Chess Bundesliga
Encyclopedia
The term Chess Bundesliga (German: Schach-Bundesliga), normally refers to the premier league of team chess
in Germany. It is arguably the strongest and longest running league of its kind, attracting many top grandmasters from Europe and beyond.
Austria also has a Bundesliga for chess, usually described as the Bundesliga OST (OST=Osterreich), but for the purposes of this article, reference is made only to the German league.
The season starts in October and ends in April. Venues for matches alternate between the participating clubs to minimise or equalise travel commitments for players. Many of the titled professionals are paid an appearance fee and/or travel expenses.
Each playing weekend normally comprises two matches for each team, played on consecutive days. Hence, four venues play host to two matches on each of the two days. Over the course of the season there are 15 rounds, in order that all teams play each other once.
started as runaway favourites - their impressive squad was topped by 8 players averaging a hefty Elo rating of 2709.
The 8 players in question were: Viswanathan Anand
, Peter Svidler
, Alexei Shirov
, Étienne Bacrot
, Magnus Carlsen
, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
, Pentala Harikrishna and Francisco Vallejo Pons
. The remaining squad members ensured that absent star players were not missed too much. Top quality GMs Peter Heine Nielsen
, Sergei Movsesian
and Michał Krasenkow were just three of the players standing by.
Based on Elo rating, the closest threat to the champions were likely to be SG Porz, TSV Bindlach-Aktionar and Werder Bremen. Predictably, OSC Baden-Baden successfully defended their title, whereas Werder Bremen faded badly after a good start and so a close fight developed for the remaining places. Unexpectedly, Hamburger SK confounded the ratings to take second place, due to sterling performances by a number of their players. The team's Polish contingent Radosław Wojtaszek and Robert Kempiński
, both scored heavily and Kempinski went through the entire season without losing a game, despite playing every round. Lower down the order, Germans Dirk Sebastian and Thies Heinemann also contributed well.
SG Porz and TSV Bindlach-Aktionar finished in third and fourth places respectively, with outstanding performances coming from Loek van Wely
(also undefeated) for Porz and Vladimir Baklan
and David Baramidze
for Bindlach.
2010/11 - 1. OSG Baden-Baden | 2. Werder Bremen | 3. Eppingen | 4. SG Solingen
2009/10 - 1. OSG Baden-Baden | 2. Werder Bremen | 3. SG Solingen | 4. Mülheim
2008/9 - 1. OSG Baden-Baden | 2. Eppingen | 3. Werder Bremen | 4. Mülheim
2007/8 - 1. OSC Baden-Baden | 2. Werder Bremen | 3. Mülheim | 4. Bindlach Aktionär
2006/7 - 1. OSC Baden-Baden | 2. Hamburger SK | 3. SG Porz | 4. Bindlach Aktionär
2005/6 - 1. OSC Baden-Baden | 2. Werder Bremen | 3. SG Porz | 4. SG Solingen
2004/5 - 1. SV Werder Bremen | 2. SG Porz | 3. OSC Baden-Baden | 4. TV Tegernsee
2003/4 - 1. SG Porz | 2. SC Baden-Oos | 3. TV Tegernsee | 4. SV Werder Bremen
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
in Germany. It is arguably the strongest and longest running league of its kind, attracting many top grandmasters from Europe and beyond.
Austria also has a Bundesliga for chess, usually described as the Bundesliga OST (OST=Osterreich), but for the purposes of this article, reference is made only to the German league.
Format
16 teams are made up of squads of up to 16 players, from which the manager selects a match-day team of eight, depending on rating, form and of course, availability. Team members may be male or female, but there is also a separate Bundesliga for women's chess.The season starts in October and ends in April. Venues for matches alternate between the participating clubs to minimise or equalise travel commitments for players. Many of the titled professionals are paid an appearance fee and/or travel expenses.
Each playing weekend normally comprises two matches for each team, played on consecutive days. Hence, four venues play host to two matches on each of the two days. Over the course of the season there are 15 rounds, in order that all teams play each other once.
Season 2006/7
Prior to the commencement of the season, reigning champions OSC Baden-BadenBaden-Baden
Baden-Baden is a spa town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe...
started as runaway favourites - their impressive squad was topped by 8 players averaging a hefty Elo rating of 2709.
The 8 players in question were: Viswanathan Anand
Viswanathan Anand
V. Anand or Anand Viswanathan, usually referred as Viswanathan Anand, is an Indian chess Grandmaster, the current World Chess Champion, and currently second highest rated player in the world....
, Peter Svidler
Peter Svidler
Peter Veniaminovich Svidler is a Russian chess grandmaster.He is six-time Russian champion ....
, Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
, Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot
Étienne Bacrot is a French chess grandmaster and currently ranked number one in France.He started playing at 4; by 10 young Bacrot was already winning junior competitions and in 1996, at 13 years of age, he won against Vasily Smyslov...
, Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen is a Norwegian chess Grandmaster and chess prodigy who is currently the number-one ranked player in the world. In January 2010 he became the seventh player ranked number one in the world on the official FIDE rating list...
, Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu
Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu is a Romanian chess grandmaster. His peak FIDE rating was 2707 in October 2005, when he was ranked fifteenth in the world, and the highest ranked Romanian player ever...
, Pentala Harikrishna and Francisco Vallejo Pons
Francisco Vallejo Pons
Francisco Vallejo Pons is a chess Grandmaster from Spain. He was a chess prodigy, achieving the grandmaster title at the age of 16 years and 9 months, which makes him the 20th youngest player to ever become a grandmaster...
. The remaining squad members ensured that absent star players were not missed too much. Top quality GMs Peter Heine Nielsen
Peter Heine Nielsen
Peter Heine Nielsen is a Danish chess Grandmaster.-Chess career:Nielsen became an International Grandmaster in 1994. He won the Danish Chess Championship five times: in 1996, 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2008. He played for Denmark in seven Chess Olympiads, three times on top board, with an overall...
, Sergei Movsesian
Sergei Movsesian
Sergei Movsesian is an Armenian chess Grandmaster who used to play for Slovakia, but as of late 2010, Movsesian announced that he plays for his home country of Armenia...
and Michał Krasenkow were just three of the players standing by.
Based on Elo rating, the closest threat to the champions were likely to be SG Porz, TSV Bindlach-Aktionar and Werder Bremen. Predictably, OSC Baden-Baden successfully defended their title, whereas Werder Bremen faded badly after a good start and so a close fight developed for the remaining places. Unexpectedly, Hamburger SK confounded the ratings to take second place, due to sterling performances by a number of their players. The team's Polish contingent Radosław Wojtaszek and Robert Kempiński
Robert Kempinski
Robert Kempiński is a Polish chess grandmaster. At the age of 14 he won the Polish junior championship in his age category, and the year after that he won the Polish junior championship for U20. In the following years he represented Poland in international competitions...
, both scored heavily and Kempinski went through the entire season without losing a game, despite playing every round. Lower down the order, Germans Dirk Sebastian and Thies Heinemann also contributed well.
SG Porz and TSV Bindlach-Aktionar finished in third and fourth places respectively, with outstanding performances coming from Loek van Wely
Loek van Wely
Loek van Wely is a chess Grandmaster from the Netherlands. He won the Dutch Chess Championship six times straight from 2000 through 2005. He was rated among the world's top ten in 2001. In 2002, in Maastricht, Netherlands, van Wely took on the computer program Rebel in a four-game match. The...
(also undefeated) for Porz and Vladimir Baklan
Vladimir Baklan
Vladimir Baklan is a Ukrainian chess Grandmaster. In 2000 he won with the Ukrainian team a gold medal in the 34th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul. He was a member of the gold medal-winning Ukrainian team at the 2001 World Team Chess Championship....
and David Baramidze
David Baramidze
David Baramidze is a German chess Grandmaster.He obtained the title in 2004, which made him the youngest German Grandmaster ever. In this year, he also finished 2nd in the World Youth Championships. He is currently ranked 29th in Germany...
for Bindlach.
Recent seasons
Teams finishing in the top four places in recent seasons were as follows:2010/11 - 1. OSG Baden-Baden | 2. Werder Bremen | 3. Eppingen | 4. SG Solingen
2009/10 - 1. OSG Baden-Baden | 2. Werder Bremen | 3. SG Solingen | 4. Mülheim
2008/9 - 1. OSG Baden-Baden | 2. Eppingen | 3. Werder Bremen | 4. Mülheim
2007/8 - 1. OSC Baden-Baden | 2. Werder Bremen | 3. Mülheim | 4. Bindlach Aktionär
2006/7 - 1. OSC Baden-Baden | 2. Hamburger SK | 3. SG Porz | 4. Bindlach Aktionär
2005/6 - 1. OSC Baden-Baden | 2. Werder Bremen | 3. SG Porz | 4. SG Solingen
2004/5 - 1. SV Werder Bremen | 2. SG Porz | 3. OSC Baden-Baden | 4. TV Tegernsee
2003/4 - 1. SG Porz | 2. SC Baden-Oos | 3. TV Tegernsee | 4. SV Werder Bremen