London Classic Rd8: Kramnik beats McShane for sole lead

London Chess Classic 2011

The 2011 London Chess Classic is taking place in the Olympia Conference Centre from Saturday, December 3rd until Monday, December 12th, starting at 14:00h London time each day (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 then 5) an 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. The total prize fund is €160,000 before tax.

Round eight

The starts lined up for Vladimir Kramnik as he took what is most likely a decisive lead in the London Chess Classic. With three players sharing the lead, Magnus Carlsen, Luke McShane, and Vladimir Kramnik, plus Hikaru Nakamura with chances too, the penultimate round could easily be decisive in the final standings and it was.

Carlsen's chances of scoring a draw and a win seemed the greatest as he faced Anand in round eight, where a draw seemed likely, and struggling Short in round nine. Sure enough, his result against Anand was no big surprise.

 
Carlsen and Anand take a look at their tussle

The much tougher game was between McShane and Kramnik, two of the three leaders, and promised to be a make or break game. The young Englishman, also facing the prospect of Anand in the last round, decided to gamble against Kramnik and took serious chances in an attempt to take his fate into his own hands. Unfortunately for the English contingent rooting for him, he failed to recognize the moment to call it a day, and accept a draw, and suddenly he was in danger. Kramnik proceeded to grind down the Englishman with great technique, and took home a crucial win. This win was all the more critical, since according to the tiebreak rules, his number of wins with Black will be decisively in his favor should he hold Aronian to a draw.

David Howell and Levon Aronian analyze... McShane-Kramnik before their own game!  

Hikaru Nakamura and Nigel Short played a long game in which the center became completely blocked with both trying to get something on the wings, but eventually it became clear neither would obtain anything.

Standings after eight rounds (London scoring)

Standings after eight rounds (traditional scoring)

Schedule and results

All games 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 (sorry Murray!), 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. Stand by for further details on Saturday. The games of the final round start two hours earlier.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN All ChessBase reports on the Chess Classic 2011 (+ 2010 and 2009) The games are being 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.

Copyright ChessBase