London R4: Anand mates Short, joins McShane in the lead

London Chess Classic 2010

The tournament is an eight-player round-robin for seven rounds played at 40/2h + 20/1h + g/15'+30" using the Sofia Rules. Prizes: 1st 50,000 Euros, 2nd 25,000 Euros, 3rd 15,000 Euros, 4th 10,000 Euros, 5th 10,000 Euros, 6th 8,000 Euros plus seven daily Best Game prizes of 1,000 Euros voted on by the public. Tie Breaks: In order of priority. 1. Number of games with Black. 2. Number of games won with Black. 3. Number of games won. 4. Ranking based on the games between the tied players only.

Report of round four

By John Saunders – with photos by Christian Sasse

The tournament has passed the midway point and we now have joint leaders. World champion Vishy Anand celebrated his 41st birthday by defeating backmarker Nigel Short to join Luke McShane (who drew with Mickey Adams) in the lead. It wasn’t quite such a good day for the English players as Friday as David Howell also lost, to Vladimir Kramnik. The last game to finish was Carlsen-Nakamura, which Magnus won after five hours of play.

Nigel Short (right) entertaining Hikaru Nakamura and Michael Adams...

... and then Magnus Carlsen and David Howell before the game

David still enjoying the jests as he is called up to the stage

Michael Adams on the stage before the start of his game against...

... the tournament leader Luke McShane, who is also in high spirits

Hikaru Nakamura preparing to meet a Very Strong Opponent

The man to beat – or simply survive against: world's second ranked GM Magnus Carlsen

Before the game a young participant is asked to execute the first move

With a few hints from Magnus he picks the right move: 1.c4

World Champion Vishy Anand composed and concentrated before the game

The games

After emerging from some initial difficulties with his Closed Sicilian opening, Nigel Short seemed to be doing quite well around move 28, when Vishy allowed him to open the g-file and land a rook on the seventh. He worked a knight around to assist in the attack but then had an aberration, sacrificing first a pawn and then a bishop to hack a way through to Vishy’s king. But there was a flaw in his calculation – Vishy had the simple move 38...Qd6! which covered all the mating threats. He was left a piece adrift, so fell on his sword, allowing a mating finish.

Short,Nigel D (2680) - Anand,Viswanathan (2804) [B23]
2nd London Chess Classic London ENG (4), 11.12.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 g6 5.Be2 Bg7 6.0-0 Nf6 7.Qe1 0-0 8.d3 e6 9.Kh1 b6 10.Bd2 Bb7 11.Qh4 Ne8 12.Qh3 Nd4 13.Nxd4 cxd4 14.Nd1 f5 15.c4 dxc3 16.Nxc3 Qd7 17.Rae1 Nc7 18.Bf3 Rab8 19.exf5 exf5 20.Bxb7 Rxb7 21.Qf3 d5 22.Rf2 Rbb8 23.Rfe2 Rf7 24.a3 d4 25.Nd1 Qd5 26.Qg3 Rff8 27.h4 Rfe8 28.h5 gxh5 29.Re7 Rxe7 30.Rxe7 Ne6 31.Rxa7 Kh8 32.Nf2 Bf6 33.Nh3 h4 34.Qf2 h6

35.Ng5 Nxg5 36.fxg5 hxg5 37.Bxg5 Bxg5 38.Qe2

38...Qd6 39.Qh5+ Qh6 40.Qf3 Rc8 41.Qxf5 Rc1+ 42.Kh2 Qd6+ 43.Kh3 Qg3# 0-1. [Click to replay]

Vladimir Kramnik built up a steady advantage from the opening (a Grünfeld) against David Howell and opened up the h-file for his rooks to infiltrate. It wasn’t easy to make further progress and a liquidation occurred to what looked like a less dangerous position. However, Vlad established his rook on the seventh rank and his bishop on g4 and Black suddenly had difficulty protecting his king from their unwanted attentions. David tried a desperate b5 push and after a further inaccuracy found he couldn’t prevent the advance of Vlad’s d- pawn. Game over. Vlad is now a point behind Vishy and Luke in first place.

