12/10/2010 – Although the count in decisive games (one) was calmer, the games were anything but. Anand got into trouble against Carlsen, then Magnus was completely lost, almost saved it and finally succumbed. McShane suffered terribly against Kramnik, and was on the brink of losing when a last minute blunder changed this. Howell drew with a clever fortress against Nakamura. With pictures and videos.
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more. ChessBase Magazine offers first-class training material for club players and professionals! World-class players analyse their brilliant games and explain the ideas behind the moves. Opening specialists present the latest trends in opening theory and exciting ideas for your repertoire. Master trainers in tactics, strategy and endgames show you the tricks and techniques you need to be a successful tournament player! Available as a direct download (incl. booklet as pdf file) or booklet with download key by post. Included in delivery: ChessBase Magazine #225 as “ChessBase Book” for iPad, tablet, Mac etc.!
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Unleash your chess potential with this dynamic course focused on mastering the initiative.
€39.90
London Chess Classic 2010
The tournament is an eight-player round-robin for seven rounds played at 40/2h
+ 20/1h + g/15'+30" using the Sofia Rules.
Prizes: 1st 50000 Euros, 2nd 25000 Euros,
3rd 15000 Euros, 4th 10000 Euros, 5th 10000 Euros, 6th 8000 Euros plus seven
daily Best Game prizes of 1,000 Euros voted on by the public. To further incentivate
combativity, there is a winners’ pool of 20,000 Euros for each game won.
At the end of the tournament the number of wins is counted with a proportionate
prize is awarded for each win, all of equal value. For example if there are
twenty decisive games then the prize will be 1000 Euros per win.
Tie Breaks: In order of priority. 1. Number
of games with Black. 2. Number of games won with Black. 3. Number of games won.
4. Ranking based on the games between the tied players only.
Today was the big one – world number one plays world number two, right
here in London town (we had to pinch ourselves that it was really happening).
Note that I didn’t specify precisely which was which – Vishy is
numero uno on the official November list but Magnus is no. 1 on the unofficial
but authoritative ‘live list’. Prior to today they had met nine
times in 2010 with five of those at longplay chess (the other shorter stuff
doesn’t really count to purists). This year Vishy leads 3-2 with one win
(in Bilbao, with Black, two months ago to the day) and four draws. Linares 2009
was the last time Magnus beat Vishy in a longplay head-to-head. So Magnus needed
a win to emphasise to the chess public that he is not just a serial conqueror
of lesser names, while Vishy’s immediate problem was his position in the
tournament: two draws are only worth two points under the 3-1-0 system and McShane
was already on 6. Plenty to play for, then.
The moment everyone tries to catch: the handshake before the start of the
game
A young girl from the scholastic event executes the first move for Anand: 1.e4
The game started with a fairly standard Ruy Lopez and Vishy thought his opening
had gone wrong around move 24 – nothing too drastic but not quite the
position he was aiming for. But then the move 24...Be6, which Magnus described
as a “huge oversight”, changed the complexion of the position in
the world champion’s favour. It was still mind-numbingly hard to convert
and came down to an endgame where White’s main advantage was his vastly
superior king safety and his ability to point all his pieces at Magnus’s
weak pawns. Carlsen tried a desperate last stand as Vishy’s pieces circled
and tormented his depleted forces but in the end he couldn’t hold out.
This was a great win for Vishy (the day before his 41st birthday) and a psychological
blow for the young man with designs on his crown.
After the game Anand and Magnus analyse with GMs Daniel King and Chris Ward
for the audience in London and at the same time on the Playchess server
Anyone watching big-time chess for the first time in London today will have
learned that the elite game can be highly attritional. If Vishy versus Magnus
was tough, Vlad versus Luke was utter torture. Eventually, via Vlad’s
favourite Berlin Wall (patented right here in Hammersmith), it came down to
rook and bishop versus rook - the endgame dreaded by players, arbiters and chess
journalists who fancy putting their feet up for the evening, dammit. A draw
with best play, apart from a few specific positions, but always damnably hard
to defend at the end of a long game. As British chess writer Bill Hartston once
said (I’m probably misquoting): “other players make you suffer when
they get the chance, so you have to make them suffer when you’ve got the
upper hand.” Why do chessplayers put themselves through this punishment?
