LCC R04: Nakamura is World No. 2

by Sagar Shah
12/8/2015 – Once again we witnessed only a single decisive result, but almost every one of the five games was a hard fought battle. Nakamura beat Anand, whose hometown of Chennai is under water. Carlsen and Topalov came close to scoring the full point against Adams and Caruana, but couldn’t do so. David Howell and Nick Pert drew their fourth game. In the FIDE Open we have five leaders. Loads of analysis, pictures and exclusive videos 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 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

LCC R04: Nakamura is World No. 2

Report from London by Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal

Many people would dub the 7th London Chess Classic as one of the boring elite events where draws take the center-stage and decisive results are as rare as hen’s teeth. Surely three wins and 17 draws out of 20 games is not an encouraging sign, but that is superficial: the level of fighting chess on show is quite heartening. Have a look at what transpired in the fourth round: Hikaru Nakamura played a fine positional game to down Vishy Anand, Michael Adams showed extreme tenacity to defend a difficult position against Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana’s psychological ploy was simply brilliant against Veselin Topalov, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave’s Najdorf against Grischuk was anything but boring. But before we go into the specifics, here’s a beautiful video of all the participants of the London Chess Classic where they describe the competitors mostly in one word:

An Englishman (Adams), an Italian-American (Caruana), a Frenchman (MVL) and an Indian (Anand)
wait for the games to begin. Eagle eyes will spot at least three recognizable spectators

Is that legal? Hero of the fourth round Hikaru Nakamura takes back the wrong ceremonial move 1.e4 made
during the inauguration. He pushed the queen’s pawn and won his game against Vishy Anand in 41 moves.

[Event "7th London Classic 2015"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2015.12.07"] [Round "4.1"] [White "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Black "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E06"] [WhiteElo "2793"] [BlackElo "2803"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2015.12.04"] {This was the only decisive game of round four. Nakamura once again got the better of Anand in the Catalan - he had achieved the same result in the same opening at the Sinquefield Cup 2015.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. Qc2 $5 {This move has been played in 1400 games before, but it's popularity is nothing compared to 6.0-0 which has been played in 14,000 games! Qc2 is played so as to avoid the most popular dxc4 followed by a6-b5 setup in the Catalan.} c5 {The most principled approach. The king is in the centre so Anand tries to open the position as quickly as he can.} 7. O-O cxd4 8. Nxd4 Qb6 (8... Nc6 {is the main move.}) 9. Rd1 Nc6 10. Nxc6 Qxc6 11. Bg5 $146 {Nakamura finds a novelty in a position where moves like Na3, b3 and a4 have been played before.} h6 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Na3 Bd7 14. Rab1 (14. cxd5 Qxc2 15. Nxc2 Ba4 $15 {leads to an excellent position for Black.}) 14... Rac8 15. Qd3 Rfd8 16. cxd5 Qa4 17. Rd2 (17. dxe6 Bxe6 18. Qf3 Rxd1+ $19) 17... b5 {Until now everything was Nakamura's preparation. 17...b5 was a move that he had not seen at home.} ( 17... Bg5 $5 18. e3 exd5 19. h4 (19. Bxd5 Be6 $19) (19. Qxd5 Bc6 $11) 19... Bf6 20. Bxd5 {Now Be6 or c6 can be met with e4. Nakamura had analysed this position at home and had realized how useful the move h4 was. Hence, he played that move in the game as well.}) 18. Rbd1 exd5 $6 19. Bxd5 {Now White can defend the bishop on d5 with his pawn on e4 and simply be a pawn up. Of course Black has some compensation, but it doesn't seem to be enough.} Bc6 (19... b4 20. Nc4 $16) 20. e4 a6 21. h4 $5 {This move was based on the note to Black's 17th move.} Bxd5 22. exd5 Qb4 23. Rb1 Qa5 24. b4 Qa4 25. Rb3 Be7 26. Re2 $1 { As Nakamura described it in the press conference: this is a study like continuation.} Rc7 (26... Bxb4 {Black could have snatched a pawn and suffered!} 27. Re4 a5 28. Kg2 $16 {[%csl Ga3,Ra4,Ga5,Gb3,Gb4,Gb5]}) 27. Kg2 Bf6 28. Qf3 Re7 29. Rd2 Red7 30. Qe2 g6 $6 31. h5 $1 {Gaining more space and further weakening Black's structure.} g5 32. Qd1 Bg7 33. Nc2 $1 Qxa2 34. Ne3 $18 { Once the knight gets to e3 it becomes very easy to win the game.} Qa1 (34... Qa4 35. Qb1 {[%cal Gd2a2]} Qa1 36. Qxa1 Bxa1 $18 {transposes to the game.}) 35. Qxa1 Bxa1 36. Ra2 Bd4 37. Nf5 Bg7 38. Rxa6 Bf8 39. d6 Bxd6 40. Nxh6+ Kh7 41. Ng4 $18 {An excellent positional game by Nakamura, who kept great control and has increased his lead to 7:1 in classical games against Vishy Anand.} 1-0

