Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, the world's new no. 2, has impressed everyone with his performance in this year's Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meeting. He sealed victory with a win against Ruslan Ponomariov in Round 6, making it four wins in only six rounds, an especially impressive feat given the pairings were known so far in advance. The Frenchman combined excellent preparation with magnificent practical qualities to pull off one of the best results of his young career.

MVL was relentless in Dortmund | photo: official website

You can replay all the games from Dortmund with computer analysis using the selector below:

On Saturday the two top-ranked players on the live rating list demonstrated their domination of their respective tournaments. While Magnus Carlsen was scoring his third win in a row in Bilbao, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave did exactly the same in Dortmund. That gave the Frenchman a 1.5 point lead over Domínguez and Caruana, meaning he's already won a first Dortmund title - an excellent way to mark his climb to the very highest reaches of the world rankings.

MVL 1 - 0 Ponomariov

Ruslan Ponomariov has been somewhat absent from top-level chess of late, but in this event he demonstrated very pragmatic play which, until yesterday, had enabled him to remain within touching distance of the leader. This time, though, he lived to regret inviting his opponent into the infamous Berlin Defence. Maxime avoided the main line and steered the game into a positional battle in which he managed to navigate the subtleties better than his opponent.

The game that won Maxime the 2016 Dortmund title | photo: official website

In the middlegame Black gained the bishop pair, but only in exchange for ruining his own pawn structure. Ultimately the players reached an ending in which White had a knight for Black's three pawns. MVL used his pieces well and soon the black king was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Ponomariov was unable to parry all the threats and, when he saw it was impossible to put up any more resistance, he allowed the French no. 1 to demonstrate an elegant mate on the board:

52.Bf3# gave Maxime the title. 

Caruana 1 - 0 Buhmann

This was the first game of the day to finish, with the US no. 1 needing only 30 moves to consign Buhmann to his fourth defeat of the event. The point brought Caruana level with Domínguez in second place on +1, while the German player was left rock bottom on 1/6. It was another case of a top grandmaster sensing weakness on the part of his opponent and exploiting that mercilessly. A bitter welcome to elite company for Buhmann.

Caruana piles misery on his opponent | photo: official website

In the game Caruana soon left the beaten path and played a kind of reversed Queen's Indian. Buhmann was too modest and allowed his opponent to activate his pieces with little difficulty. Already by around move 20 the computer engines were indicating a clear advantage for White, and when queens left the board Fabiano was a pawn up with obviously superior pieces. In the final position Black can't defend the f7-pawn (30...Rf8 31.Nd7 etc.) and his a5-knight is a perfect indication of just how unsalvageable his position is:

Nisipeanu 1/2 - 1/2 Kramnik

This was the sixth draw of the event for both players, and they nearly killed each other getting there! Kramnik is reluctant to leave "his tournament" without a single win, and made that abundantly clear as he tried to exploit the smallest of advantages for no less than 146 moves and almost eight hours! The players were finally able to go and try to find some dinner at approaching eleven o'clock at night...

Kramnik once more fights on to the bitter end | photo: official website

Kramnik won a piece for the exchange by move 33. Nisipeanu put his trust in his passed c-pawn, but the Russian managed to neutralise it with little difficulty. On move 44 we already had the battleground for the remaining four hours of the game:

The ex-World Champion once again did everything in his power to squeeze out a win, but 102 moves later a draw was agreed in a position where all that had changed was that two pairs of pawns had been exchanged. You can't knock their fighting spirit!

This time our team didn't stick around to the very end, but Fiona and Niclas nevertheless commentated live on Bilbao and Dortmund for over five hours:

Najer 1/2 - 1/2 Domínguez

These two players have had very different tournaments. Najer started with a win and then suffered three losses, demonstrating unstable play over the week's action. Domínguez, meanwhile, had looked impressively solid and is currently in second place on +1. 

Domínguez can't complain about his performance | photo: official website

Their encounter wasn't a rollercoaster ride, with the players showing good preparation and no great willingness to take risks. A peace agreement was signed after 54 moves, with only kings and a pawn a side remaining on the board. So although Domínguez is second and has White against the leader in the final round, he's not within striking distance:

Although we now know the Champion, there's still plenty to be decided in the final round. Can Kramnik press Najer for a win after his two marathon games in the preceding rounds? Can Caruana beat Ponomariov to close the gap on MVL at the top of the rating list? The final round starts two hours earlier and can, as always, be followed live here on chess24.

You can also watch the games in our free mobile apps:  

         

See also:

• Official website
• All the Dortmund 2016 games with computer analysis
• Super-GM summer: Danzhou, Dortmund, Bilbao
• Dortmund Round 1: MVL beats Caruana and crosses 2800
• Dortmund Round 2: Ponomariov catches MVL
• Dortmund Round 3: Kramnik steals the show
• Dortmund Round 4: MVL takes the sole lead
• Dortmund Round 5: MVL is world no. 2