London Chess Classic closing dinner and simul

Closing ceremony at Simpson's

The 2012 London Chess Classic took place in the Olympia Conference Centre from Saturday, December 1st until Monday, December 10th. A win was counted as three points, a draw as one, and a loss zero. The tournament was won by Norwegian star Magnus Carlsen with 18/8 (London scoring) or 6.5/8 (FIDE) with a performance of 2994, gaining him 13 rating points. With that Magnus shattered the all-time record of Garry Kasparov, who had a rating of 2851 in 1999. In the January 1st FIDE ratings Magnus Carlsen will be listed at 2861. In second place in the 2012 Chess Classic was former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik with 16/18 or 6.0/8 FIDE, and a rating performance of 2937.

The event ended on Monday, December 10, a day on which the round started two hours earlier than usual. This in order to allow the participants to attend the Gala Dinner at Simpson's-in-the-Strand (above). This is one of London's oldest traditional English restaurants, known as the Grand Cigar Divan when it opened in 1828. It developed from a smoking room to a coffee house, and finally achieved dual fame for its traditional English food, particularly roast meat, and as the most important venue in Britain for chess in the nineteenth century.

In the 19th century Simpson's was the Wimbledon of chess. Almost all the top players visited the restaurant, including Wilhelm Steinitz, Paul Morphy, Emanuel Lasker, Johannes Zukertort (who had a fatal stroke while playing there), and Siegbert Tarrasch. It was in Simpson's in 1851 that one of the world's great games, the famous "Immortal Game", was played between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky.

World Champion Vishy Anand arriving at Simpson's with wife Aruna

Judit Polgar, the strongest female player in history, at the reception

GMs Levon Aronian, Luke McShane and Gawain Jones are ready to party

The superb Simpson's cuisine is enjoyed by the players and specially invited guests

As the start tournament director Malcolm Pein awards the trophy to Magnus Carlsen

The Norwegian superstar has achieved the highest rating in the history of chess

A raffle for signed pictures, chessboards and books, with the proceeds going to the charity
Chess in Schools. Katharine Walsh, Head of Communications for Delancey, drew the winners

During the dinner a special simultaneous event is staged. Each table has a chessboard, and the participants in the Chess Classic move around, one at a time, to play against the guests at the table.

The reigning World Champion does the honors...

The former and 14th World Champion making the next moves (yes, that is Daniel
King on the right – the Classic players had stiff GM opposition on most tables)

Luke McShane, with Magnus in the background ready to take up any slack

The above pictures – and many others in our reports on the LCC 2012 – were taken by Ray Morris-Hill, a London based professional photographer specialising in Chess, Portraits, Sports, Fashion and Wildlife. He has published pictures in The Times, The Guardian, "Коммерсантъ", Digital Photographer, Esquire, Time Out, Drapers, 220 Triathlon, Peón de Rey, Chess Life, British Chess Magazine and of course, Chess and www.chessbase.com. His main career has been as a marketing consultant for home shopping companies in the UK. However, in the last three years, as his photography business has grown rapidly, more of his time has been taken up behind the camera. "I have been fortunate to combine my camera skills with my love of chess," he says. "I play Board one for Battersea Chess Club in the London League Division Two, and my latest FIDE rating is 2005.

Ray's photos are taken with Nikon Digital SLR cameras, specifically the D3S and D300 bodies with an array of Nikon Professional lenses. You can contact him at ray@rmhphoto.eu for further information.

GM Jonathan Rowson on the Close of the London Chess Classic

Congratulations to Tournament Director Malcolm Pein for another wonderfully organised buzz-fest at The London Chess Classic. The inclusive and accessible event’s highlight was Norway’s Magnus Carlsen becoming the highest rated player of all time, eclipsing 2860 and sniffing out the stratospheric 2900. For those who don’t know the chess rating system, let’s just say that a celebrated Tina Turner lyric comes to mind.

Your scribe didn’t disgrace himself in the open tournament, but my most memorable game was played at the Closing Dinner at The Simpson's in the Strand Divan, the historic chess venue of ‘The Immortal Game’ between Anderssen and Kieseritzky in 1851.

My table companions were Jonathan Hinton, Russell Picot, Chris Clark, Olivia Gregory, Natasha Reagan and Katherine Walsh, plentiful wine and good food, including a lip-licking lobster bisque.

Our opponents were Elite Grandmasters from the Classic, playing several boards throughout the cosy and animated room simultaneously. They arrived at our table in no particular order or tempo, usually with a smile on their face, and often with a glass in their hand. Even so, I felt the game, in which we went from three pawns up to three pawns down, had a romantic quality befitting of the venue.

The original column appeared in the Saturday (December 15, 2012) print edition of The Herald Scotland.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN All ChessBase reports on the LCC 2012 (+ 2011, 2010 and 2009) 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.