LCC R5: Kramnik, Anand, Carlsen and Nakamura score

by ChessBase
12/6/2012 – It was a black day for the Brits as they all lost. Anand was the first to score, with a win over Jones, while Carlsen took advantage of a single mistake by Adams to bring his live rating to 2860.5. Nakamura ground down Polgar in a long endgame, but Kramnik’s win over McShane game was the highlight of the round, with a lovely exchange sacrifice and a king chase from h6 to a7. Round five report.

ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024 ChessBase 17 - Mega package - Edition 2024

It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase and enjoy the game even more.

More...

The 2012 London Chess Classic is taking place in the Olympia Conference Centre from Saturday, December 1st until Monday, December 10th. Games start each day in general at 14:00h London time, except for round four (16:00h) and the final round (12:00h). Time controls are classical forty moves in two hours, then twenty moves in one hour and thirty minutes for the rest of the game. A win is counted as three points, a draw as one, and a loss zero. Tiebreaks: 1) number of wins, 2) number of wins with black, 3) result of the individual game between the tied players. In the unlikely event that there is still a tie then: 4) 2 x 15'+2" games, and if necessary 5) Armageddon game: 6'+2" vs 5'+2" with draw odds for black. If there is a tie involving more than two players then the Rapid games will be conducted as a double round all play all.

Round five

By Alejandro Ramirez

Round 5: Thursday, Dec. 6th, 2012, 14:00h
Vladimir Kramnik
1-0
Luke McShane
Gawain Jones
0-1
Vishy Anand
Michael Adams
0-1
Magnus Carlsen
Judit Polgar
0-1
Hikaru Nakamura
Levon Aronian (bye) – assisting commentary

You cannot ask for any more from a super tournament than what we have seen in London! What a round! The players came back from their rest day with the desire to kill! It was a dark day for the English who were absolutely mauled by the visiting super stars. On top of that we had the matchup Polgar-Nakamura, two of the most aggressive players to ever be considered Super-GMs. A decisive result was a guarantee; the only question is who the point would go to.

Polgar-Nakamura 0-1
Hikaru Nakamura’s Archangel Spanish left him with the disadvantage of facing the two bishops as his quickly developed but somewhat vulnerable dark square bishop was traded for a knight. However, with some clever knight rerouting he forced the trade of one of his knights for the light squared bishop, and a curious opposite colored bishop struggle arose. Some unusually passive play by Judit Polgar handed the initiative to Hikaru, who never let go. He won a pawn and held the advantage, but never let go of the attack. After further misplay from Polgar, Black was able to organize a surprising mating attack and the game was over.

Kramnik-McShane 1-0
To me the most memorable game of last year was Luke McShane’s demolition of Aronian in an a6 slav. Vladimir Kramnik chooses a more sedate approach, one that has been annoying for Black lately. A brilliant exchange sacrifice in the middle game netted him a powerful position and an array of weaknesses to attack. Luke McShane tried to hold on, but after another (!) exchange sacrifice his position was on the verge of collapsing. Kramnik shows his usual technique and mops up a brilliant point.

Jones-Anand 0-1
This game was rather unfortunate for the young Englishman. An f3 Gruenfeld lands the players in a murky position, and every move that White plays makes his position worse and worse, until at move 20 he is simply down a piece. Some liquidation tactics and White resigned.

Adams-Carlsen 0-1
The tournament’s wrecking ball came close to being stopped today! Michael Adams held a nice advantage in the middlegame, but he shied from complications and allowed Magnus Carlsen to equalize. Perhaps hoping to save the half point as easily as possible, Adams allowed a seemingly harmless endgame. But the combined powers of Carlsen’s bishop and queen proved to be too much for the stranded white king. White shed a pawn, and then blundered into a lost K+P endgame. Carlsen didn’t forgive and continues his destruction of London.