Vishy’s tea was no match for Nakamura’s Red Bull today. With this loss, the ex-World Champion
is relegated to the fifth position in world rankings, while Nakamura retakes the second spot.

Nakamura on his win against Vishy and more

Playing for six hours, 78 moves, pressing throughout the game and still
having to settle for a half point! That’s the life of a Chess World Champion.

Michael Adams repeatedly shows that he is a tough nut to crack. After being an exchange down he set up an excellent fortress which was simply impregnable. Carlsen tried his best, even sacrificing a piece, but Mickey hung on.

[Event "7th London Classic 2015"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2015.12.07"] [Round "4.4"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Adams, Michael"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A07"] [WhiteElo "2850"] [BlackElo "2744"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "155"] [EventDate "2015.12.04"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 Bg4 3. Bg2 c6 4. O-O e6 5. d3 Bd6 6. c4 Ne7 7. cxd5 exd5 8. Nc3 O-O 9. h3 Bh5 10. e4 Na6 11. exd5 cxd5 12. Re1 Nc6 13. d4 Nc7 14. a3 h6 15. b4 Rc8 16. Bb2 a6 17. Na4 a5 18. Nc5 axb4 19. axb4 Rb8 20. Qa4 Bxf3 21. Bxf3 Qf6 22. Qb3 Rfd8 23. Bg4 Nxd4 24. Bxd4 Qxd4 25. Red1 Qc4 26. Qxc4 dxc4 27. Nd7 Rxd7 28. Bxd7 Bxb4 29. Ra4 Bc5 $1 {An excellent defensive move by Adams. He realises that his fortress like position with bishop on c5 and pawn on b6 will be extremely difficult to breach.} 30. Rxc4 b6 31. Kg2 g6 32. Bc6 Ne8 33. Rd7 ( 33. Bxe8 {Later Carlsen felt that he should have taken this knight.} Rxe8 34. Rd7 {This might give White more chances to win than in the game, but the truth would be that the position is closer to Black drawing than White winning.}) 33... Nf6 34. Ra7 Kg7 35. Ra8 Rxa8 36. Bxa8 h5 37. Ra4 Ng8 38. Bd5 Ne7 39. Ba2 {Nakamura in the commentary room said that he liked this setup already for Black and that it was dififcult to breakthrough. Mickey however decides that the best place for his knight is on d6.} Nc6 40. Ra8 Nb4 41. Bc4 Nc6 42. f4 Ne7 43. Kf3 Nf5 44. Ra7 Nd6 45. Bd5 Bd4 46. Rd7 Bc5 47. Ba2 Kf6 48. g4 hxg4+ 49. hxg4 Kg7 50. Rd8 Nb7 51. Rd7 Nd6 52. Ke2 Kf8 53. Kd3 Kg7 54. Bd5 Kf8 55. Rd8+ Kg7 56. Bc6 Kh7 57. g5 Kg7 58. Bd5 Kh7 59. Rd7 Kg7 {There are no reak entry points for White. This is quite a solid fortress. But Magnus doesn't give up.} 60. Ke2 Kf8 61. Kf3 Ke8 62. Rc7 Bd4 63. Kg4 Be3 {[#]} 64. Bxf7+ $5 {Such is Magnus's will to win that he is ready to sacrifice a piece.} Nxf7 65. Rc6 Bd4 ( 65... Kd7 66. Rxg6 Bd4 67. Rg8 b5 68. f5 Nd6 69. Rb8 Bc3 70. f6 Ke6 $11 { Not so easy for White to stop Bxf6.}) 66. Rxg6 b5 67. Rg8+ (67. Kf3 b4 68. Ke4 Bc3 69. Rb6 $16 {might have given some chances to White, although it doesn't seem like anything serious.}) 67... Kd7 68. f5 Be3 $1 69. Rg7 (69. g6 Nh6+ $11) 69... Ke8 70. Rg8+ Kd7 71. Rg7 Ke8 72. g6 Nh6+ 73. Kf3 Nxf5 74. Rf7 Nh4+ 75. Kxe3 Nxg6 76. Rb7 b4 77. Ke4 b3 78. Rxb3 {It's actually surprising that Magnus agreed to a draw and didn't test his opponent for a few more moves! Great fighting spirit shown by the World Champion and great defensive play by Michael Adams.} 1/2-1/2

