Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine, arguably had his best performance in over a decade with some sensational play throughout to take outright first place. He dominated from start to finish with a +3 winning score of 6.5/10 to take the title - all of which equated to over 15 rating points to move him back once again into the top ten in the world rankings. Another notable breakthrough performance came from 19-year-old surprise package Le Quang Liem of Vietnam who, playing in his first elite tournament, came in second on his own. He qualified for Dortmund by winning the ũberstrong Aeroflot Open in Moscow earlier in the year, just a week after winning the strong Moscow Open - so he has had a formidable outing in those three tournaments! Former World Champion Vladmir Kramnik of Russia is, at 35, the oldest in the field followed by Peter Leko of Hungary who, at 30, are the veterans that simply had a horrid time of it against a newer generation who - perhaps influenced by Magnus Carlsen - do not fear the old guard so much these days. Kramnik, thanks to a last round win over Shak Mamedyariov of Azerbaijan, did though manage to salvage a 50% score - but it is all a far cry from a player of his calibre, who was the big pre-tournament favorite to add to his 9 Dortmund titles. Leko's time at the top though may be ending. The former world title challenger suffered his third wooden spoon in top level tournaments in the past 12 months, and we now see him plummet outside the top 25 in the live rating list. The Chess.FM site pros of GMs Joel Benjamin, Larry Christiansen and IM Mark Ginsburg provided a Game of the Day service for each round of Dortmund. GOTD is an ICC member-only service - but for non-members, you can catch a free 5 minute GOTD clip from each round below. Click here to join ICC and view in full.
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Commentator | Game | Watch |
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GM Joel Benjamin | GM Arkadij Naiditsch vs. GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov |  |
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GM Joel Benjamin | |
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GM Joel Benjamin | |
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GM Joel Benjamin | |
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GM Larry Christiansen | |
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GM Larry Christiansen | |
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GM Larry Christiansen | |
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GM Larry Christiansen | GM Ruslan Ponomariov vs. GM Arkadij Naiditsch | |
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IM Mark Ginsburg | GM Arkadij Naiditsch vs. GM Vladimir Kramnik | |
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IM Mark Ginsburg | GM Peter Leko vs. GM Arkadij Naiditsch | |
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Featuring Chess.FM
One of the great benefits of ICC (apart from all the top-notch online play and tournaments) in recent years has been the upgrade in our Chess.FM service - many members agree that the live Chess.FM commentary and GOTDs from our elite tournament coverage alone is worthy of their membership fee. As a member you have access all through the year to our regular weekly shows: Ronen's Opening Survey (Mondays), Chess Talk (Tuesdays), Attack With LarryC (Wednesdays), Boris Alterman's Gambit Guide (Thursdays), Joel Benjamin's Game of the Week (Fridays), and Dan Heisman's Improve Your Chess (Saturdays).
And for non-ICC members to tune-in to one of the most popular Chess.FM regular weekly shows, we have made John Watson's show free for you to view to find out exactly what you are missing by not being a member of ICC!
 John Watson  Abby Marshall |
This week, joining IM John Watson on Chess Talk will be teenage Woman FIDE Master Abby Marshall.
18-year-old Abby Marshall recently played in her first US Women's Championship at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. One of the strongest female players of her generation, Abby is the reigning 'Denker Tournament of High Schools' champion, and the first female to have won this famous junior national event, and also the only two-time winner of the Susan Polgar National Invitational for Girls (2005 and 2006).
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