Ups and downs
Fighting chess has been the norm in the revived London Chess Classic. With 13 out of 20 games ending decisively so far, the tournament is a nice change for chess enthusiasts all over the world — the mixed lineup invites more risky play, without needing to resort to shorter time controls nor overly complicated formats.
Round 4 was particularly chaotic. At some point, Gukesh seemed to be on his way to a third win in four games, as he had a clear advantage against Jules Moussard, while Shreyas Royal had a promising position with black against Hans Niemann.
In this Video-Course we deal with different dynamic decisions involving pawns. The aim of this Course is to arm club/tournament players with fresh ideas which they can use in their own practice.
At the end of the day, though, both Moussard and Niemann not only managed to neutralise their opponents but collected full points after the tables turned in their favour.
Meanwhile, Amin Tabatabaei and Mateusz Bartel continued to mimic each other — as they did in the first three rounds — in terms of results. Both grandmasters scored a loss, a win, a loss and a win (in that order) on the first four days of action in London.
In the one game that ended drawn on Monday, Nikita Vitiugov and Michael Adams manoeuvred their pieces around a closed pawn structure without finding an effective way to create a favourable imbalance. The 51-move draw allowed Adams to go into round 5 (the last one before the rest day) as the sole leader with 3 points to his name.
Moussard, Niemann and Gukesh are sharing second place a half point back.

The playing hall during an exciting fourth round | Photo: Tao Bhokanandh
Gukesh 0 - 1 Moussard
Analysis by GM Karsten Müller
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.

Jules Moussard | Photo: Tao Bhokanandh
Niemann 1 - 0 Royal
Analysis by GM Karsten Müller
Let us learn together how to find the best spot for the queen in the early middlegame, how to navigate this piece around the board, how to time the queen attack, how to decide whether to exchange it or not, and much more!
Standings - Round 4
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