After his defeat in a spectacular game in the second round, Vladimir Kramnik bounced back on Wednesday with a brilliant positional performance. After the Mayor of Dortmund, Norbert Schilff, made the symbolic first move for him, Kramnik opted for a rather quiet approach with white and gained a small advantage against Fabiano Caruana. Slowly but surely, Kramnik increased his advantage and ended up scoring an important full point. | Photo: Michelle Lassak
Dmitrij Kollars can celebrate having beaten a former world champion. In the No-Castling Masters, the German grandmaster defeated Vladimir Kramnik. Ruben Gideon Köllner leads the Sportland NRW Cup, while Alexander Donchenko won the all-important against Frederik Svane in the A-Open. | Screenshot: Former tournament director Jürgen Grastat makes the ceremonial first move
With opening theory reaching insane depth and draws on the rise, there has been an increasing interest in chess variants such as Chess960 aka Fischer Random Chess, and the recent 'No-Castling' chess. Here is another variant that bears similarities to Chess960, but completely asymmetrical and no castling. One added plus is that you can even play it against Fritz Online!
Vishy Anand continues to lead the standings in the No-Castling World Masters after drawing Dmitrij Kollars on Friday. In the Sparkassen Open-A, one of many tournaments taking place as part of the Dortmund Chess Festival, Dutch GM Max Warmerdam has scored 7 points in as many games. Warmerdam beat Thomas Beerdsen in style and analysed his victory in the post-game interview. | Photos: Michelle Lassak
There were two decisive games in the No-Castling World Masters. Vishy Anand defeated Daniel Fridman and Dmitrij Kollars beat Michael Adams. In the Deutschland Grand Prix, Luke McShane remains in the lead after all three games ended in a draw on Wednesday. In the open tournament, Max Warmerdam and Tornike Sanikidze are sharing the lead. | Photos: Michelle Lassak