London Closing Ceremony

by Alejandro Ramirez
12/17/2013 – The London Chess Classic has come to an end. Nakamura ended victorious in the Super Sixteen rapid, but that was not all there was to the festival. A women's invitational took place while in the FIDE Open, from which Istatescu and Sutovsky qualified to the rapids, was ultimately won by Jon Ludvig Hammer. Impressions of a traditional and fun closing ceremony...

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The London Super Sixteen rapid tournament has ended. The main event of the London Chess Classic took place from December 11th to December 15th at the Olympiad Conference Center in London, England. The tournament brings together many of the best players of the World as well as two qualifiers from the Open section of the London Chess Classic.

Closing Ceremony

The closing ceremony took place at Simpson's-in-the-Strand (above). This is one of London's oldest traditional English restaurants, known as the Grand Cigar Divan when it opened in 1828. It developed from a smoking room to a coffee house, and finally achieved dual fame for its traditional English food, particularly roast meat, and as the most important venue in Britain for chess in the nineteenth century.

As is now traditional, the players teamed together in a simultaneous exhibition, alternating moves. For those that have not tried this type of chess before, it is incredibly complicated. In many ocassions the grandmasters, not knowing exactly what the previous player was trying to do, will simply undo the move and the plan that had just been played!

Nakamura sharing a joke with one of the tables. Each table had its own
board and the grandmasters would walk around moving the pieces.

Caruana is still firmly in theory. The table he is playing against might not be as much.

Questions are always welcome. Gelfand ponders if he should answer truthfully...

This table in particular had a slightly higher rating average than the others. Somehow it was missing a chess set, though.

No matter, the players always find a board to blitz it out in anyways. Clockwise starting from bottom left: Caruana, Howell, Nakamura, Ali Mortazavi, and McShane. Ali Mortazavi (the only non grandmaster in the picture) is the director of corportate strategy for Silence, one of Nakamura's sponsors.

Gawain Jones with his wife WIM Sue Maroroa. They decided not to change names
to FIDE to avoid confusion. The example of WGM l'Ami and GM l'Ami comes
as an example of how confusing changing names can become...

Boris Gelfand and Vladimir Kramnik flank Tereza Pribanova

Not all chess sets are created equal. This is a special luxury set created by Purling London.

The strongest woman in the history of chess and Jason Kouchak, an internationally acclaimed pianist, composer and singer-songwriter whose works, interests, public contributions and charitable associations span the world including the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Tania Sachdev played in the FIDE open with a good result,
while Lawrence Trent provided amazing commentary throughout the tournament

Malcolm Pein, the man in charge of it all, gives Hikaru Nakamura his prize

FIDE Open

The FIDE open was led by Istatescu and Sutovsky with perfect 4.0/4, but since they were bumped up to the Super Sixteen rapids the way was paved for other players to win the event. After everything was said and done the young and talented Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, one of Carlsen's seconds, was the winner with 7.5/9. He finished with an important victory against Abhijeet Gupta in the final round to clinch his first prize.

The tournament was very hard fought, for proof just look at how the last round ended:

Table White Score Fed. Rating
Result
Black Score Fed. Rating
1 GM Hammer, Jon Ludvig 6.5 NOR 2612
1-0
GM Gupta, Abhijeet 6.5 IND 2608
2 GM Grachev, Boris 6.0 RUS 2669
1-0
GM Nevednichy, Vladislav 6.5 ROU 2604
3 GM Gharamian, Tigran 6.0 FRA 2656
1-0
IM Sarkar, Justin 6.0 USA 2425
4 IM Hawkins, Jonathan 6.0 ENG 2512
0-1
GM Bartel, Mateusz 6.0 POL 2649
5 GM McDonald, Neil 6.0 ENG 2418
1-0
GM Delchev, Aleksander 6.0 BUL 2648
6 GM Iordachescu, Viorel 6.0 MDA 2614
1-0
IM Karavade, Eesha 6.0 IND 2380
7 GM Brunello, Sabino 6.0 ITA 2603
½-½
GM Van Kampen, Robin 5.5 NED 2601
8 GM Cherniaev, Alexander 5.5 RUS 2434
0-1
GM Hebden, Mark L 5.5 ENG 2560
9 GM Rahman, Ziaur 5.5 BAN 2496
½-½
IM Slavin, Alexey 5.5 RUS 2363
10 IM Panjwani, Raja 5.5 CAN 2460
1-0
Sreeves, Clement 5.5 SCO 2251

