London R2: Thirty love – Carlsen beats McShane

by ChessBase
12/10/2009 – The rampage of the top seed Magnus Carlsen continues. The 19-year-old Norwegian scored another convincing victory, this time over Luke McShane, to take the lead. Vladimir Kramnik came back from his first-round loss (to Carlsen) with a win over Chinese GM Ni Hua. The other two games were drawn. A report on the game will follow, here for now is Magnus' blog entry and pictures from round two.

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Round two report

Round 2: Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Vladimir Kramnik 

1-0

 Ni Hua

Michael Adams 

½-½

 Hikaru Nakamura

Nigel Short 

½-½

 David Howell

Magnus Carlsen 

1-0

 Luke McShane

From Magnus Carlsen's Arctic Securities blog

My opponent today was 25-year-old Luke McShane, the British number three. Having studied at Oxford followed by a career in the City, he is now a full time professional chess player, and clearly stronger than his current rating of 2615. My current official (November 1) rating is 2801, and depending on the opposition I may win 2-5 or lose up to 5-8 points in each game. Today victory would yield 2.6 points, and draw or loss a 2.4 / 7.4 rating loss respectively.

I played white and he chose the King's Indian Defence against my 1.d4. I got a pleasant position in the early middlegame, but probably overestimated my possibilities. Despite his time trouble he continued to pose difficulties throughout most of the game. Well after the first time control I won a pawn and in the difficult endgame he went astray and resigned after six hours hard fight. It was a really tough game and I’m nearly as satisfied with today’s victory as the one yesterday against Kramnik.

Kramnik beat Ni Hua and after two rounds I have a 6 points (3-1-0 scoring) followed by Kramnik and McShane at 3 points each. 19-year old David Howell is my opponent tomorrow, and I’ll play black for the first time in this tournament. Magnus Carlsen, London, December 9th 2009.

Courtesy of the Arctic Securities web site


Before the start of round two:Nigel Short and Michael Adams share a jest


The two are joined by Vladimir Kramnik, who is quite at home with British humour


The three wait in the front row of the theatre for the round to start


Things get serious for Nigel as the play begins


The hero of round one, Magnus Carlsen, prepares for an encore in round two


Facing the Norwegian 2800 Super-GM: Luke McShane of England


Vladimir Kramnik, who lost to Carlsen in round one, determined to win today


Chinese GM Ni Hua, who felt the brunt of Kramnik's determination in round two


I need to win this one really really badly. So how do I go about it? – Kramnik vs Ni


The American "h-bomb" Hikaru Nakamura playing Michael Adams


Reigning British Champion David Howell


Father of the Mag: Henrik Carlsen, feeling good in London


The director of the London Chess Classic, IM Malcolm Pein, commenting in the VIP room

All photos above by GM Dr John Nunn


Another exciting game reaches its critical climax: McShane vs Carlsen at move 59


Magnus makes his final move of the game, Luke watches in despair


The English GM considers his options, while deputy arbiter David Sedgwick watches


The only logical decision for Luke McShane: to resign the game


It was the last game, and the two take some time analysing on the stage


After this session both players proceeded to the commentary room...


...and discussed the game for spectators in London and on the Playchess server

Photos by Frederic Friedel in London

Standings

No.
Player
wins
draws
losses
points
Perf.
1
 Magnus Carlsen
2
0
0
6
3429
2
 Vladimir Kramnik
1
0
1
3
2733
3
 Luke McShane
1
0
1
3
2754
4
 Hikaru Nakamura
0
2
0
2
2682
5
 Michael Adams
0
2
0
2
2656
6
 David Howell
0
2
0
2
2703
7
 Nigel Short
0
1
1
1
2413
8
 Ni Hua
0
1
1
1
2551
 
Scoring System:
3 - Points per win
1 - Point per draw
0 - Points per loss

Traditional cross table (for rating purposes)

Schedule and results

Round 1: Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Magnus Carlsen 
1-0
 Vladimir Kramnik
Luke McShane 
1-0
 Nigel Short
David Howell 
½-½
 Michael Adams
Hikaru Nakamura 
½-½
 Ni Hua
Round 2: Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Vladimir Kramnik 

1-0

 Ni Hua

Michael Adams 

½-½

 Hikaru Nakamura

Nigel Short 

½-½

 David Howell

Magnus Carlsen 

1-0

 Luke McShane

Round 3: Thuesday, December 10, 2009

Luke McShane 

-

 Vladimir Kramnik

David Howell 

-

 Magnus Carlsen

Hikaru Nakamura 

-

 Nigel Short

Ni Hua 

-

 Michael Adams

Games – Report

Friday, December 12, 2009

Rest day

Round 4: Saturday, December 12, 2009

Vladimir Kramnik 

-

 Michael Adams

Nigel Short 

-

 Ni Hua

Magnus Carlsen 

-

 Hikaru Nakamura

Luke McShane 

-

 David Howell

Games – Report
Round 5: Sunday, December 13, 2009

David Howell 

-

Vladimir Kramnik

Hikaru Nakamura 

-

Luke McShane

Ni Hua 

-

Magnus Carlsen

Michael Adams 

-

Nigel Short

Games – Report
Round 6: Monday, December 14, 2009

Vladimir Kramnik 

-

Nigel Short

Magnus Carlsen 

-

Michael Adams

Luke McShane 

-

Ni Hua

David Howell 

-

Hikaru Nakamura

Games – Report
Round 7: Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Hikaru Nakamura 

-

 Vladimir Kramnik

Ni Hua 

-

 David Howell

Michael Adams 

-

 Luke McShane

Nigel Short 

-

 Magnus Carlsen

Games – Report

Tournament Schedule

Monday 7th December Press Conference + blindfold display  

Tuesday

8th December

Round 1

2.00pm

Wednesday 

9th December

Round 2

2.00pm

Thursday

10th December

Round 3

2.00pm

Friday 11th December Rest day and Community / School events  

Saturday

12th December

Round 4

2.00pm

Sunday

13th December

Round 5

2.00pm

Monday

14th December

Round 6

2.00pm

Tuesday

15th December

Round 7

12.00pm


Links

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