Photos by Ray Morris-Hill

Analysis of the games by the players

Gawain Jones - Vishy Anand London Chess Classic 2012 Round 5


Gawain Jones and Vishy Anand analysing with David Howell and Lawrence Trent

Michael Adams - Magnus Carlsen London Chess Classic 2012 Round 5


Magnus Carlsen pulled off a magical win against Mickey Adams

Vladimir Kramnik - Luke McShane London Chess Classic 2012 Round 5


Luke McShane today outplayed by Vladimir Kramnik

Judit Polgar - Hikaru Nakamura London Chess Classic 2012 Round 5


Judit Polgar, who has lost a third game (out of four) in this event

Pictures by Frederic Friedel and Pascal Simon

Daniel King: Highlights of round five

Andrew Martin: Game of the Day (Kramnik vs McShane)

Replay all the games of the round

Standings (London scoring)

Standings (traditional scoring)

Pictures by Pascal Simon for ChessBase

Live video coverage and commentary


The on-demand video coverage with commentary can be seen here


GMs Levon Aronian, Danny King and Nigel Short commenting live on the tournament
web site and on Playchess (free for premium members)


Pairings and results

Round 1: Saturday, Dec. 1st, 2012, 14:00h
Luke McShane
0-1
Magnus Carlsen
Levon Aronian
0-1
Hikaru Nakamura
Vladimir Kramnik
1-0
Judit Polgar
Gawain Jones
0-1
Michael Adams
Vishy Anand (bye) – assisting commentary
Round 2: Sunday, Dec. 2nd, 2012, 14:00h
Judit Polgar
½-½
Gawain Jones 
Hikaru Nakamura
0-1
Vladimir Kramnik
Magnus Carlsen
1-0
Levon Aronian
Vishy Anand
½-½
Luke McShane 
Michael Adams (bye) – assisting commentary
Round 3: Monday, Dec. 3rd, 2012, 14:00h
Levon Aronian
½-½
Vishy Anand
Vladimir Kramnik
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Gawain Jones
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura
Michael Adams
1-0
Judit Polgar
Luke McShane (bye) – assisting commentary
Round 4: Tuesday, Dec. 4th, 2012, 16:00h
Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
Michael Adams
Magnus Carlsen
1-0
Gawain Jones
Vishy Anand
½-½
Vladimir Kramnik
Luke McShane
0-1
Levon Aronian
Judit Polgar (bye) – assisting commentary
Wednesday, Dec. 5th, 2012 Rest day
Round 5: Thursday, Dec. 6th, 2012, 14:00h
Vladimir Kramnik
1-0
Luke McShane
Gawain Jones
0-1
Vishy Anand
Michael Adams
0-1
Magnus Carlsen
Judit Polgar
0-1
Hikaru Nakamura
Levon Aronian (bye) – assisting commentary
Round 6: Friday, Dec. 7th, 2012, 14:00h
Magnus Carlsen
  Judit Polgar
Vishy Anand
  Michael Adams
Luke McShane
  Gawain Jones 
Levon Aronian
  Vladimir Kramnik
Hikaru Nakamura (bye) – assisting commentary
Round 7: Saturday, Dec. 8th, 2012, 14:00h
Gawain Jones 
  Levon Aronian
Michael Adams 
  Luke McShane
Judit Polgar
  Vishy Anand
Hikaru Nakamura
  Magnus Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik (bye) – assisting commentary
Round 8: Sunday, Dec. 9th, 2012, 14:00h
Vishy Anand
  Hikaru Nakamura
Luke McShane
  Judit Polgar
Levon Aronian
  Michael Adams
Vladimir Kramnik
  Gawain Jones 
Magnus Carlsen (bye) – assisting commentary
Round 9: Monday, Dec. 10th, 2012, 13:00h
Michael Adams
  Vladimir Kramnik
Judit Polgar
  Levon Aronian 
Hikaru Nakamura
  Luke McShane
Magnus Carlsen
  Vishy Anand
Gawain Jones (bye) – assisting commentary

The games – except for rounds four and nine – start at 2 p.m. or 14:00h British time = 15:00h CET, 17:00h Moscow, 7:30 p.m. Chennai, 22:00h Beijing, 01:00 a.m. Melbourne, 03:00 a.m. Auckland, 6 a.m. San José, 9 a.m. New York. You can check your location here. Naturally the games will be covered live on the official web site (below) and on Playchess. The games of round four begin two hours later, those of the final round two hours earlier.

Watch the live stream from the London Chess classic here.


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 and get immediate access. Or you can get our latest Fritz 13 program, which includes six months free premium membership to Playchess.


Reports about chess: tournaments, championships, portraits, interviews, World Championships, product launches and more.

Discuss

Rules for reader comments

 
 

Not registered yet? Register