Love of the game? More like because we are total masochists. Come on, FIDE -
you like messing around with the rules of the game? Why don’t you declare
rook and bishop versus rook to be a statutory DRAW so that some of us with lives
to lead can go home, have something to eat and maybe reacquaint ourselves with
our poor suffering spouses and children? Sorry - got a bit emotional there -
I’ve calmed down now. Anyway, finally, at 9.37pm, 7 hours and 37 minutes
after they started play, Vlad stalemated his opponent - draw! Thus Luke remains
the overnight leader going into round 4 and ensured that not one Englishman
lowered his colours in this toughest of tough rounds of chess. No wonder the
delighted home fans went on their way chanting ‘Enger-land, Enger-land,
Enger-land!’
David Howell once again showed his talent for brinksmanship, both on the board
and on the clock. He defended a Fianchetto Grünfeld Defence, following
a line played by Karpov and Kasparov in their ‘nostalgia match’
of 2009. David, who had not expected the opening played, ate up gigantic amounts
of time on his clock trying to decide what to do around move 12, while Hikaru
evidently thought he was playing an online bullet game. Only kidding - the real
reason for his speed was that he had prepared the line in some depth. After
around 25 moves played, David only had five minutes or so left while Hikaru
had only used some 12-15 minutes for all the moves on his clock. However, David
came up with a very nice plan to save the day; his rook, knight and king huddled
together for safety whilst simultaneously protecting a couple of key pawns and
preventing Hikaru’s king from entering the fray. Hikaru’s queen
prodded and poked, and his king huffed and puffed, but the American couldn’t
blow the Englishman’s house down.
Mickey Adams and Nigel Short have long been rivals for the title of English
number one. Nigel pinched it from Mickey a year or so but Mickey raised his
game and pinched it back again. Their game today was hard fought, with Nigel
playing a g6 move in the Caro-Kann which has been played quite a lot by his
fellow Greek residents Skembris and Nikolaidis (for those who didn’t know,
Nigel lives in Athens and occasionally likes to refer to himself as an “olive
farmer”. Mickey played the very plausible 11 e6 to break up Black’s
structure and then start an attack rolling down the kingside. Some cagey shadow-boxing
ensued. It was a tough game though not quite the grim struggle the other three
games were. White had a long-lasting initiative but nothing came of it - draw
agreed (slightly naughtily, without consulting an arbiter, but it was the deadest
of dead draws.
John Nunn and the amazing Viktor Korchnoi following the games in
the VIP room
As always: Viktor's wife Petra sits on the sofa reading a book
In the lobby John Nunn and Lawrence Trent analyse, with Henrik Carlsen watching
The Carlsens in London: Henrik, Sigrun, Ingrid (16) and Signe (12) – the
two sisters
have played in musicals like "Cats"
All photos by Frederic Friedel in London
Commentary and interviews
After the games the players always congregate to the commentary room to discuss
what has just transpired for the audience in London and worldwide on Playchess.com.
The live commentary during the games and the post mortems with the players are
archived and can be watched "on demand" by Playchess members. Here
are three samples from an earlier round on YouTube.
The games will be broadcast live on the official
web site and on the chess server Playchess.com.
If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase
Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program
to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009!
Ruy Lopez Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 12092 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 1276 are annotated.
In this 60 Minutes, Andrew Martin guides you through all the key ideas you need to know to play with confidence. Whether you’re looking to surprise your opponents, or simply want a straightforward weapon against e5, the Centre Attack has you covered.
Videos by Mihail Marin: Najdorf Variation with 6.f4 and Nico Zwirs: Italian ‘giucco pianissimo’. ‘Lucky bag’ with 45 analyses by Edouard, Ftacnik, Gupta, Pelletier and others. Update service with over 50,000 new games for your database!
This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
Chess Festival Prague 2025 with analyses by Aravindh, Giri, Gurel, Navara and others. ‘Special’: 27 highly entertaining miniatures. Opening videos by Werle, King and Ris. 10 opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more.
€21.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.