Final Standings

Rank Name Score Fed. Rating TPR W-We Prize
1st GM Hammer, Jon Ludvig 7.5 NOR 2612 2728 +1.32 £2500
2nd= GM Grachev, Boris 7.0 RUS 2669 2648 -0.07 £1100
2nd=  GM Gharamian, Tigran 7.0 FRA 2656 2616 -0.26 £1100
2nd= GM Bartel, Mateusz 7.0 POL 2649 2642 +0.14 £1100
2nd= GM Iordachescu, Viorel 7.0 MDA 2614 2609 +0.03 £1100
2nd= GM McDonald, Neil 7.0 ENG 2418 2576 +1.90 £1100
7th= GM Gupta, Abhijeet 6.5 IND 2608 2543 -0.43 £83.33
7th= GM Nevednichy, Vladislav 6.5 ROU 2604 2563 -0.14 £83.33
7th= GM Brunello, Sabino 6.5 ITA 2603 2625 +0.50 £83.33
7th= GM Hebden, Mark L 6.5 ENG 2560 2449 -0.91 £83.33
7th= IM Panjwani, Raja 6.5 CAN 2460 2501 +0.71 £83.33
7th= IM Vakhidov, Jahongir 6.5 UZB 2452 2526 +1.06 £83.33

Women's Invitational

Rank Name Score Fed. Rating TPR W-We
1 IM Ciuksyte, Dagne 7.5 ENG 2345 2434 +1.16
2 WIM Foisor, Mihaela-Veronica 7.0 ROU 2216 2415 +2.66
3 IM Bulmaga, Irina 5.0 ROU 2396 2230 -2.10
4 WIM Fuchs, Judith 4.5 GER 2337 2206 -1.72
5 WGM Nadig, Kruttika 4.0 IND 2127 2212 +1.00
6 WFM Hegarty, Sarah N 2.0 ENG 2127 2044 -1.00

 

Irina Bulmaga, the top seed fo the event, in front of the London Eye

Her sixteen tournaments this year must have tired her out, as she was
rather out of shape in London. However she will be back in full strength
for the Graz Open in February. You can follow her adventures on her blog.

The women's section was narrowly won by Dagne Ciuksyte from England ahead of Veronica Foisor, the youngest of the Foisor family of players.

Special thanks to Ray Morris-Hill for providing all the photography during the event.

A London based professional photographer specialising in Chess, Portraits, Sports, Fashion and Wildlife. He has published pictures in The Times, The Guardian, "Коммерсантъ", Digital Photographer, Esquire, Time Out, Drapers, 220 Triathlon, Peón de Rey, Chess Life, British Chess Magazine and of course, Chess and www.chessbase.com. His main career has been as a marketing consultant for home shopping companies in the UK. However, in the last four years, as his photography business has grown rapidly, more of his time has been taken up behind the camera.

Super Sixteen Results

Semi Final matches:

Player Rtg G1 G2 Pts
Kramnik, Vladimir 2793
½
0
0.5
Nakamura, Hikaru 2786
½
1
1.5
Player Rtg G1 G2 Pts
Gelfand Boris 2777
1
½
1.5
Adams, Michael 2754
0
½
0.5

Quarter Final matches:

Player Rtg G1 G2 Pts
Kramnik, Vladimir 2793
½
1
1.5
Anand, Vishy 2773
½
0
0.5
Player Rtg G1 G1 T1 T2 Pts
Adams, Michael 2754
1
0
1
1
3.0
Svidler, Peter 2758
0
1
0
0
1.0
Player Rtg G1 G2 Pts
Short, Nigel 2683
0
½
0.5
Nakamura, Hikaru 2786
1
½
1.5
Player Rtg G1 G1 T1 T2 Pts
Caruana, Fabiano 2777
½
½
0
0
1.0
Gelfand, Boris 2782
½
½
1
1
3.0

