11/29/2012 – For this prestigious event, which starts on Saturday, Israeli composer Yochanan Afek has provided a highly entertaining chess study. Meanwhile we learn that GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, Magnus Carlsen's second for London, was refused a visa for Britain. And finally we bring you a video preview of the Chess Classic by Andrew Martin, who will be doing Play of the Day shows during the event.
new: ChessBase 18 - Mega package
Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
Winning starts with what you know The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.
YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY: Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product.
€169.90
An original composition by Yochanan Afek
Yochanan has once again paid the organisers the honour of dedicating an original
study to the London Chess Classic. Yochanan, originally from Israel and now
resident in Amsterdam, is one of the world's best-known and most prolific composers.
Uniquely, he holds four 'international' titles – IM for over the board
play and for composition, and international arbiter for both – and he
has a fifth title, FM for problem solving. He is also a regular contributor
to magazines, including CHESS Magazine, and an award-winning author.
In his teens Yochanan was fortunate enough to come under the wing of not one,
but two legends of Israeli chess – Moshe Czerniak and Yair Kraidman. Inspired
by them he started composing early in life, and was also organising chess tournaments
at 16. He recently celebrated his 60th birthday and can look back on no fewer
than 45 years as a dedicated chess professional.
British players will be familiar with Yochanan's amiable presence over the
years at Isle of Man, Hastings, Lloyds Bank Masters and Oakham tournaments.
He has played in the last two London Opens at Olympia, making impressive scores
and only making one draw in eighteen games – so he's not so amiable at
the board!
Original Composition by Yochanan Afek
London Chess Classic 2012 White to play and win
How will this battle of rooks end? Here is the solution for you to replay:
[Event "London Classics Study "] [Site "?"] [Date "2012.??.??"] [Round "?"]
[White "Afek, Yochanan "] [Black "White to play and win"] [Result "1-0"] [Annotator
"Afek,Yochanan"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "1R4K1/kppr4/2R2P1r/2PP4/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
[PlyCount "13"] 1. f7 Rh8+ $1 (1... Rxf7 2. Rxh6 $18) 2. Kxh8 Rxf7 3. Kg8 $3
Rd7 $1 (3... Rf5 4. Rf8 $3 ({A lot better than} 4. d6 $1 Kxb8 5. d7 bxc6 $1
6. d8=Q+ Kb7 {and it's not an easy task to provide the winning line}) 4... Rg5+
5. Kf7 bxc6 6. d6 Rf5+ 7. Ke7 Re5+ 8. Kf6 Rd5 9. Ke6 $18) 4. Rxb7+ $1 Kxb7 5.
Rd6 $3 cxd6 (5... Re7 6. Re6 $18) (5... Rxd6 6. cxd6 Kc8 7. Kf7 $18) 6. c6+
Kc7 7. cxd7 {All four Rooks are given away for a winning pawn ending} 1-0
Carlsen's second not granted a visa for London
Carlsen plagued by trouble before big tournament
Magnus Carlsen (21) says preparations for the tournament where he can break
the world record has been disturbed by British authorities. The visa application
to the UK by his permanent second, Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (21), has been
rejected because of a formal error. "It is amazing that they would stick
a spanner in the works for the world's number one," said manager Espen
Agdestein to VG Nett. "Magnus' preparation has been made more complicated
by the over zealous British authorities."
A second in chess is the person who helps the player with the analysis of the
opponent strategic planning. Nepomniachtchi is not just anyone: He is the currently
number 45 in the world. And he travels frequently around the world in tournaments
without having problems with the visa.
We have been in touch with Magnus' second and learn that it was indeed a formal
error that led to the visa denial. Normally Ian's visas are taken care of by
the Russian Chess Federation, but this time he decided there was no need and
he could easily do it himself. However he apparently did not fill out the forms
completely, and the visa was not issued in time for his departure. Magnus' manager
Espen Agdestein arranged for Norwegian government officials to call the British
authorities in the Moscow Embassy and in London, but to no avail. Looks like
Magnus and Ian will have to do their work using Skype.
The former European and Russian champion was asked about his collaboration
with the world number one. He explained that the two are friends and have done
occasional training sessions together, sparring for the most part. Since his
schedule currently gives him a bit of latitude Ian felt it was a good idea to
offer his help as Magnus’s second. “I'm an ambitious player myself
anyway, and it's a good opportunity not only to teach, but to learn something
new from Magnus. I guess it helps my development as well.”
Andrew Martin: London Chess Classic 2012 Preview
One of our favourite commentators, Andrew Martin, will be doing Game of the
Day analysis sessions during the chess classic, which we will provide for replay
in our reports. Here to get you into the mood is a preview of this year's Classic.
Apart from Andrew Martin we will also have video commentary by Daniel King.
