12/15/2016 – In a round with a lot of exciting chess Fabiano Caruana played the most brilliant game by defeating Hikaru Nakamura with a positional queen sacrifice. Wesley So crushed Veselin Topalov with a violent kingside attack and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave countered Levon Aronian's optimistic winning attempts. Anish Giri chased Vishy Anand's king across the board but had to content himself with a draw. Vladimir Kramnik and Michael Adams played a relatively sober draw. Report and games.
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Michal Krasenkow's commentary will also be in the next ChessBase Magazine #176, together with all the games of the London Chess Classic, a lot of them annotated - and much more. ChessBase Magazine #175, the current issue, also contains a wealth of material and annotated games by Vladimir Kramnik, Wesley So, David Navara, Pavel Eljanov, Simon Williams, Daniel King any many other exclusive authors. Have a look!
The Highlights of round 6 by Daniel King
Photos: Lennart Ootes
Round 6 was amazing. After the rest day the players did not appear rested and calm but charged with energy.
This #LondonChess Classic is like a protest against the style of the World Championship.
To say Topalov is not in good shape in London is an understatement. Topalov drew one of his first five games and lost four. Wesley So, however, is in splendid shape and leads the tournament.
Topalov vs So
Topalov had White and tried an Italian but So was unimpressed and improved a previous game these two had played. So pushed his kingside pawns forward to gain space but a few moves later still castled kingside and soon mounted a strong attack against White's king. This culminated in a violent mating attack and after 27 moves it was game over.
Topalov is bleeding Elo-points in London and is currently no longer among the top 20
Maxime Vachier Lagrave-Levon Aronian
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian also followed the trend and played an Italian game. After the topical 6.a4 - which had been played twice in the World Championship match between Carlsen and Karjakin - Aronian countered with 6...a5, an idea only a few players have tried before. The game quickly became tense. Aronian pushed in the centre which made Vachier-Lagrave sacrifice a piece which led to a position in which he had queen, rook and bishop against queen and two rooks.
Aronian pushed too hard
Objectively the position was perhaps equal but Aronian wanted to win at all costs. And while he tried to attack the white king with his major pieces Vachier-Lagrave took all the black pawns on the queenside - and after Aronian's attack came to a halt the white pawns on the queenside carried the day.
Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave scores a first victory in this event after Aronian overpressed a pleasant position. Photo: @LennartOotespic.twitter.com/QG9ksfCinz
Fabiano Caruana must have been inspired by the spirit of Rashid Nezhmetdinov, who was born exactly 104 years ago, on December 15, 1912; how else to explain Caruana's queen sacrifice on f6?
Help from above?
In one of his brilliancies the great tactician Nezhmetdinov once sacrificed a queen on f6 for two minor pieces. And this is what Caruana did today in a sharp line of the Najdorf:
White to move...
Caruana took on f6 and got two knights and a very strong initiative for his queen.
Maurice Ashley explains what is going on
A good choice which the engines fully supported. Black had trouble to find a safe place for his queen but even more trouble to find a safe place for his king. Caruana attacked with powerful patience and Nakamura found no defense. After this impressive victory Caruana is only about ten points behind Carlsen in live-ratings.
A brilliant win by Caruana
Vishy Anand-Anish Giri
Vishy Anand and Anish Giri also debated the pros and cons of the Sicilian. The game began with a Najdorf but after Anand's 6.h3 it transposed into a Keres Attack in the Scheveningen. Anand castled queenside, Giri came up with a novelty (15...Nc5) and attacked White's king. Anand countered by sacrificing his knight on b5. Giri returned the compliment with a sacrifice of his own which made White's king run from the queenside to seek shelter on the kingside. The black pieces followed closely but Black could not find a mate and had to agree to repetition of moves and a draw.
Anish Giri might have a good chance
Vladimir Kramnik-Michael Adams
Currently Kramnik abstains from theoretical opening discussions and prefers simple solid lines. Today he chose the Zukertort-System 1.d4, 2.Nf3, 3.e3. Adams opted for symmetry and after some minor tactical skirmishes the players forced a draw with a perpetual.
Johannes FischerJohannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".
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