Levon Aronian equalized easily and made a comfortable draw against Anish Giri

[Event "7th London Classic 2015"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2015.12.07"] [Round "4.2"] [White "Giri, Anish"] [Black "Aronian, Levon"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A22"] [WhiteElo "2778"] [BlackElo "2781"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2015.12.04"] 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Bb4 4. Bg2 O-O 5. e4 Bxc3 6. bxc3 Re8 {Anish had used this move against Mamedyarov at the Qatar Masters 2014 and had won the game. As Giri said in the press conference: I had used this move so it cannot be bad! But I didn't really remember the analysis.} (6... c6 {was played by Anand against Giri.}) 7. d3 c6 8. Nf3 (8. Ne2 {was played by Mamedyarov, but it wasn't a great move.} d5 {Black already was completely fine.}) 8... d5 $1 { At the post game conference Jan Gustaffson asked Aronian a very basic question: "I was taught since childhood that when your opponent has two bishops you shouldn't open the position. Then why does Black play d5 here?" Aronian understood that Jan was asking this question for the benefit of the audience and explained it with the following remark: asssume that the knight is on e2 instead of f3. Now if Black play d6 then White would simply 0-0 and then launch an attack with f4 which would be very strong. Hence opening the position d5 is a necessity and not a luxury. Besides Black is ahead in development and must exploit it.} 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Qc2 Qc7 12. O-O Qxc3 13. Qxc3 Nxc3 14. Bb2 Na4 15. Bxe5 Nc6 {Black has a very comfortable position out of the opening and even though the players played 20 more moves the result of the game was never really in doubt.} 16. Rfe1 Nb6 17. Bc7 Rxe1+ 18. Rxe1 Be6 19. Ne5 Rc8 20. Bxb6 Nxe5 21. Bxa7 Nxd3 22. Rd1 Nb2 23. Ra1 b5 24. a3 h6 25. Bd4 Nc4 26. h4 Bd7 27. Kh2 Bc6 28. Bc3 Bxg2 29. Kxg2 Ne3+ 30. fxe3 Rxc3 31. Kf3 h5 32. Rb1 Rxa3 33. Rxb5 1/2-1/2

A day in the life of Anish Giri: (from upper left clockwise) 1. Your opponent surprises you,
2. You try to remember your analysis, 3. The game ends in a quick draw and you are
not too happy with it, 4. You go and check out your wife’s game who is playing in the FIDE Open.

Anish Giri on his game with Aronian, the city of London,
the daily schedule and whether Sopiko helps him in preparation

After dismantling the Najdorf in round three MVL himself employed
the Najdorf against Grischuk and got a great position out of the opening

“… and that was the key idea in the position!” Grischuk and MVL are very good friends.

Grischuk – Vachier-Lagrave, Round four

White has just pushed his pawn to h4. What should Black do?

