Schachbundesliga 2011/12
The 2011/12 season of the German chess league, the Schachbundesliga, starts today, with the opening 3 rounds taking place this weekend.
The Schachbundesliga is the strongest national chess league in the world, with some of the best players from all corners of the world competing for the 16 league teams.
The powerhouse team of the league are OSG Baden-Baden, who have won the title for the last six years straight! Their squad this year includes Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, Peter Svidler, Paco Vallejo Pons, Michael Adams, Alexei Shirov, Etienne Bacrot and Arkadij Naiditsch.
The official website has a great live interface for following the games. Today's first round is taking place right now, and rounds two and three will take place on Saturday and Sunday. The 2011/12 league season concludes in April 2012.
The top players in the Schachbundesliga (July 2011 ratings):
| Player (Elo) | Team |
| Magnus Carlsen (2821) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Viswanathan Anand (2817) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Levon Aronian (2805) | SF Berlin |
| Vassily Ivanchuk (2768) | SC Remagen |
| Vugar Gashimov (2760) | Werder Bremen |
| Peter Svidler (2739) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Nikita Vitiugov (2733) | SV Wattenscheid |
| Zoltan Almasi (2726) | USV TU Dresden |
| Francisco Vallejo Pons (2724) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2722) | SV Mülheim Nor |
| Michael Adams (2715) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Liem Le Quang (2715) | Werder Bremen |
| Alexei Shirov (2714) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Baadur Jobava (2713) | SC Hansa Dortmund |
| Etienne Bacrot (2710) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Zahar Efimenko (2706) | Werder Bremen |
| Arkadij Naiditsch (2706) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Anish Giri (2701) | SK Turm Emsdetten |
| Sergei Movsesian (2700) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Laurent Fressinet (2698) | Werder Bremen |
| Pavel Eljanov (2697) | Werder Bremen |
| Ferenc Berkes (2696) | SC Eppingen |
| Alexander Motylev (2685) | SV Mülheim Nor |
| Radoslaw Wojtaszek (2683) | Hamburger SK |
| Andrei Volokitin (2683) | SF Katernberg |
| Alexander Areshchenko (2682) | Werder Bremen |
| Vladimir Potkin (2682) | SV Mülheim Nor |
| Peter-Heine Nielsen (2681) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Boris Grachev (2680) | SV Mülheim Nor |
| Viktor Bologan (2678) | SC Eppingen |
| Luke McShane (2671) | Werder Bremen |
| Tigran Gharamian (2670) | SC Remagen |
| Rustam Kasimdzhanov (2669) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Michael Roiz (2669) | Werder Bremen |
| Pentala Harikrishna (2669) | SC Eppingen |
| Daniel Fridman (2659) | SV Mülheim Nor |
| Chanda Sandipan (2656) | SG Solingen |
| Yuriy Kryvoruchko (2652) | SF Katernberg |
| Markus Ragger (2651) | SG Solingen |
| Constantin Lupulescu (2650) | SG Trier |
| Zoltan Gyimesi (2646) | SC Eppingen |
| Csaba Balogh (2643) | SC Eppingen |
| Evgeniy Najer (2643) | SV Wattenscheid |
| Parimarjan Negi (2642) | SF Katernberg |
| Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu (2641) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Ivan Saric (2639) | SV Hockenheim |
| Mircea Parligras (2636) | SC Remagen |
| Kamil Miton (2635) | SC Hansa Dortmund |
| Luka Lenic (2634) | SV Hockenheim |
| Jan Gustafsson (2634) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Bartosz Socko (2631) | USV TU Dresden |
| Evgenij Miroshnichenko (2630) | SV Hockenheim |
| Predrag Nikolic (2629) | SG Solingen |
| Konstantin Landa (2628) | SV Mülheim Nor |
| Jan Smeets (2628) | SG Solingen |
| Tomi Nyback (2627) | Werder Bremen |
| Ivan López Salgado (2626) | Werder Bremen |
| Daniel Stellwagen (2625) | SG Solingen |
| David Howell (2625) | SG Trier |
| Zbynek Hracek (2624) | Werder Bremen |
| Sergei Tiviakov (2623) | SC Eppingen |
| Evgeny Postny (2618) | SC Eppingen |
| Mikheil Mchedlishvili (2618) | SK Turm Emsdetten |
| Sergey Fedorchuk (2618) | SC Remagen |
| Anatoli Karpov (2617) | SV Hockenheim |
| Viktor Erdos (2613) | SG Trier |
| Bartlomiej Macieja (2612) | SV Wattenscheid |
| Mateusz Bartel (2611) | SV Wattenscheid |
| Erwin L´Ami (2611) | SG Solingen |
| Jon-Ludvig Hammer (2610) | Werder Bremen |
| Peter Acs (2607) | SC Eppingen |
| Grzegorz Gajewski (2607) | USV TU Dresden |
| Gawain Jones (2606) | SC Remagen |
| Emanuel Berg (2604) | SC Hansa Dortmund |
| Rustem Dautov (2603) | OSG Baden-Baden |
| Pavel Tregubov (2602) | SV Mülheim Nor |
| Sipke Ernst (2600) | SG Solingen |
| Robert Kempinski (2600) | Hamburger SK |
| Hrant Melkumyan (2600) | SF Berlin |
Some already completed games from the first round:
