London Rd6: Grischuk grinds down Anand

by Sagar Shah
12/10/2015 – Four draws one win – that’s the trend at each round of the London Chess Classic. Alexander Grischuk scored a full point against Vishy Anand by playing a highly consistent game. Topalov drew a winning position against Michael Adams. The other three games were not exactly dramatic. David Howell won the British Knockout with a score of 4:2 and Benjamin Bok leads the FIDE Open with a score of 7.0/8. Pictures, videos and analysis from London.

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The 7th London Chess Classic, England's premier tournament, takes place at its traditional venue of Kensington Olympia from Friday December 4th to Sunday December 13th. The main event, the strongest ever held in the UK, is a nine-round ten-player super tournament played at a rate of 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by the rest of the game in one hour with a 30-second increment from move 41. The overall prize fund is $300,000, with the winner getting $75,000.

Watch it live on Playchess!

Round 6 Thursday 10 Dec, 16.00-23.00
Anish Giri
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
Levon Aronian
Veselin Topalov
½-½
Michael Adams
Alexander Grischuk
1-0
Viswanathan Anand
M Vachier-Lagrave
½-½
Fabiano Caruana

London Chess Classic round six: Grischuk grinds Anand down

Report from London by Sagar Shah

Few minutes before the start of the sixth round nine elite players entered the auditorium of the Olympia Center in London. All of them took seats in the front row and waited for the proceedings to begin. The World Champion, however, was not present. He was at the backstage, away from all the distractions, getting mentally prepared for his game against Anish Giri. The 21-year-old lad from Netherlands, who is the youngest participant in the event, is one of the very few players who have a plus score against Magnus Carlsen in classical chess. The Norwegian was here to change that. Tournament director Malcolm Pein called out the names of the players, and they took their seats at the board – Magnus emerging from behind the scenes. Soon enough round six was underway.

After Anish beat Magnus in their first ever encounter at the Tata Steel 2011, the players
have faced-off against each other nine more times and all the games have ended in draws

Many of the spectators heaved a sigh of relief as Magnus went for 3…a6, instead of the usual 3…Nf6 that leads to the Berlin. The game was an interesting Ruy Lopez where White always had a small edge, but the advantage never really became threatening. After a few accurate moves by Carlsen, the game ended in a draw. Giri once again maintained his bragging rights of having a plus score against the World Champion.

[Event "7th London Classic 2015"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2015.12.10"] [Round "6.4"] [White "Giri, Anish"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C91"] [WhiteElo "2778"] [BlackElo "2850"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "105"] [EventDate "2015.12.04"] {This was maybe the most anticipated game of the round.} 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 {Phew, it will not be the Berlin!} 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d4 $5 d6 9. c3 Bg4 {We have tranposes to the early d4 variation instead of h3 in the Ruy Lopez.} 10. Be3 exd4 (10... Nxe4 11. Bd5 $1) 11. cxd4 Na5 12. Bc2 Nc4 13. Bc1 {These undeveloping moves are not so bad because after b3, which comes pretty soon, the bishop will be well placed on b2.} c5 14. b3 Nb6 15. Nbd2 Rc8 16. Bb2 Nfd7 17. Qb1 g6 18. h3 Bxf3 19. Nxf3 cxd4 20. Nxd4 { The position is round about equal. White's better pawn structure and the bishop pair is compensated by the fact that Black is ahead in development.} Bf6 21. Qd1 (21. f4 {was what Anish wanted to do. But he was not sure about} Nc4 $6 22. bxc4 Qb6 23. c5 $1 Qxc5 24. e5 dxe5 25. fxe5 Bxe5 26. Rd1 $16 {Black seems to have ample compensation although objectively White is better here.}) 21... Ne5 22. Rc1 Bg5 23. Rb1 Nbd7 24. Rf1 Bf6 25. Rc1 Qb6 26. Bb1 Rxc1 ({At the post game conference Carlsen was very upset at not having seen the simple check which liquidates in to a drawish position.} 26... Nf3+ 27. Qxf3 Bxd4 $11) 27. Bxc1 Nd3 28. Qxd3 Bxd4 29. Bh6 Rc8 30. Qe2 Nf8 31. g3 Ne6 32. Kg2 Bg7 33. Be3 Bd4 34. Bd2 {Anish preserves the bishop pair and tries to fight for a small edge.} Qd8 35. Rc1 Rxc1 36. Bxc1 Qf6 37. a4 (37. b4 {with the idea of a3-Ba2 could have been much better, albiet Black should have enough resources to hold the balance.}) 37... bxa4 38. bxa4 Nc5 39. a5 Bc3 40. Ba3 Bxa5 41. Bxc5 dxc5 42. Bd3 Bc3 43. Bxa6 Bd4 44. Bc4 Kg7 45. h4 Qb6 46. h5 Qf6 47. Ba2 gxh5 48. f4 Qg6 49. Kh3 f5 50. exf5 Qxf5+ 51. Kg2 Kh6 52. Qe6+ Qxe6 53. Bxe6 1/2-1/2

Anish and his wife Sopiko are happy with how things went in his game today

It’s not very common to see the World Champion so animated in a post-game conference

The entertaining press conference video of Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri is not to be missed

Alexander Grischuk provided the only decisive game of round six by beating Vishy Anand

A long time ago Grischuk had come up with a new opening idea with white. But whenever he started his game with 1.c4 his opponents would reply with 1…Nf6 and he couldn’t use it in his games. However today when Vishy played 1…e5 in reply to 1.c4 Grischuk immediately responded with 2.d3!? This seemed to throw Anand off balance as he thought for nearly three minutes for his next move. A move like 2.d3 is of course not theoretically dangerous, but it unsettles your opponent, as he has almost never seriously prepared against it. Grischuk wanted an original game, maybe be a tempo up in the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian! He played a fine opening and a flawless middlegame to get a completely winning position. But in the endgame he went wrong and gave Anand a golden chance to draw. Anand missed the opportunity and had to resign after just three more moves.

He played my line! Anand let me play 2.d3!

[Event "7th London Classic 2015"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2015.12.10"] [Round "6.1"] [White "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Black "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A20"] [WhiteElo "2750"] [BlackElo "2803"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2015.12.04"] 1. c4 e5 2. d3 $5 {After the game Grischuk mentioned that he had prepared this move, which mainly leads to original game without much theory. In the past he had played 1.c4 and his opponents had replied with 1...Nf6 and hence he couldn't use this idea. But today Anand went 1...e5 and Grischuk could push his pawn to d3 which is much less common than Nc3, Nf3, g3 or even e3.} Nc6 3. Nf3 f5 $5 {Seeing that White hasn't gone for the most ambitious move order, Vishy chooses an aggressive setup.} 4. g3 Nf6 5. Bg2 Bb4+ 6. Bd2 Bxd2+ 7. Qxd2 O-O 8. Nc3 d6 {Usually in this opening the bishop on b4 takes the knight on c3 and White is left with the dark squared bishop. But here the knight on c3 remains and it is much more useful than the bishop because the knight can jump to d5 and attack the c7 pawn. If it is taken then after cxd5 the c-file is opened up and the c7 pawn is weak.} 9. O-O Bd7 (9... Qe8 {[%cal Ge8h5,Gf5f4, Gc8h3,Gf6g4] is the usual idea in this opening with the plan being Qh5, f4, Bh3 and Ng4 with a strong attack. But here we can see the usefulness of the knight on c3.} 10. Nd5 $1 $14 {[%cal Gd5c7]}) 10. Nd5 Nxd5 11. cxd5 Ne7 12. Qb4 $5 Nxd5 (12... a5 $5 {could have been an interesting option.} 13. Qxb7 Rb8 14. Qa6 Rxb2 15. Rab1 $1 Rxe2 $2 16. Qc4 $16 {[%cal Gf1c1] The rook on e2 feels very uncomfortable.}) 13. Qxb7 c6 14. Nd2 Nb6 15. Qa6 (15. Bxc6 Rb8 $19) 15... d5 16. Rac1 f4 17. Nf3 Qf6 18. Qa5 {As Grischuk correctly pointed out after the game: Black has a perfectly sound position. His only defect is that the knight on b6 is quite passive. If that were not the case then Black would have had the advantage.} Kh8 (18... g5 $5 {Followed by a pawn storm could have led to a very tense battle with mutual chances.}) 19. b3 Bg4 20. Qc3 $1 {This move was missed by Vishy. Now the e5 pawn is attacked and so is the one on c6. Black has to make the concession of giving up his bishop on f3.} e4 $6 { But Vishy doesn't believe in taking a slightly inferior position. He tries to complicate the matters.} (20... Bxf3 21. Bxf3 Rac8 {Would have been better although here White has a clear edge.} 22. e3 $1 $14) 21. Qxf6 Rxf6 22. Nd4 $1 {The e4 pawn is falling and so is the one on c6. Black has to play sharply to keep things together.} f3 (22... exd3 23. exd3 Rc8 24. Rfe1 $1 $16) 23. exf3 exf3 24. Bh1 {The bishop on h1 is not going to be trapped forever. So next up is h3 and it will be released from the prison.} Rc8 25. Rfe1 h6 26. b4 $1 { Cementing everything before going for h3.} Na4 27. Re3 Rcf8 28. h3 Bxh3 29. Rxf3 Bd7 30. Bg2 g5 31. Rxf6 Rxf6 {Material is equal but White is clearly better. Let us try to understand why: 1. The knight on d4 is excellently posted. In fact Grischuk improves it further with Nf3-e5 maneuvre. The knight on e5 is extremely strong hitting the weak c6 pawn. 2. The bishop on d7 is highly passive and stuck to the task of defending the sickly looking c6 pawn. 3. The knight on a4 doesn't really have a good square where it can go to. All these things put together consitutes White's clear edge.} 32. Nf3 $1 {[%cal Gf3e5]} Kg7 33. Ne5 Be8 34. Bh3 h5 35. d4 Nb6 36. Rc3 (36. Rc5 {would have been even stronger as now Nc4 is not possible.} Nc4 37. Nxc4 dxc4 38. Rxg5+ $16 ) 36... Nc4 $5 {Vishy understands that the knight on e5 cannot be tolerated for long and gets rid of it even at the cost of a pawn.} 37. Nxc4 dxc4 38. Rxc4 Rd6 39. a3 Bf7 40. Rc5 Rxd4 (40... Kf6 41. Bg2 Rxd4 42. Rxc6+ Be6 $16 {would have made White's task a little more difficult than in the game.}) 41. Rxg5+ Kf6 42. Rf5+ Kg6 43. Rc5 Rd1+ 44. Kh2 Bd5 45. Bg2 Rd2 46. Bxd5 cxd5 47. Kg2 { Of course to get a precise assessment of this position would require hours of analysis, ideally by Karsten Müller. But I will try my best to give you an idea whether Black could have held this rook ending or not.} Kf5 {This move looks completely natural trying to use the king to shepherd the d5 pawn.} 48. Ra5 {White meanwhile tries to win the a7 pawn.} (48. Kf3 {was not yet possible due to} Rd3+ {[%cal Gd3a3]}) 48... Ke4 49. Rxa7 d4 {Of course White's queenside pawns are extremely threatening, but we cannot discount the d4 pawn which is just three steps away from queening.} 50. b5 Rb2 51. a4 $2 {A pretty bad mistake by Grischuk which gives Anand excellent drawing chances.} (51. Re7+ $1 {was a very important check forcing the king on to the d-file.} Kd5 (51... Kd3 {would be too slow as after} 52. a4 Kc3 (52... Rb4 53. f4 $1 Rxa4 54. b6 Rb4 55. b7 Kc3 56. Rc7+ Kb3 57. f5 d3 58. f6 d2 59. Rd7 Kc2 60. Rxd2+ Kxd2 61. f7 $18) 53. Rc7+ Kb4 54. b6 Kxa4 55. b7 d3 56. Rd7 $18 {White simply wins.}) 52. Rb7 $1 d3 (52... Ra2 53. Rd7+ Kc5 54. b6 Kxb6 55. Rxd4 $18) 53. b6 d2 54. Rd7+ Kc6 55. Rd8 $1 Kxb6 56. Kf3 $18 {White will win the d2 pawn and later the one on h5 and will finish off the game.}) 51... Kd3 $2 {An extremely bad move which throws away the chance given to Anand. He shouldn't have brought the king in front of the d-pawn. Instead he should have pushed his pawn to d3.} ( 51... d3 $1 52. Rb7 Kd4 $1 {The most accurate move to secure the half point.} ( 52... d2 $2 53. Rd7 $1 $18) (52... Rb4 $5 53. b6 Rxa4 54. Rb8 Rb4 55. b7 d2 56. Rd8 Rxb7 57. Rxd2 Rb1 {Here Black has some chances to hold.}) 53. a5 d2 54. Rd7+ Kc3 55. b6 Kc2 $11 {Black's counterplay is strong enough to make a draw here.}) 52. Rb7 $1 Ra2 53. b6 Rxa4 54. Rb8 {Anand threw in the towel. A very nice game by Grischuk who started with the non theoretical 1.c4 2.d3 and later played a nearly flawless middlegame.} (54. Rb8 Rb4 55. b7 Kd2 56. Kh3 d3 57. f4 Kd1 58. Rd8 Rxb7 59. Rxd3+ {followed by Kh4 and Rd5 picking up the h5 pawn.}) 1-0

So how did Grischuk celebrate his victory? Grocery shopping at a TESCO supermarket

Nakamura – Aronian, Round six

Here Aronian (Black) executed a typical idea which is common
in openings like the French Defence. Can you find it?

[Event "7th London Classic 2015"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "2015.12.10"]
[Round "6.2"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Aronian, Levon"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2793"]
[BlackElo "2781"]
[Annotator "Sagar Shah"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2015.12.04"]

1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. c4 Be7 5. d4 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4
Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 a5 11. Nc3 Ra6 12. e3 Rb6 13. Qe2 Nbd7 14. Rfd1 Bxf3 $1
{A nice little exchange worth keeping in your arsenal of positional ideas.} 15.
Bxf3 c6 $1 {What Black has basically done is to give up his light squared
bishop and place his pawn on c6. The b7-c6 chain form a formidable barrier
against the f3 bishop. Hence, this exchange by Aronian is common yet quite an
elegant solution.} 16. Qc2 Ne8 17. Bxe7 Qxe7 18. Na2 {Nakamura's knight
maneuvre is pretty questionable. His idea could have been to put his knight on
d3 via c1. However, here White doesn't have so much time. Black quickly breaks
in the centre.} Nef6 19. Qc3 (19. Nc1 e5 $1 $11) 19... Ra8 20. Rd2 e5 $1 {
With this central break Black has equalized.} 21. dxe5 Qxe5 22. Rad1 Qxc3 23.
Nxc3 Nf8 24. Be4 Nxe4 25. Nxe4 Rb4 26. Nc5 g6 27. Rc2 b6 28. Nd3 Rd8 $1 29.
Rxc6 Ne6 {The pin on the d3 knight is quite irriating and the pawn will be
recovered soon.} 30. Kg2 Nc5 $1 (30... Rxa4 31. Rxb6 $16) 31. Nxb4 Rxd1 32.
Rc8+ Kg7 33. Nc6 Nxa4 34. b3 Nb2 35. Ne5 Nd3 36. Nxd3 Rxd3 {The rook ending is
completely drawn.} 37. b4 axb4 38. Rc6 b5 39. Rc5 Kf6 40. Rxb5 Rb3 41. g4
1/2-1/2

While Levon was cool, calm and composed…

… Hikaru stretched each and every neuron in his brain to find the elusive += with white

MVL and Caruana played the mandatory Berlin, which ended in an uneventful draw

[Event "7th London Classic 2015"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2015.12.10"] [Round "6.3"] [White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C67"] [WhiteElo "2765"] [BlackElo "2787"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "2015.12.04"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. d4 Nd6 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. dxe5 Nf5 8. Qxd8+ Kxd8 9. h3 Ke8 10. Nc3 b6 11. Rd1 Bb7 12. Bf4 Rc8 {A round at the London Chess Classic is of course incomplete without a Berlin Endgame. We have reached a position that has been seen a few games before - the most notable one being Polgar-Carlsen. Here MVL decides to sharpen the play by sacrificing a pawn.} 13. e6 $5 Bd6 (13... fxe6 {is a tad risky due to} 14. Ng5 $5 { although even here Black should hold his own after} Be7 15. Nxe6 Kf7 16. Nxc7 Rhd8 $44) 14. Bxd6 Nxd6 15. exf7+ Kxf7 16. Ne5+ Kf6 {The king looks pretty exposed, but after h6-Kg7 everything will be fine.} 17. Ng4+ Kf7 {Maxime could have drawn the game with Ne5-g4 at this point, but he decides to play on a bit. } 18. a4 a5 19. Ne5+ Kf6 20. Ng4+ Kf7 21. Ne5+ Kf6 22. f4 {Good fighting spirit shown by the Frenchman.} Rce8 23. Rd3 g6 (23... g5 $5 {could have been an interesting move.} 24. Ng4+ Kg6 25. fxg5 Kxg5 $15) 24. Re1 Kg7 25. Ne4 Re6 26. Red1 (26. Nxd6 cxd6 27. Nf3 Rxe1+ 28. Nxe1 Re8 29. Nf3 c5 30. Rxd6 Bxf3 31. gxf3 Re2 $11 {leads to a drawn rook endgame.}) 26... Rd8 27. Ng5 Re7 28. Ne4 Re6 29. Ng5 Re7 30. Ne4 {Finally Maxime decides to agree to a draw and the Berlin once again triumphs!} 1/2-1/2

What the hell is going on?? Veselin Topalov’s misfortunes in the tournament
continue as he drew a completely winning game against Michael Adams

[Event "7th London Classic 2015"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2015.12.10"] [Round "6.5"] [White "Topalov, Veselin"] [Black "Adams, Michael"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2803"] [BlackElo "2744"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "93"] [EventDate "2015.12.04"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 c6 8. h3 b6 9. b4 a5 10. a3 h6 11. Bd3 Ba6 12. Bxa6 Rxa6 13. O-O Qc8 14. Rb1 axb4 15. axb4 Qb7 16. Ne1 Rfa8 17. Nc2 R6a7 18. f3 Qc8 19. Qd3 bxc5 20. bxc5 e5 21. dxe5 Nxc5 22. Qd2 Nfd7 23. Nd4 Ne6 24. Rfc1 Nxf4 25. exf4 Bc5 26. Kh2 Bxd4 27. Qxd4 Nf8 28. Qd2 Ng6 29. Rb2 Qd7 30. Ne2 Ra4 31. Rbc2 R8a6 32. Nd4 {White already has the much pleasant position here. He is attacking the c6 pawn and Black doesn't have many ways to defend it.} Ne7 $2 {Adams forgot about the move Nb3 which sets up a deadly threat of Nc5 fork which cannot be stopped.} (32... Rc4 { was relatively best, giving up a pawn but retaining decent chances.} 33. Rxc4 dxc4 34. Rxc4 c5 35. Rxc5 Ra4 36. Nb3 Qxd2 37. Nxd2 Nxf4 $16 {It will be a touch and go between White winning this one and a draw.}) 33. Nb3 $1 Qf5 34. Nc5 Ra8 35. Nxa4 Rxa4 {White can win in a variety of ways from here, and that could well be the reason why Topalov went wrong after a few moves. Maybe he thought he can play in the ways he likes.} 36. g3 (36. g4 $5 Qxf4+ 37. Qxf4 Rxf4 38. Kg3 g5 39. Ra2 $18 {would have lead to a winning position for White.}) 36... g5 37. fxg5 hxg5 38. Re1 $6 Ng6 39. e6 $6 {At this point Topalov thought that he could play just about anything and win. However that is not the case as we shall see in the game.} fxe6 40. Rxc6 Ne5 41. Rc8+ Kf7 42. Rf1 Nxf3+ 43. Rxf3 Qxf3 44. Qc2 {It looks extremely dangerous for Black, but surprisingly he can defend the position with the only move here.} Kg7 $1 45. Qxa4 (45. Rc7+ Kf6 $11) 45... Qf2+ 46. Kh1 Qf1+ 47. Kh2 1/2-1/2