[Event "7th London Classic 2015"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2015.12.07"] [Round "4.3"] [White "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B96"] [WhiteElo "2750"] [BlackElo "2765"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2015.12.04"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 {At this point Daniel King was very excited in the commentary room. When Grischuk came to the post game conference Daniel praised him by saying, "You played like a man against the Najdorf!" Grischuk then told the audience an interesting story which went, "In 1993 when Nigel Short was preparing for his World Championship Match against Kasparov one of his fan wrote to him saying that he had refuted the Najdorf and he was ready share the fruits of his hard work with Nigel. The move that he recommended for White was 6.g4! The player went on to analyze 6... e6, 6...e5, 6...b5 etc. in great depths and finally in the end he wrote 6... Bxg4 7.f3 with good compensation!" Everyone had a hearty laugh in the commentary room hearing this anecdote.} e6 7. f4 h6 8. Bh4 Qb6 9. a3 Be7 (9... Qxb2 10. Na4 $18) 10. Bf2 Qc7 11. Qf3 b5 12. g4 Nc6 13. O-O-O Bb7 14. h4 { What should Black play?} d5 $1 {One of the reasons why Najdorf is favoured by so many great players is because of the many exceptions to the rules. Common logic says that Black mustn't open the position because his king is in the center. However, more than general stuff it is the specifics that are more important. The queen and the rook on h1 are on the same diagonal as the bishop on b7, and it makes sense to break here with d5!} 15. e5 (15. exd5 Nxd4 $1 16. Bxd4 Nxd5 17. Bxg7 Nxc3 $1 18. Qxc3 Qxc3 (18... Qxf4+ 19. Kb1 {Grischuk showed a nice variation here which went} Rc8 (19... Rg8 $1) 20. Qd3 Rd8 21. Qxb5+ $1 axb5 22. Bxb5+ $18) 19. Bxc3 Bxh1 20. Bxh8 Bf3 21. Rd2 Bxg4 22. Bg2 Rd8 $11 { and Black is comfortable.}) 15... Ne4 16. Nxe4 dxe4 17. Qc3 Rc8 $11 {Black has fine position.} 18. Rh3 b4 19. axb4 Nxb4 20. Qxc7 Rxc7 21. f5 O-O 22. Be1 Bd5 23. g5 Rfc8 24. Bxb4 Bxb4 25. f6 Kh7 26. c3 gxf6 27. gxf6 Rg8 28. Bxa6 Bc5 29. Nb5 Rc6 30. Bb7 Rb6 31. Bxd5 exd5 32. Nd4 Bxd4 33. cxd4 Rg2 34. Rd2 Rxd2 35. Kxd2 Kg6 36. b3 Kf5 37. Rg3 Kf4 38. Rg1 e3+ 39. Kd3 Rxb3+ 40. Kc2 Rb6 41. Kd3 Rb3+ 42. Kc2 Rb6 43. Kd3 1/2-1/2

Caruana employed a brilliant psychological ploy to salvage the half point against Veselin Topalov

Topalov – Caruana, round five

In the above position Caruana moved his rook from e8-c8. White has a clear advantage thanks to the better pawn structure and a superior minor piece on c4. Before taking concrete action Topalov was going to move his king from the queenside to the kingside, somewhere on g2. However, the move Rc8 distracted him from the king journey and instead he played Ba6, trying to win material. But after Qa7 Bxc8 Qxa2+ in spite of being a pawn down Black generated so much counterplay that Topalov couldn’t keep things under control.