Group Stage results

Round 01 – Group A: Wednesday December 11th, 14:00
Luke McShane 2697
0-1
Vishy Anand 2775
Andrei Istratescu 2709
0-1
Michael Adams 2761
Round 01 – Group B: Wednesday December 11th, 14:00
Vladimir Kramnik 2794
1-0
Peter Svidler 2746
Jonathan Rowson 2573
1-0
Matthew Sadler 2646
Round 01 – Group C: Wednesday December 11th, 15:30
Boris Gelfand 2764
1-0
Judit Polgar 2696
Gawain Jones 2633
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura 2772
Round 01 – Group D: Wednesday December 11th, 15:30
Nigel Short 2684
½-½
David Howell 2644
Fabiano Caruana 2779
1-0
Emil Sutovsky 2663
Round 02 – Group A: Wednesday December 11th, 18:00
Vishy Anand 2775
½-½
Michael Adams 2761
Luke McShane 2697
1-0
Andrei Istratescu 2709
Round 02 – Group B: Wednesday December 11th, 18:00
Peter Svidler 2746
½-½
Matthew Sadler 2646
Vladimir Kramnik 2794
1-0
Jonathan Rowson 2573
Round 02 – Group C: Wednesday December 11th, 19:30
Judit Polgar 2696
0-1
Hikaru Nakamura 2772
Boris Gelfand 2764
1-0
Gawain Jones 2633
Round 02 – Group D: Wednesday December 11th, 19:30
David Howell 2644
1-0
Emil Sutovsky 2663
Nigel Short 2684
0-1
Fabiano Caruana 2779
Round 03 – Group C: Thursday December 12th, 14:00
Gawain Jones 2633
0-1
Judit Polgar 2696
Hikaru Nakamura 2772
½-½
Boris Gelfand 2764
Round 03 – Group D: Thursday December 12th, 14:00
Fabiano Caruana 2779
 ½-½
David Howell 2644
Emil Sutovsky 2663
0-1
Nigel Short 2684
Round 03 – Group A: Thursday December 12th, 15:30
Andrei Istratescu 2709
0-1
Vishy Anand 2775
Michael Adams 2761
 ½-½
Luke McShane 2697
Round 03 – Group B: Thursday December 12th, 15:30
Jonathan Rowson 2573
0-1
Peter Svidler 2746
Matthew Sadler 2646
 ½-½
Vladimir Kramnik 2794
Round 04 – Group C: Thursday December 12th, 18:00
Judit Polgar 2696
½-½
Boris Gelfand 2764
Hikaru Nakamura 2772
1-0 
Gawain Jones 2633
Round 04 – Group D: Thursday December 12th, 18:00
David Howell 2644
0-1
Nigel Short 2684
Emil Sutovsky 2663
0-1
Fabiano Caruana 2779
Round 04 – Group A: Thursday December 12th, 19:30
Vishy Anand 2775
1-0
Luke McShane 2697
Michael Adams 2761
1-0 
Andrei Istratescu 2709
Round 04 – Group B: Thursday December 12th, 19:30
Peter Svidler 2746
1-0
Vladimir Kramnik 2794
Matthew Sadler 2646
1-0
Jonathan Rowson 2573
Round 05 – Group A: Friday December 13th, 14:00
Luke McShane 2697
0-1 
Michael Adams 2761
Vishy Anand 2775
½-½
Andrei Istratescu 2709
Round 05 – Group B: Friday December 13th, 14:00
Vladimir Kramnik 2794
½-½
Matthew Sadler 2646
Peter Svidler 2746
1-0 
Jonathan Rowson 2573
Round 05 – Group C: Friday December 13th, 15:30
Boris Gelfand 2764
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura 2772
Judit Polgar 2696
0-1
Gawain Jones 2633
Round 05 – Group D: Friday December 13th, 15:30
Nigel Short 2684
1-0
Emil Sutovsky 2663
David Howell 2644
0-1
Fabiano Caruana 2779
Round 06 – Group A: Friday December 13th, 18:00
Michael Adams 2761
½-½
Vishy Anand 2775
Andrei Istratescu 2709
1-0
Luke McShane 2697
Round 06 – Group B: Friday December 13th, 18:00
Matthew Sadler 2646
½-½
Peter Svidler 2746
Jonathan Rowson 2573
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik 2794
Round 06 – Group C: Friday December 13th, 19:30
Hikaru Nakamura 2772
½-½
Judit Polgar 2696
Gawain Jones 2633
1-0
Boris Gelfand 2764
Round 06 – Group D: Friday December 13th, 19:30
Emil Sutovsky 2663
1-0
David Howell 2644
Fabiano Caruana 2779
1-0
Nigel Short 2684

Photographs by Ray Morris-Hill

Links

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.


Grandmaster Alejandro Ramirez has been playing tournament chess since 1998. His accomplishments include qualifying for the 2004 and 2013 World Cups as well as playing for Costa Rica in the 2002, 2004 and 2008 Olympiads. He currently has a rating of 2583 and is author of a number of popular and critically acclaimed ChessBase-DVDs.

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