Baden-Baden retains German title with a struggling world champ on board 1

For the seventh year in a row, the Bundesliga team OSG Baden-Baden won the German Team Championship. However, the last Bundesliga weekend was a bit bumpy for the star team from Baden-Baden: after an unexpected 4-4 against the team from Eppingen in the penultimative round with a shock loss of world champion Vishy Anand against Sergey Tiviakov, the planned party was delayed one day. In the last round on Sunday however, OSG Baden-Baden crushed Hockenheim 7-1, securing the title.

By Eric van Reem 

Saturday – SC Eppingen shocks OSG Baden-Baden

The playing hall in Baden-Baden

The home team of Baden-Baden had everything prepared for a victory party on Saturday, but the opponents from SC Eppingen, number three on the table, proved to be a really tough opponent. In the end the match ended 4-4, but the favorites were on the brink of losing the match.

Once again world champion Vishy Anand showed up to play two Bundesliga games. He arrived in a typical Baden horse-drawn carriage with his manager Hans-Walter Schmitt to play against Sergey Tiviakov. Certainly not everybody expected Anand to play just a few weeks before the world championship in Moscow, which will start on 10 May.

Anand played with the black pieces against Tiviakov, who played a smooth game. The Dutchman obtained a nice advantage, which he gradually expanded. Anand did not find any counterplay and after 44 moves the world champion resigned. It was a textbook game, which shows how to take advantage of the weak square “d5”.

[Event "Schachbundesliga 2011/2012"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2012.04.14"]
[Round "14.1"]
[White "Tiviakov, Sergei"]
[Black "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2647"]
[BlackElo "2817"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "99"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "1:49:00"]
[BlackClock "0:39:00"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. c4 e5 8.
Qd3 h6 (8... Rc8 9. O-O b5 10. Na3 Qb6 11. Rd1 Qb7 12. Bg5 h6 13. Bh4 g5 14.
Bg3 Nf6 15. Nd2 Be7 {Ponomariov,R (2723)-Volokitin,A (2695)/San Sebastian 2012}
) 9. Nc3 Nf6 10. O-O Be7 11. a4 b6 12. b3 Ra7 $146 (12... Bc6 13. Ba3 Ra7 14.
Nd5 Nxd5 15. cxd5 Bd7 16. Nd2 b5 17. axb5 Bxb5 18. Nc4 O-O {Gdanski,J (2400)
-Koch,J (2270)/Arnhem 1987}) 13. Rd1 Bc8 14. Ba3 Rd7 15. Nd2 O-O 16. Nf1 Bb7
17. Ne3 Re8 18. Ncd5 Nxd5 19. Nxd5 Bxd5 20. Qxd5 Qa8 21. Qxa8 Rxa8 22. Rd5 {A
horrible ending to defend.} f6 23. Rad1 Rad8 24. g3 g5 25. f4 gxf4 26. gxf4 Kf7
27. Kf2 exf4 28. Kf3 Ke6 29. Bc1 Rc8 30. Bxf4 Bf8 31. h4 Rc6 32. h5 Rb7 33. Be3
Rb8 34. Bd4 Rc7 35. Rg1 Bg7 36. Rg6 Rf7 37. Be3 Rd7 38. Rf5 Rf7 39. Kg4 Bf8 40.
Bxh6 {This might have been too early.} Bxh6 41. Rxh6 Rg7+ (41... Rg8+ $1 {
seems more tenacious:} 42. Rg6 (42. Kf3 Rg1 43. Kf2 Rb1) 42... Rxg6+ 43. hxg6
Rf8 44. a5 bxa5 45. Rxa5 Rg8 46. Kf4 Rxg6 47. Rxa6 Rh6) 42. Kf4 Rf8 43. a5 Rg1
44. axb6 Rb1 45. b7 Rxb3 46. e5 dxe5+ 47. Rxe5+ Kd6 48. Rf5 Ke6 49. Rh7 Rd8 50.
Rd5 1-0

In an interview for the official website, Tiviakov said that Anand obviously did not know the variation 3…Nd7 at all and that black made a lot of mistakes:

11…b6 is a serious mistake, black has too many weaknesses in his position. It was an easy game for me today.

Tiviakov said that he did not know that he would face Anand on Saturday:

I just came from Russia the day before the match against Baden-Baden, had to arrange some things at home in Groningen and travelled for more than 10 hours to Baden-Baden. I had no time to prepare anything.

Things went wrong for the home team also on the second board: Paco Vallejo of Spain lost against Hungarian GM Peter Acs.