Playchess members can follow the live commentary of GMs in London (Nigel Short,
Lawrence Trent and others) as well as watch the postgame analysis by the players
themselves – with a live chessboard – as soon as the games are over.
The official web site will have all of this in a video stream that can be watched
in a regular browser.
Tournament Information
The 2012 London Chess Classic will take 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.
There are nine players, including the three top-ranked in the world, make
for a rating average of 2751. The player rested during each round will provide
commentary on the games in progress.
Name
Title
Country
Rating
W-rank
Born
Carlsen, Magnus
Super-Grandmaster
NOR
2848
1
30.11.1990
Aronian, Levon
Super-Grandmaster
ARM
2815
2
06.10.1982
Kramnik, Vladimir
Ex-World Champion
RUS
2795
3
25.06.1975
Anand, Viswanathan
World Champion
IND
2775
6
11.12.1969
Nakamura, Hikaru
Super-Grandmaster, US Nr. two
USA
2755
13
09.12.1987
McShane, Luke
Super-Grandmaster
ENG
2710
29
07.01.1984
Adams, Michael
Super-Grandmaster
ENG
2710
32
17.11.1971
Polgar, Judit
Super-GM, strongest female ever
HUN
2705
43
23.07.1976
Jones,Gawain
Grandmaster
ENG
2644
112
11.12.1987
Pairings
Round
1: Saturday, Dec. 1st, 2012, 14:00h
Luke McShane
Magnus Carlsen
Levon Aronian
Hikaru Nakamura
Vladimir Kramnik
Judit Polgar
Gawain Jones
Michael Adams
Vishy Anand (bye) – assisting
commentary
Round
2: Sunday, Dec. 2nd, 2012, 14:00h
Judit Polgar
Gawain Jones
Hikaru Nakamura
Vladimir Kramnik
Magnus Carlsen
Levon Aronian
Vishy Anand
Luke McShane
Michael Adams (bye) –
assisting commentary
Round
3: Monday, Dec. 3rd, 2012, 14:00h
Levon Aronian
Vishy Anand
Vladimir Kramnik
Magnus Carlsen
Gawain Jones
Hikaru Nakamura
Michael Adams
Judit Polgar
Luke McShane (bye) – assisting
commentary
Round
4: Tuesday, Dec. 4th, 2012, 16:00h
Hikaru Nakamura
Michael Adams
Magnus Carlsen
Gawain Jones
Vishy Anand
Vladimir Kramnik
Luke McShane
Levon Aronian
Judit Polgar (bye) – assisting
commentary
Wednesday,
Dec. 5th, 2012Rest day
Round
5: Thursday, Dec. 6th, 2012, 14:00h
Vladimir Kramnik
Luke McShane
Gawain Jones
Vishy Anand
Michael Adams
Magnus Carlsen
Judit Polgar
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, 12:00h
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.
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.
Rossolimo-Moscow Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 10950 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 612 are annotated.
The greater part of the material on which the Rossolimo/Moscow Powerbook 2025 is based comes from the engine room of playchess.com: 263.000 games. This imposing amount is supplemented by some 50 000 games from Mega and from Correspondence Chess.
Focus on the Sicilian: Opening videos on the Najdorf Variation with 6.h3 e5 7.Nb3 (Luis Engel) and the Taimanov Variation with 7.Qf3 (Nico Zwirs). ‘Lucky bag’ with 38 analyses by Anish Giri, Surya Ganguly, Abhijeet Gupta, Yannick Pelletier and many more.
Throughout the video course, Sasikran shows various examples from his career to explain sacrifices for initiative, an attack, a better pawn structure and much more.
In this insightful video course, Grandmaster David Navara shares practical advice on when to calculate deeply in a position — and just as importantly, when not to.
The Trompowsky is especially suited for faster time controls as you don‘t have to memorise endless lines of theory, and you push your opponent out of their comfort zone after your second move.
€49.90
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, analysis cookies and marketing cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies. Here you can make detailed settings or revoke your consent (if necessary partially) with effect for the future. Further information can be found in our data protection declaration.
Pop-up for detailed settings
We use cookies and comparable technologies to provide certain functions, to improve the user experience and to offer interest-oriented content. Depending on their intended use, cookies may be used in addition to technically required cookies, analysis cookies and marketing cookies. You can decide which cookies to use by selecting the appropriate options below. Please note that your selection may affect the functionality of the service. Further information can be found in our privacy policy.
Technically required cookies
Technically required cookies: so that you can navigate and use the basic functions and store preferences.
Analysis Cookies
To help us determine how visitors interact with our website to improve the user experience.
Marketing-Cookies
To help us offer and evaluate relevant content and interesting and appropriate advertisement.