Britain’s top grandmaster Mickey Adams has won clear first prize in the tournament at Dortmund, ahead of former world champion Vladimir Kramnik. The full final scores (out of 9) were as follows: Adams 7; Kramnik 6½; Leko and Naiditsch 4½; Andreikin, Meier, Wang Hao and Caruana 4; Khenkin 3½; Fridman 3.
The last time a British grandmaster won outright at Dortmund was in 1980, when I took first prize, but the field then was far less impressive than the elite group over whom Adams triumphed. This week, some key extracts.
Adams-Andreikin: Dortmund 2013
Although this position features opposite-coloured bishops White’s active pieces and passed g-pawn create too many problems for Black. 53 Rf1+ Ke7 54 Rf4 Bd3 55 Bg7 Ke6 56 Rf6+ Ke7 57 Rb6 Kf7 58 Bc3 Bc2 59 g5 Rd1 60 g6+ A key tactical point. If 60 … Bxg6 then 61 Rf6+ wins. 60 … Ke7 61 g7 Rg1 62 Rb7+ Ke6 63 Rb8 Bh7 64 Kh3 Kd5 Black resigns
Naiditsch-Adams: Dortmund 2013
The position would be balanced after a simple move like 17 Re1. Instead White gambles on a kingside attack with pure piece play but Adams defends coolly. 17 Ne2 Nd7 18 Bxe7 Qxe7 19 Rg3 Rfd8 20 Qc1 Kf8 21 Bh7 Nf6 22 Nf4 With the transparent threat of 23 Ng6+. 24 … Be8 23 Rf3 Nc6 White’s forces are now utterly disorganised. 24 Rd1 Rxd4 25 Rxd4 Nxd4 26 Rd3 Nc6 White resigns
Adams-Khenkin: Dortmund 2013
Black suffers from a lack of development and weak kingside pawns. Adams now develops swiftly and purposefully to exploit these advantages. 17 Rh3 e6 18 Be3 Be7 19 Bd4 Qg6 20 Rg3 Qf5 21 Rxg7 Rf8 22 Qg4 Rd8 23 Re1 Black has lost a pawn and his remaining kingside pawns are still very vulnerable. 23 … Rd6 24 c3 h5 25 Qg6+ Kd8 26 Qxf5 Rxf5 27 Rg8+ Kd7 28 g3 c5 29 Be3 Bf6 30 Rf8 a6 31 Rf7+ Black resigns
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