[Event "Schachbundesliga 2011/2012"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2012.04.14"]
[Round "14.2"]
[White "Vallejo Pons, Francisco"]
[Black "Acs, Peter"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2716"]
[BlackElo "2587"]
[PlyCount "96"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:31:00"]
[BlackClock "0:31:00"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 c6 4. e3 Bg4 5. h3 Bxf3 6. Qxf3 e6 7. Nc3 Be7 8. Bd2
O-O 9. g4 Nbd7 10. g5 Ne8 11. h4 f5 12. gxf6 Ndxf6 13. Qh3 Qd7 14. Bd3 Nd6 15.
c5 Nf5 16. h5 b6 17. b4 Bd8 18. Rb1 bxc5 19. bxc5 Ba5 20. Ne2 Bxd2+ 21. Kxd2
Ne4+ 22. Bxe4 dxe4 23. Qh2 Rae8 24. h6 Nxh6 25. Rbg1 Kh8 26. Nf4 e5 27. Ng6+
hxg6 28. Rxg6 Rf7 29. Rxh6+ gxh6 30. Qxh6+ Rh7 31. Qf6+ Qg7 32. Rxh7+ Kxh7 33.
Qxc6 Qg6 34. Qd7+ Kg8 35. d5 Qf7 36. Qg4+ Kf8 37. Qxe4 Qxf2+ 38. Kd3 Qf1+ 39.
Kd2 Qf2+ 40. Kd3 Qf6 41. c6 Rb8 42. Kc4 Qf1+ 43. Kc5 Rb5+ 44. Kd6 Qf6+ 45. Kd7
Rb8 46. Qh7 Rd8+ 47. Kc7 Qd6+ 48. Kb7 Qb8+ 0-1

Therefore the lower boards had to secure at least a draw. Schlosser won against Vogt and top scorer Arkadij Naiditsch managed to equalize the score by winning against Robert Ruck.

[Event "Schachbundesliga 2011/2012"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2012.04.14"]
[Round "14.5"]
[White "Ruck, Robert"]
[Black "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "2579"]
[BlackElo "2707"]
[PlyCount "108"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:17:51"]
[BlackClock "0:09:17"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. d4 d6 6. Be2 Nf6 7. O-O O-O 8. d5
Na5 9. e4 a6 10. Bf4 Bg4 11. Nd2 Bxe2 12. Qxe2 b5 13. cxb5 axb5 14. Nxb5 Nh5
15. Bg5 Bxb2 16. Rab1 Bg7 17. Rfc1 Qd7 18. Nf3 Rfb8 19. a4 Nf6 20. Bxf6 Bxf6
21. Nd2 Bg5 22. Rc3 e6 23. Nc4 exd5 24. exd5 Re8 25. Qd3 Ra6 26. Nxa5 Rxa5 27.
Rc4 Bf6 28. g3 h5 29. h4 Bg7 30. Rd1 Raa8 31. Kg2 f5 32. Rd2 Kh7 33. Re2 Rxe2
34. Qxe2 Re8 35. Qd2 Re5 36. f4 Re8 37. Kf2 Qd8 38. Qd3 Qf6 39. Qd2 Re7 40. Qd1
Qb2+ 41. Qc2 Qa1 42. Qc1 Qa2+ 43. Qc2 Bb2 44. Rc3 Qxd5 45. Re3 Rxe3 46. Kxe3
Bg7 47. Qd3 Qg2 48. Qxd6 c4 49. Qc7 Qxg3+ 50. Ke2 Qd3+ 51. Kf2 c3 52. Nd6 Qd4+
53. Kf3 c2 54. Ne8 Qc3+ 0-1

The other games ended in a draw, although all games were hard-fought. In the other match in Baden-Baden on Saturday, SG Trier easily won against SV Hockenheim.

History lesson

Baden-Baden 1870: the first Super Tournament
The German city of Baden-Baden is famous for its spas, its therapeutic waters and its casino, but the picturesque city has also played host to some of the greatest chess tournaments in history. Back in 1870 a tournament was organized, that can be regarded as the first “super tournament”. It was the first tournament in which only top international players were invited: Adolf Anderssen, Wilhelm Steinitz, Joseph Blackburne and Gustav Neumann, to name just a few. Quite interesting to know is the following: it was the first tournament in which chess clocks were used (20 moves had to be made per hour), and it was the first time that draws counted as half points. Anderssen won the tournament with 11/16, before Steinitz with 10,5/16. More information about the players and the tournament can be found here.

