruana (USA).

Mr. Dortmund Vladimir Kramnik bounced back with a win over Fabiano Caruana (USA) | Photo: Official site

GM Pavel Eljanov (UKR) handed the defending champion GM Dmitrij Kollars (GER) his second loss of the event | Photo: Official site

Replay 50th International Dortmund Chess Days 2023 Day 5 Live commentary by GM Artur Yusupov and WIM Fiona Steil-Antoni | Video: Dortmund Chess Channel

Replay Sportland NRW Cup Round 5 games

Replay Sparkassen Chess Trophy Open A Round 5 games

Replay NC World Masters Round 3 games

Sparkassen Chess Trophy Open A Round 5 results

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	6	GM	Aryan Chopra,	2626	4	½ - ½	4	GM	Donchenko,Alexander,	2667	2
2	1	GM	Blübaum,Matthias,	2673	3½	½ - ½	3½	GM	Kobo,Ori,	2556	15
3	3	GM	Adams,Michael,	2666	3½	½ - ½	3½	IM	Samunenkov,Ihor,	2499	20
4	17	GM	Pranav Anand,	2510	3½	0 - 1	3½	GM	Mendonca,Leon Luke,	2623	8
5	7	GM	Svane,Rasmus,	2625	3	½ - ½	3½	IM	Rathanvel,V S,	2463	25
6	33	IM	Buckels,Valentin,	2442	3	0 - 1	3	GM	Ponomariov,Ruslan,	2664	4
7	9	GM	Svane,Frederik,	2622	3	1 - 0	3	IM	Muthaiah AL,	2439	35
8	36	IM	Materia,Marco,	2436	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Wagner,Dennis,	2616	10
9	11	GM	Safarli,Eltaj,	2609	3	½ - ½	3	IM	Wadsworth,Matthew J,	2431	37
10	39	IM	Parvanyan,Ashot,	2425	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Prohaszka,Peter,	2585	12

Details

Standings after Round 5

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	RtgN	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	6	GM	Aryan Chopra,	IND	2626	0		4,5	15	56,5
2	2	GM	Donchenko,Alexander,	GER	2667	2656	OSG Baden-Baden	4,5	14,5	56
3	8	GM	Mendonca,Leon Luke,	IND	2623	2606	Hamburger SK von 1830 eV	4,5	13,5	56,5
4	1	GM	Blübaum,Matthias,	GER	2673	2673	SF Deizisau	4	16	54
5	3	GM	Adams,Michael,	ENG	2666	2631	OSG Baden-Baden	4	15	55
6	15	GM	Kobo,Ori,	ISR	2556	0		4	14,5	57,5
7	9	GM	Svane,Frederik,	GER	2622	2622	Hamburger SK von 1830 eV	4	14,5	55
8	4	GM	Ponomariov,Ruslan,	UKR	2664	0		4	14	54,5
9	32	IM	Guo,Arthur,	USA	2445	0		4	14	53
10	27	IM	Vogel,Roven,	GER	2461	2461	USV TU Dresden	4	13,5	56
11	67	FM	Woelk,Tom-Frederic,	GER	2330	2330	Hamburger SK von 1830 eV	4	13,5	52,5
12	20	IM	Samunenkov,Ihor,	UKR	2499	0		4	13	53,5
13	22	GM	Raja Rithvik R,	IND	2488	0		4	12,5	55,5
14	18	GM	Raja Harshit,	IND	2510	0		4	12,5	54
15	25	IM	Rathanvel,V S,	IND	2463	0		4	12,5	53
16	19	IM	Samant Aditya S,	IND	2503	0		4	12	54,5
17	31	FM	Seemann,Jakub,	POL	2446	0		4	11,5	54
18	203		Skabs,Denis,	GER	2059	2047	Schachfreunde Brackel 1930 e. V.	4	8	49,5
	235		Strehse,Nelson,	GER	1995	1995	Klub Kölner SF e. V.	4	8	49,5
20	13	IM	Laurent-Paoli,Pierre,	FRA	2572	2572	SC Ötigheim	3,5	14	54

Details

Round 6 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	Rtg	No.
1	8	GM	Mendonca,Leon Luke,	2623	4½		4½	GM	Aryan Chopra,	2626	6
2	2	GM	Donchenko,Alexander,	2667	4½		4	GM	Blübaum,Matthias,	2673	1
3	22	GM	Raja Rithvik R,	2488	4		4	GM	Adams,Michael,	2666	3
4	4	GM	Ponomariov,Ruslan,	2664	4		4	IM	Guo,Arthur,	2445	32
5	25	IM	Rathanvel,V S,	2463	4		4	GM	Svane,Frederik,	2622	9
6	27	IM	Vogel,Roven,	2461	4		4	GM	Kobo,Ori,	2556	15
7	18	GM	Raja Harshit,	2510	4		4		Skabs,Denis,	2059	203
8	31	FM	Seemann,Jakub,	2446	4		4	IM	Samant Aditya S,	2503	19
9	20	IM	Samunenkov,Ihor,	2499	4		4		Strehse,Nelson,	1995	235
10	67	FM	Woelk,Tom-Frederic,	2330	4		3½	GM	Safarli,Eltaj,	2609	11

Details

NRW Cup Round 5 results

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

Details

Standings after Round 5

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

Details

Round 6 pairings

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

Details

NC World Masters Round 2 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	2	2618	GM	Kollars,Dmitrij,	1 - 0	GM	Kramnik,Vladimir,	2753	4
2	3	2773	GM	Caruana,Fabiano,	½ - ½	GM	Eljanov,Pavel,	2694	1

Details

Standings after Round 2

Rk.	SNo		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2
1	3	GM	Caruana,Fabiano,	2773		1,5	1	1,25
2	2	GM	Kollars,Dmitrij,	2618		1	1	1,00
3	4	GM	Kramnik,Vladimir,	2753		1	1	0,50
4	1	GM	Eljanov,Pavel,	2694		0,5	0	0,75

Details

Round 3 pairings

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

Details

Links

Official site

NC World Masters 2023

Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 tournaments

Sparkassen Chess Trophy on facebook, youtube, twitter and instagram

Related news:

	Sportland NRW Cup 2023: Karthik Venkataraman second, Sparkassen Open: Leon Luke Mendonca third @ 03/07/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Frederik Svane on the verge of winning Sparkassen Chess Trophy Open 2023 @ 02/07/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 R7: Aryan Chopra rejoins the lead @ 01/07/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 R6: Donchenko emerges sole leader, Raja Rithvik draws with Michael Adams @ 30/06/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 R4: Aryan and Donchenko are the coleaders 4/4 @ 28/06/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	Sparkassen Chess Trophy 2023 R1-3: Aryan Chopra and Leon Luke Mendonca win three in-a-row @ 27/06/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)
	NC World Masters with world-class field of participants in Dortmund @ 22/03/2023 by Shahid Ahmed (en)