Kramnik,V (2791) - Howell,D (2611) [D85]
2nd London Chess Classic London ENG (4), 11.12.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Be3 c5 8.Rc1 Qa5 9.Qd2 0-0 10.Nf3 Rd8 11.d5 e6 12.Bg5 f6 13.Be3 exd5 14.exd5 Na6 15.Be2 Be6 16.c4 Qxd2+ 17.Nxd2 Bd7 18.Ne4 b6 19.h4 Bf5 20.Nc3 Nb4 21.Kd2 Nc6 22.h5 Kf7 23.g4 Bc8 24.hxg6+ hxg6 25.Ne4 Ba6 26.Rh7 Kg8 27.Rch1 Ne5 28.Kc3 Nf7 29.Bd3 Ne5 30.g5 fxg5 31.Bxg5 Rf8 32.Be2 Nf3+ 33.Nf6+ Rxf6 34.Rxg7+ Kxg7 35.Bxf6+ Kxf6 36.Bxf3 Re8 37.Rh7 Re7 38.Rh8 Ke5 39.Bg4 b5 40.Rd8 Rf7 41.Re8+ Kf4 42.Be6 1-0. [Click to replay]

Luke McShane opened with the quiet 1 g3 and Mickey Adams gradually assumed the initiative. He established his queen and rook on the seventh rank but Luke had a tactical trick to swap the queens and relieve the pressure. Further exchanges were made and the game eventually came down to an opposite-coloured bishop – hence drawn.

McShane,L (2645) - Adams,Mi (2723) [A07]
2nd London Chess Classic London ENG (4), 11.12.2010
1.g3 d5 2.Nf3 Bg4 3.Bg2 c6 4.c4 e6 5.0-0 Nd7 6.cxd5 exd5 7.d3 Ngf6 8.h3 Bh5 9.Nh4 Bc5 10.d4 Bb6 11.Nc3 0-0 12.Qd3 Re8 13.Bd2 Qe7 14.g4 Bg6 15.Nxg6 hxg6 16.Bf4 Ne4 17.Nxe4 dxe4 18.Qb3 Nf6 19.Be5 Nd5 20.Bxe4 Bxd4 21.Bxd5 Bxe5 22.Bg2 a5 23.a3 a4 24.Qc2 Qe6 25.Rad1 Ra5 26.Rd2 Rb5 27.Qxa4 Bxb2 28.e3 Qa2 29.Rd3 Bf6 30.Rfd1 Rb2 31.Bd5 b5 32.Bxa2 bxa4 33.R1d2 Reb8 34.Kg2 Kf8 35.Bc4 Rxd2 36.Rxd2 Ke7 37.Rc2 Rb2 38.Rxb2 Bxb2 39.Bd3 Bxa3 40.Bc2 g5 41.Bxa4 c5 42.Bb3 Bb4 43.Bc4 Be1 44.Kf1 1/2-1/2. [Click to replay]

Hikaru Nakamura answered Magnus Carlsen’s English Opening with a sort of Dutch Defence, but the Norwegian emerged from the opening with a steady edge. One interesting juncture was when Magnus exchanged a bishop for a knight (23 Bd4 and 24 Bxb6). It looked as though Hikaru might be OK with his two bishops but Magnus’s pressure told in time trouble when Hikaru didn’t have time to work out the consequences of 33...Rd8!? which he thought might have been a better try. He missed the desperado sacrifice 38 Rxg6+ after which he was left a pawn down in an endgame. Magnus’s technique was immaculate and he soon brought the game to an end.

Carlsen,M (2802) - Nakamura,Hi (2741) [A10]
2nd London Chess Classic London ENG (4), 11.12.2010
1.c4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d6 4.Nc3 g6 5.e3 Bg7 6.Nge2 0-0 7.0-0 e5 8.b3 Nbd7 9.d3 c6 10.Ba3 Qc7 11.Qd2 Re8 12.Rae1 Nc5 13.h3 e4 14.dxe4 Nfxe4 15.Qc2 Nxc3 16.Nxc3 Be6 17.Rd1 Rad8 18.Bb2 Bf7 19.Rd2 a5 20.Rfd1 Be5 21.Ne2 a4 22.b4 Nd7 23.Bd4 Nb6 24.Bxb6 Qxb6 25.Rb1 Qc7 26.Nd4 Rc8 27.Rc1 Qe7 28.Rd3 c5 29.bxc5 Rxc5 30.Qxa4 Rec8 31.Rb1 Rxc4 32.Qd1 b6 33.Nb5 R4c5 34.Nxd6 Bxd6 35.Rxd6 Bxa2 36.Ra1 Rc1 37.Rxc1 Rxc1 38.Rxg6+ hxg6 39.Qxc1 Qd6 40.h4 Bf7 41.h5 Kh7 42.hxg6+ Kxg6 43.Qc2 b5 44.g4 Qe5 45.gxf5+ Kg7 46.Qe4 Qd6 47.Qh4 Bc4 48.Bf3 Qf6 49.Qxf6+ Kxf6 50.Be4 Ba2 51.f4 b4 52.Kf2 b3 53.Bd5 Kxf5 54.Kf3 Kf6 55.e4 Kg6 56.Ke3 Kh5 57.Kd4 Kg4 58.f5 Kg5 59.Ke5 1-0. [Click to replay]

Astronomers: our guest photographer Dr Christian Sasse with GM John Nunn

Standings after round four

Traditional cross table

Pairings of the London Chess Classic

Remaining tournament schedule

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