A group photo of the participants in 1925

Another memorable tournament in the history of chess is Baden-Baden 1925, with players like Alekhine, Reti, Nimzowitsch, Torre, Tarrasch and Grünfeld. Alekhine won with the phenomenal score 16/20. In recent history, in 1992 Anatoly Karpov won a round robin tournament in Baden-Baden with 9,5/11.

Sunday: Easy 7-1 win for the champs against Hockenheim

After the draw on Saturday, the players of OSG Baden-Baden were sent to bed early by team captain Sven Noppes to prepare for the final round against Hockenheim, starting at a chess-player unfriendly time: 10.00 AM. Arkadij Naiditsch was the first player to win. He won both games this weekend and had a great +7 score this season: 11/15.

[Event "Schachbundesliga 2011/2012"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2012.04.15"]
[Round "15.5"]
[White "Naiditsch, Arkadij"]
[Black "Gasthofer, Alexander"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2707"]
[BlackElo "2456"]
[PlyCount "45"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "0:41:00"]
[BlackClock "0:25:00"]

1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. Qc2 f5 5. d4 Bd6 6. Nh3 Nf6 7. Bf4 O-O 8. Nd2 b6
9. O-O Bb7 10. Rfc1 Bxf4 11. Nxf4 Qe7 12. Nf3 Ne4 13. cxd5 exd5 14. Ne5 Rf6 15.
Qb3 Rd6 16. f3 Ng5 17. e4 Ne6 18. Nxe6 Qxe6 19. exf5 Qxf5 20. f4 Kh8 21. Qa3 c5
22. dxc5 Re6 23. cxb6 1-0

Anand played his last game before the world championship match in May against Rainer Buhmann and he quickly gained a small plus. However, the world champion had difficulties to convert his advantage and he even had some problems after 46. Ne1. However, Buhmann did not find the right plan and Anand won the game in the end.

[Event "Schachbundesliga 2011/2012"]
[Site "Baden-Baden"]
[Date "2012.04.15"]
[Round "15.1"]
[White "Anand, Viswanathan"]
[Black "Buhmann, Rainer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2817"]
[BlackElo "2606"]
[PlyCount "131"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[WhiteClock "1:38:00"]
[BlackClock "0:27:00"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Nf3 b5 6. c5 g6 7. Ne5 Bg7 8. f4 O-O
9. Bd3 a5 10. Bd2 Be6 11. Qc2 Qc8 12. h3 Na6 13. a3 Nd7 14. Nf3 Naxc5 15. dxc5
Nxc5 16. Rc1 a4 17. Nd4 Bxd4 18. exd4 Nb3 19. Ne2 Nxc1 20. Nxc1 Bf5 21. Bxf5
Qxf5 22. Qxf5 gxf5 23. g4 f6 24. gxf5 Kf7 25. Kf2 Rfe8 26. Ne2 Rac8 27. Rc1 h5
28. Kf3 Rg8 29. Be1 Rg7 30. Ng3 h4 31. Nf1 Ke8 32. Bf2 Kd7 33. Ne3 Rcg8 34. Ng4
Rb8 35. Be1 Rh8 36. Rc2 Rhg8 37. Rg2 Kd6 38. Rh2 Rh8 39. Re2 Kd7 40. Rg2 Kd6
41. Bb4+ Kc7 42. Ne3 Rxg2 43. Nxg2 Kd7 44. Be1 Rc8 45. Bf2 Rb8 46. Ne1 b4 47.
axb4 Rxb4 48. Nd3 Rb3 49. Ke2 Ke8 50. Be1 Rb8 51. Kd1 Kf7 52. Kc2 Rh8 53. Kc3
Rh5 54. Kb4 Ke8 55. Kxa4 Kd7 56. Ka5 Rxf5 57. Kb6 Rh5 58. Kb7 Rh7 59. Ba5 Rg7
60. Nc5+ Ke8 61. Kxc6 Rg3 62. b4 Rxh3 63. b5 Rh1 64. b6 Rb1 65. b7 Rxb7 66.
Kxb7 1-0

Baden-Baden players Peter Heine Nielsen of Denmark (l.) and Etienne Bacrot of France

The final score was 7-1, securing the title and with a convincing win OSG Baden-Baden ended the season with a bang.

SV Hockenheim had enough reason to celebrate as well, as their Elisabeth Pähtz scored her first GM norm after drawing with GM Laszlo Gonda. SC Hansa Dortmund, USV TU Dresden, SC 1950 Remagen and SK König Tegel relegated to the second league.

Final standings