A short chat with Michael Adams who has made six draws in six rounds

Standings after six rounds

Game of the Day Round five

ChessBase are offering free copies of the newly-released Fritz 15 and ChessBase Magazine 169, to the online audience of the 7th London Chess Classic. All viewers can vote online for the best game of each round of the Classic, and one randomly-drawn person will win a prize each day. Winners so far:

Round 1: Lee Phillips [Anand v Carlsen]
Round 2: John Bottomley [Carlsen v Carauna]
Round 3: Robert Bell [Topalov v Giri]
Round 4: Andrew Offord [Nakamura v Anand]
Round 5: Nicolas Chiffot [Anand v Topalov]

British Knockout Championships

GM David Howell won the inaugural British Knockout Championships

Going into the sixth and final game of the match, David Howell, who had a point’s lead over Nick Pert, held his nerve, scored a full point and emerged as the champion of the British Knockout Championships. For his efforts Howell goes back home with a check of £20,000. A detailed report by WIM Sabrina Chevannes on this championship will follow soon on our newspage.

John Nunn, who turned 60 this year, is three-time Problem Solving World Champion.
Here he gets ready for his 20 board simultaneous display.

The games are under way, some opponents are already in trouble

Coffee kept John going in the simul that lasted for nearly two and a half hours.
The British grandmaster scored 19.0/20 (two draws) – typical Nunn.

John’s wife WFM Petra Nunn records the feat on her mobile phone

ChessBase readers and chess lovers all around the world are well acquainted with Daniel King’s brilliant commentary, videos and DVDs. He is one of the official commentators at the London Chess Classic. During one of his breaks we caught up with him and did a small interview where Danny explains the reason for the high percentage of draws in the tournament, how the PowerPlay DVD series started ten years ago, his Youtube channel and what are his future plans.

Daniel King has recorded dozens of Power Play and other DVDs for ChessBase

FIDE Open

Three players led at the London Classic FIDE Open after seven rounds – Evgeny Postny, Benjamin Bok and Eric Hansen. In the eighth round Postny drew his game against Edouard Romain. This gave a chance to either Bok or Hansen to take the sole lead with a victory.

The crucial top board clash of round eight between Benjanmin Bok and Eric Hansen

Benjamin played a fine game in the Catalan to win and thus take a half point’s lead over the field with 7.0/8. The last round of the FIDE Open will be played on the 11th of December at 16.30 hours local time. Bok faces Lenderman on the top board while Postny is up against Vakhidov and Melkumyan’s opponent is Jumabayev. It promises to be an exciting finish as the players will it battle out for the first prize of £5,000.

Levon Aronian comes over to the FIDE Open hall to check on the games
of his Armenian friends Tigran Gharamian and Hrant Melkumyan

Some players like Rinat Jumabayev like to bring their drinks to the hall in style

… while some are lucky to be served by their supporters!

Cecile Haussernot is a four-time French girls champion and two time European Champion. Along with her strong moves, she brings style and charisma to any chess tournament that she attends. She is currently on 4.5/8.

Top standings after Round 8

Rk. SNo Title Name Fed Rtng Pts
1 8 GM Bok Benjamin NED 2594 7,0
2 1 GM Postny Evgeny ISR 2670 6,5
  3 GM Melkumyan Hrant ARM 2654 6,5
  5 GM Lenderman Alex USA 2626 6,5
  13 GM Vakhidov Jahongir UZB 2546 6,5
6 2 GM Gharamian Tigran FRA 2654 6,0
  4 GM Edouard Romain FRA 2627 6,0
  7 GM Jumabayev Rinat KAZ 2599 6,0
  9 GM Hansen Eric CAN 2577 6,0
  10 GM Hawkins Jonathan ENG 2569 6,0
  14 GM Baron Tal ISR 2544 6,0
  18 IM Sadzikowski Daniel POL 2506 6,0
  26 IM Swayams Mishra IND 2477 6,0
  28 GM Hebden Mark L ENG 2469 6,0

Full results and standings of 166 players

Analyzing in the greatest possible comfort!

