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Gawain Jones claimed a resounding victory at the London Chess Classic, finishing with an undefeated 5/7 score. The 36-year-old grandmaster from Keighley notched three wins and four draws, leaving his closest rivals a full point behind. Seeded fifth in an eight-player field, Jones delivered a remarkable 2795 Tournament Performance Rating (TPR), gaining 15 rating points and climbing to 74th place in the live world rankings.
Jones began the tournament with two consecutive wins and maintained his lead throughout the 8-day event. After five rounds, he held a half-point advantage over Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Vidit Gujrathi. The penultimate round saw decisive games involving other contenders, as Michael Adams defeated Mamedyarov and Nikita Vitiugov overcame 15-year-old Shreyas Royal. These results set up a final round with Jones narrowly ahead of Adams, Vitiugov and Vidit.
In the final round, Jones faced women's world champion Ju Wenjun with the white pieces, needing only a draw to ensure at least a tie for first place. Instead, he sealed outright victory with a win in 41 moves. None of the players sharing second place before the final round managed a win, as the only other decisive game saw Mamedyarov defeating Royal with black.
Mamedyarov's final-round victory brought him into a four-way tie for second place, alongside Vidit, Vitiugov and Adams, all of whom finished with 4/7 points. Vidit, the second-highest-rated player in the field, was the only other undefeated competitor, collecting one win and six draws over the tournament. Despite their strong performances, none could match Jones' consistency and endgame precision.
The victory caps an impressive year for Jones, who also triumphed in the 2024 English Championship and the 2024 British Championship. Both titles were decided in tiebreakers, with Jones defeating Adams in Kenilworth to claim the English title and overcoming David Howell in Hull for the British crown.
🏴 Gawain Jones (2654.0 +15.0), despite being seeded only 5th, wins the London Chess Classic with a full-point lead over the field, improving his live world ranking by more than 20 positions.
— 2700chess (@2700chess) December 7, 2024
📸via @london_chess pic.twitter.com/ubp7LmCaQv
Analysis by Karsten Müller
| Vitiugov, Nikita2668 | 1–0 | Royal, Shreyas2520 | |||||||||||||||||||||
 | XTX Markets London Classic-Elite 2024 05.12.2024[Mueller,Karsten] | | |||||||||||||||||||||
