LCC-R5: Two Londons and a Catalan

The Berlin Wall has fallen – but the Tower of London still stands

Round five (final) report from London by John Saunders

Vishy Anand won the 6th London Chess Classic on tie-break from Vladimir Kramnik and Anish Giri after defeating Mickey Adams with the black pieces in the final round on Sunday. Final scores in tie-break order: 1 Anand 7, 2 Kramnik 7, 3 Giri 7, 4 Nakamura 6, 5 Adams 4, 6 Caruana 4.

It speaks volumes for the character of the man that he was able to bounce back from the disappointment of Sochi a few weeks ago to take this prestigious title in London. And prestige is a two-way street: Vishy Anand’s name on the trophy adds lustre to the London Chess Classic and means that all three world champions active during the tournament’s existence have now won it. Vishy’s win on tie-break is karmic compensation for losing out to Magnus Carlsen on tie-break in 2010 despite defeating him in the tournament. Given that the event has now been in existence for five years and six events, it might be timely to publish our roll of honour: 2009 and 2010 Magnus Carlsen; 2011 Vlad Kramnik; 2012 Magnus Carlsen; 2013 Hikaru Nakamura; and now, 2014, Vishy Anand. You’d be hard pushed to find another 21st century tournament with a list of winners as impressive as that.

The 3-1-0 scoring system ensured that the outcome was in doubt right down to the final result. Things looked a little ominous at the start as two Berlin Defences appeared on the board. But perhaps we’ve been a bit too quick to condemn the modern super-GM’s all-purpose antidote to 1.e4 as it produced the one decisive result of the round, and indeed decide the destination of the trophy.

Incidentally, there was one interesting exchange in the commentary room after the Adams-Anand game. Nigel Short (above right) told Vishy that “There were some inner groans when the Berlin was played." Vishy shot back “By now it can just be called the London!” Do you know, he’s got a very good point: given that 3...Nf6 against the Ruy Lopez played a vitally important role in Vladimir Kramnik wresting the world title from Garry Kasparov in 2000, and now Vishy Anand’s use of the same line to win with Black and thus secure the 2014 London Classic title, there is a strong case for renaming it the London Defence to the Ruy Lopez/Spanish. Or, if you like, the Tower of London rather than the Berlin Wall. For me the clincher is that Vishy says so: if the Tsar of Russia had the right to name the first grandmasters, then a world champion should have the privilege of naming opening variations anyway he chooses.

The Adams-Anand game was the first to finish. Having given our heartiest congratulations to Vishy, we must also pass on our heartfelt commiserations to Mickey Adams (photo above), whose tournament started so well but ended so disappointingly, with losses in the last two rounds. His fourth round loss was grim but he had reasonable chances in the fifth game. If things had turned out differently, he might easily have been the man receiving the plaudits instead of Vishy as a win for him in this final game would have won him the tournament on tie-break. Sic transit gloria Olympiae.

“Two Berlins and a Catalan!” was the world-weary comment from a number of spectators – as if the Catalan could be as boring as a Berlin... sorry, I was forgetting... a London. But Giri-Kramnik, and its Catalan, had a few moments of interest in the lead-up to the time control, when both players had to figure out some tactics, and also come to terms with seeing a decisive result in the Adams-Anand seriously impact their chances of lifting the trophy. In the end Kramnik was the player pressing but he did not have enough in the bishop endgame. Giri was probably content with joint first place (but third on tie-break) on his first appearance in the London Classic.

The other day I was toying with a medical analogy for the defence formerly known as Berlin. It’s like cholesterol. Most people think of cholesterol as a bad thing but doctors will tell you that there is good and bad cholesterol (although they would probably use less simplistic language than a layman such as me). In the same way, there are good and bad Berlins. Unfortunately, the one I’m about to show you is (from the entertainment point of view) a bad one. One or two flashes of grandmasterly dexterity, perhaps – a well-conceived exchange sac, certainly. But not enough scope for that commodity which makes a chess game worth watching: namely, mistakes. The players played too darned well. Here it is anyway.

Traditional cross table

Romain Eduoard vs Gawain Jones, on the sames stage as the Super-GMs

The Jones-Edouard encounter saw its fourth successive (and rather uneventful) draw, so they transfer to the Hampstead Congress for their last game on Monday. You’ll have to look to someone else to bring you up to date on that as I’m going on my Christmas holidays. Before I go, there’s just time to mention the FIDE Open. It ended in a tie for first place between GM Kamil Dragun (Poland) and IM Jinshi Bai (China) on 7½/9, ahead of six players on 7. The two winners recorded TPRs in excess of 2700, so, for Jinshi Bai it means a GM norm.

That’s about it from me. Hope you’ve enjoyed my coverage of the event, and the tournament itself, which has been a lot of fun. Here’s hoping we do it all again next year. Happy Christmas and New Year to one and all.

Photos by Ray Morris-Hill, John Saunders

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN 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 a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.