[Event "7th London Classic 2015"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2015.12.07"] [Round "4.5"] [White "Topalov, Veselin"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C65"] [WhiteElo "2803"] [BlackElo "2787"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "165"] [EventDate "2015.12.04"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 O-O 6. Nbd2 d6 7. h3 Ne7 8. d4 Bb6 9. dxe5 dxe5 10. Qe2 Ng6 11. g3 Qe7 12. Bd3 a5 13. Nc4 Bc5 14. Be3 Rd8 15. Bxc5 Qxc5 16. Ne3 h6 17. O-O-O Be6 18. Kb1 b5 19. c4 b4 20. Nd5 Nd7 21. Ne1 c6 22. Nc7 Rac8 23. Nxe6 fxe6 24. h4 Rf8 25. Bc2 Qe7 26. Nd3 Nc5 27. Qe3 Nxd3 28. Rxd3 Rfd8 29. Rhd1 Rxd3 30. Qxd3 {White is clearly better. 1. He has the open d-file in his control. 2. The knight on g6 lacks good squares. It would love to park itself on the juicy d4 square, but it's extremely difficult to get there. 3. There are quite a few pawn weaknesses in Black's position. All in all it's a pretty depressing position for Caruana.} Nf8 31. Ba4 (31. Qd6 $1 Qxd6 (31... Qf7 32. Rd2 $16) 32. Rxd6 Kf7 33. c5 Ke7 34. Bb3 $18 {The knight cannot move as e6 will hang and the rook cannot move as c6 will fall. White is just winning here.}) 31... Qc5 32. Rd2 Kf7 33. Bd1 Ra8 34. Qd6 Qxc4 35. Qxe5 Qb5 36. Qc7+ Kg8 37. Qd6 a4 38. Be2 Qb6 39. Bc4 Re8 40. Qd4 c5 41. Qd6 Qb7 42. f3 a3 43. Rd3 (43. b3 $1 {Hikaru suggested this simple move with the plan of getting to g2 with the king and then using the superiorities in the position. However, it seemed as if Topalov didn't want his a2 pawn to be fixed.}) 43... axb2 44. Kxb2 Kh7 45. Kc2 Rc8 $5 {Caruana tries to muddy the water provoking White to play Ba6 in order to win material. A psychological ploy.} 46. Ba6 { Topalov could have just continued with Kd2 going to the kingside. However winning the exchange/rook was just too tempting for Topalov.} Qa7 47. Bxc8 Qxa2+ {White has won a rook but Black has finally broken free!} 48. Kd1 c4 $1 { This position is extremely difficult to play, especially after you have been dominating and trying to keep control for the entire game.} 49. Rd2 Qa1+ 50. Ke2 c3 $1 {The pawns keep moving forward.} 51. Qxf8 cxd2 52. Kxd2 Qb2+ $6 ( 52... Qc3+ {was an easy way to make a draw.} 53. Ke2 Qc4+ $1 54. Ke3 b3 { Black has things under control here.} 55. Qe8 Qc1+ 56. Kd4 Qb2+ 57. Kc5 Qc3+ 58. Kd6 b2 59. Bxe6 Qd4+ 60. Bd5 Qb6+ 61. Kd7 Qb5+ 62. Bc6 Qd3+ 63. Bd5 Qb5+ $11) 53. Ke3 Qc1+ 54. Kf2 Qd2+ 55. Kf1 Qd1+ 56. Kg2 Qe2+ 57. Kh3 h5 58. g4 hxg4+ 59. Kxg4 Qg2+ 60. Kf4 Qh2+ 61. Ke3 Qg1+ 62. Kd3 Qf1+ 63. Kd4 Qa1+ 64. Kc4 Qc3+ 65. Kb5 b3 66. Bxe6 Qe5+ 67. Kb4 Qxe6 68. Kc3 Qb6 $6 (68... b2 $1 69. Kxb2 Qb6+ 70. Kc3 Qe3+ 71. Kc4 Qe2+ $11) 69. Qf5+ Kg8 70. Qd5+ Kf8 71. Qxb3 Qf6+ 72. Kc2 Qxh4 73. Qb8+ Kf7 74. Kd3 Qe1 75. Qf4+ Ke6 76. Qf5+ Ke7 77. Qc5+ Kf7 78. Qf5+ Ke7 79. Qg6 Qd1+ 80. Ke3 Qe1+ 81. Kf4 Qc1+ 82. Kf5 Qc5+ 83. Kf4 {Simpy fantastic fight back by Fabiano Caruana. His move Rc8 was nothing short of a stroke of genius.} 1/2-1/2

Standings after four rounds

Game of the Day Round three

The lucky winner of the London Chess Classic Round three poll is Robert Bell. He wins a copy of Fritz 15 or ChessBase Magazine, which will be delivered to him.

You can still vote for round three.

