Showdown in Baden-Baden
By Georgios Souleidis
The red carpet is rolled out in Baden-Baden. The German champion awaits his hardest rival to fight for the title in the Schachbundesliga. At the 14th round the best German teams meet each other for the top match of the season 2010/11. Both teams will compete with their nearly strongest lineup. All chess fans can await a hard fought battle between two teams which consists only of players in the top 100 of the world ranking. Theoretically speaking the team of SC Eppingen has also chances to win the title but will compete in Baden-Baden with a weakened formation. Take a look at the crucial pairings concerning the fight for the title in the highest German chess league.
14th round: Saturday, 9th of April 2011, 2pm
| OSG Baden-Baden | Werder Bremen | |||
| 1 | Alexei Shirov | 2749* | Pavel Eljanov | 2761 |
| 2 | Peter Svidler | 2731 | Vugar Gashimov | 2719 |
| 3 | Sergei Movsesian | 2723 | Zahar Efimenko | 2683 |
| 4 | Etienne Bacrot | 2716 | Laurent Fressinet | 2718 |
| 5 | Michael Adams | 2728 | Luke McShane | 2657 |
| 6 | Peter-Heine Nielsen | 2670 | Alexander Areshchenko | 2664 |
| 7 | Francisco Vallejo Pons | 2697 | Michael Roiz | 2637 |
| 8 | Arkadij Naiditsch | 2674 | Tomi Nyback | 2635 |
| SC Eppingen | Delmenhorster SK | |||
| 1 | Sergei Tiviakov | 2637 | Bartlomiej Heberla | 2534 |
| 2 | Evgeny Postny | 2595 | Tobias Jugelt | 2409 |
| 3 | Arik Braun | 2538 | Markus Lammers | 2395 |
| 4 | Robert Ruck | 2555 | Michal Luch | 2335 |
| 5 | Namig Guliyev | 2510 | Malte Meyer | 2348 |
| 6 | Zoltan Medvegy | 2531 | Florian Mossakowski | 2335 |
| 7 | Elisabeth Pähtz | 2467 | David Höffer | 2259 |
| 8 | Christian Mann | 2444 | Alex Isakson | 1958 |
| Werder Bremen | SC Eppingen | |||
| 1 | Pavel Eljanov | 2761 | Sergei Tiviakov | 2637 |
| 2 | Vugar Gashimov | 2719 | Evgeny Postny | 2595 |
| 3 | Zahar Efimenko | 2683 | Arik Braun | 2538 |
| 4 | Laurent Fressinet | 2718 | Robert Ruck | 2555 |
| 5 | Luke McShane | 2657 | Namig Guliyev | 2510 |
| 6 | Alexander Areshchenko | 2664 | Zoltan Medvegy | 2531 |
| 7 | Michael Roiz | 2637 | Elisabeth Pähtz | 2467 |
| 8 | Tomi Nyback | 2635 | Christian Mann | 2444 |
| Delmenhorster SK | OSG Baden-Baden | |||
| 1 | Bartlomiej Heberla | 2534 | Alexei Shirov | 2749 |
| 2 | Tobias Jugelt | 2409 | Peter Svidler | 2731 |
| 3 | Markus Lammers | 2395 | Sergei Movsesian | 2723 |
| 4 | Michal Luch | 2335 | Etienne Bacrot | 2716 |
| 5 | Malte Meyer | 2348 | Michael Adams | 2728 |
| 6 | Florian Mossakowski | 2335 | Peter-Heine Nielsen | 2670 |
| 7 | David Höffer | 2259 | Francisco Vallejo Pons | 2697 |
| 8 | Tobias Sturm | 2037 | Arkadij Naiditsch | 2674 |
Playing venue: Kasino der Signal Iduna, Kapstadtring 8, 22297 Hamburg
Saturday, 9th of April, 2 pm, 14th Round
Hamburger SK – SG Trier
SF Berlin – SV Griesheim
Sunday, 10th of April, 10 am, 15th Round
SG Trier – SF Berlin
SV Griesheim – Hamburger SK
Playing venue: Aula der Mittelschule Aue-Zelle, Agrikolastraße 5, 08280 Aue
Saturday, 9th of April, 2 pm, 14th Round
Nickelhütte Aue – SG Solingen
Bayern München – SC Remagen
Sunday, 10th of April, 10 am, 15th Round
SG Solingen – Bayern München
SC Remagen – Nickelhütte Aue
In the fourth playing venue of the last weekend of the season all teams fight for the prestige achieving the best possible ranking in the table.
Playing venue: Haus der Evangelischen Kirche, III. Hagen 39, 45127 Essen
Saturday, 9th of April, 2 pm, 14th Round
SF Katernberg – SK Turm Emsdetten
SV Mülheim Nord – SV Wattenscheid
Sunday, 10th of April, 10 am, 15th Round
SK Turm Emsdetten – SV Mülheim Nord
SV Wattenscheid – SF Katernberg
Live coverage:
All games of the Schachbundesliga are covered live in the internet. This season the games are presented within a new live portal. Its possible to follow any game just by one click and all games are analyzed by one of the strongest engines in the world – Rybka 4. Also its possible to download all games by one click.
Standings after 13 rounds
| Rank | Team | Points |
| 1. | OSG Baden-Baden | 25 |
| 2. | Werder Bremen | 23 |
| 3. | SC Eppingen | 23 |
| 4. | SG Solingen | 20 |
| 5. | Mülheim Nord | 16 |
| 6. | Turm Emsdetten | 15 |
| 7. | SG Trier | 14 |
| 8. | SV Wattenscheid | 13 |
| 9. | Hamburger SK | 12 |
| 10. | SF Katernberg | 12 |
| 11. | SV Griesheim | 10 |
| 12. | SC Remagen | 8 |
| 13. | SF Berlin | 7 |
| 14. | Nickelhütte Aue | 6 |
| 15. | Bayern München | 4 |
| 16. | Delmenhorster SK | 0 |
baden baden will of course win.
As always: Peter Svidler rules!!