A belated 28th birthday to Hikaru Nakamura, who celebrated his on the 9th of December, and
special greetings (from ChessBase India) to Vishy Anand, who on 11th December turns 46 years.

All pictures by WIM elect Amruta Mokal who poses here with
some random dude that she met at the tournament in London

Schedule of the London Chess Classic 2015

Round 1 Friday 4 Dec, 16.00-23.00
Veselin Topalov
0-1
Anish Giri
Alexander Grischuk
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura
M Vachier-Lagrave
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Fabiano Caruana
½-½
Levon Aronian
Viswanathan Anand
½-½
Michael Adams
 
Round 2 Sat. 5 Dec, 14.00-21.00
Anish Giri
½-½
Michael Adams
Levon Aronian
½-½
Viswanathan Anand
Magnus Carlsen
½-½
Fabiano Caruana
Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
M Vachier-Lagrave
Veselin Topalov
½-½
Alexander Grischuk
Round 3 Sunday 6 Dec, 14.00-21.00
Alexander Grischuk
½-½
Anish Giri
M Vachier-Lagrave 
1-0
Veselin Topalov
Fabiano Caruana
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura
Viswanathan Anand
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Michael Adams
½-½
Levon Aronian
 
Round 4 Monday 7 Dec, 16.00-23.00
Anish Giri
½-½
Levon Aronian
Magnus Carlsen
½-½
Michael Adams
Hikaru Nakamura
1-0
Viswanathan Anand
Veselin Topalov
½-½
Fabiano Caruana
Alexander Grischuk
½-½
M Vachier-Lagrave
Round 5 Tuesday 8 Dec, 16.00-23.00
M Vachier-Lagrave 
½-½
Anish Giri
Fabiano Caruana
½-½
Alexander Grischuk
Viswanathan Anand
1-0
Veselin Topalov
Michael Adams
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura
Levon Aronian
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
 
Wednesday 9 Dec – Free day
Round 6 Thursday 10 Dec, 16.00-23.00
Anish Giri
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
Levon Aronian
Veselin Topalov
½-½
Michael Adams
Alexander Grischuk
1-0
Viswanathan Anand
M Vachier-Lagrave
½-½
Fabiano Caruana
 
Round 7 Friday 11 Dec, 16.00-23.00
Fabiano Caruana
-
Anish Giri
Viswanathan Anand
-
M Vachier-Lagrave
Michael Adams
-
Alexander Grischuk
Levon Aronian
-
Veselin Topalov
Magnus Carlsen
-
Hikaru Nakamura
Round 8 Saturday 12 Dec, 14.00-21.00
Anish Giri
-
Hikaru Nakamura
Veselin Topalov
-
Magnus Carlsen
Alexander Grischuk
-
Levon Aronian
M Vachier-Lagrave
-
Michael Adams
Fabiano Caruana
-
Viswanathan Anand
 
Round 9 Sunday 13 Dec, 14.00-21.00
Viswanathan Anand
-
Anish Giri
Michael Adams
-
Fabiano Caruana
Levon Aronian
-
M Vachier-Lagrave
Magnus Carlsen
-
Alexander Grischuk
Hikaru Nakamura
-
Veselin Topalov

Live commentary on Playchess

Day and round English German
10.12 Thursday Round 6 Merijn van Delft Sebastian Siebrecht
11.12 Friday Round 7 Mihail Marin Sebastian Siebrecht
12.12 Saturday Round 8 Georgios Souleidis/Oliver Reeh Sebastian Siebrecht
13.12 Sunday Round 9 Yannick Pelletier Oliver Reeh/Martin Breutigam

Links

The games are being 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 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
 

Sagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India, the biggest chess news portal in the country. His YouTube channel has over a million subscribers, and to date close to a billion views. ChessBase India is the sole distributor of ChessBase products in India and seven adjoining countries, where the software is available at a 60% discount. compared to International prices.

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