Three dudes at work: Jan Gustaffson, Daniel King and Lawrence Trent. Although there are no
female commentators at the event, there is surely a lot of woman power present at the playing venue.

Sopiko Guramishvili is on 3.5/5 at the FIDE Open

Tania Sachdev has the same score as Sopiko and has remained unbeaten so far

Cecile Haussernot from France is on 2.0/5

Chess is the dress code for the event!

Chess teachers in London: Anuradha Beniwal, Devangee Patankar and Maria Manelidou

Can you guess who this important personality is? Hint: She is making a mark as
press officer and a commentator in many elite events recently

British Knockout Championships

After four games David leads the six-game match with a score of 2.5:1.5

After two fighting games that lasted nearly six hours each, David Howell and Nick Pert played it safe today and agreed to a draw in 15 moves. The game however lasted for nearly three hours! This just shows how much pressure both the players are under.

[Event "British ch-KO 2015"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2015.12.07"] [Round "3.4"] [White "Howell, David W L"] [Black "Pert, Nicholas"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A25"] [WhiteElo "2693"] [BlackElo "2569"] [Annotator "Sagar Shah"] [PlyCount "29"] [EventDate "2015.12.01"] 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 f5 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. d4 e4 6. Nh4 g6 7. Bg5 Bg7 8. Qd2 Ne7 9. d5 h6 10. Be3 Ng4 (10... d6 {is also possible.}) 11. Bd4 Ne5 12. b3 d6 13. f4 $1 exf3 14. exf3 c5 {[#]} 15. Be3 $6 {David offered a draw after making this move. Surprisingly Nick who was a point down in the match accepted it. In fact Black could have snatched the advantage by} (15. dxc6 $11) (15. Be3 g5 $1 16. f4 Ng4 $15) 1/2-1/2

David Howell speaks about fourth game and the pressure of the £20,000 first prize.

FIDE Open

Postny was held to a draw by Benjamin Bok and is now on 4.5/5

Aleksandr Lenderman won a fine game against Swayams Mishra to join the leaders

Eric Hansen from Canada beat Sagar Shah to move to 4.5/5

IM C.R.G. Krishna joined the leaders by beating Jahongir Vakhidov

GM Tamas Fodor Jr. started the tournament with a draw.
But since then he has won all his four games and is now on 4.5/5.

GM Vishnu Prasanna, who resides in Chennai, is on 4.0/5

The reason we mention Vishnu’s city is because the chess capital of India and the home of Vishy Anand – the city of Chennai, has been under heavy turmoil in the last few days. Incessant rainfall has led to disruption of lives and livelihood of thousands of people.

Really, that’s how bad it is

ChessBase India published an article on their website showing the plight of the people of Chennai in these arduous times. If you would like to donate to the noble cause of helping the stranded people, have a look at the ChessBase India article for more information. A few minutes of your time could help to save the lives of many.

Love thy neighbour as thyself: ChessBase India article on Chennai floods

Read the Times of India report here

Leaders after Round 5

Rk. SNo   Name   Rtg Pts.
1 1 GM Postny Evgeny ISR 2670 4,5
  5 GM Lenderman Alex USA 2626 4,5
  9 GM Hansen Eric CAN 2577 4,5
  22 GM Fodor Tamas Jr HUN 2492 4,5
  51 IM Krishna Crg IND 2367 4,5

Full results and standins of all 141 players may be found here

Photos by Amruta Mokal of ChessBase India

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 
-
Anish Giri
Fabiano Caruana
-
Alexander Grischuk
Viswanathan Anand
-
Veselin Topalov
Michael Adams
-
Hikaru Nakamura
Levon Aronian
-
Magnus Carlsen
 
Wednesday 9 Dec – Free day
Round 6 Thursday 10 Dec, 16.00-23.00
Anish Giri
-
Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura
-
Levon Aronian
Veselin Topalov
-
Michael Adams
Alexander Grischuk
-
Viswanathan Anand
M Vachier-Lagrave
-
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
08.12 Tuesday Round 5 Merijn van Delft Oliver Reeh/Dorian Rogozenco
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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