
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.
Chess is a Cruel Game
Round seven report by John Saunders
Round 7:
Saturday, December 10, 2011 |
Nigel Short |
0-1 |
Luke McShane |
Vladimir Kramnik |
1-0 |
David Howell |
Levon Aronian |
½-½ |
Vishy Anand |
Magnus Carlsen |
1-0 |
Michael Adams |
Hikaru Nakamura (bye) – assisting
commentary |
We’ve now reached Saturday and the last time someone other than Adams,
Short and Howell suffered defeat was last Tuesday when the world champion memorably
lost to Nakamura – even then two Englishmen bit the dust the same day.
However, before we Brits are tempted to overindulge our favourite national pastime
of self-loathing and whingeing, I should point out that the player currently
in first place on tie-break is also English – GM Luke McShane, who is
billed here as ‘the world’s strongest amateur player’ (although
someone who visited the VIP room yesterday also has a claim to that title –
Garry Kasparov).

Nigel Short, playing the King's Gambit in a Super-GM event

Luke McShane countering
Much of the attention in the commentary and VIP rooms was focused on the game
between Nigel Short and Luke McShane, perhaps because Nigel decided to be romantic
and offer his opponent a King’s Gambit. This bit of Victorian whimsy was
toute la rage a century or so ago a few miles up the road at Simpson’s
Divan but it faded from view during the Hypermodern and Soviet school eras that
followed and is now rarely deployed in elite events. The modern view is that
it is ‘wrong but romantic’. Nigel quite often wheels it out when
in a ‘devil may care’ mood and he recently used it to beat Garry
Kasparov in a blitz exhibition game.

Spectators in the VIP room following the games – can you spot the
famous face?
One of the good things about the King’s Gambit is that battle is often
engaged very quickly. It is also one of the bad things about it. It was probably
just as well that the players couldn’t hear what the guests in the commentary
room were saying about the game. The first guest was Viktor Korchnoi, who launched
into a fascinating monologue on the opening, why it is not suited to elite tournament
chess, how much he thought the players knew about it (not much, seemed to be
his verdict) and then, perhaps regretting his harshness on the players’
opening capabilities, how much he liked them as people, even though they had
the discourtesy to beat him over the board now and again.
After several minutes of this entertaining soliloquy, GM Dan King tried to
reassert his authority as anchorman: “Mr Korchnoi, can I ask a question?”
Came the answer - “no... no...”, uttered not in an angry way but
with an air of incredulity that anyone should think it sensible to interrupt
his stream of consciousness. Of course, Viktor Lvovich can be genuinely testy
on occasions but he also has a wicked, teasing sense of humour and here he was
just playing to the crowd. Dan was finally permitted to get a word in edgeways.
With reference to the book which Korchnoi co-wrote with Zak on the King’s
Gambit, many moons ago, he asked Viktor: “have you played the King’s
Gambit very much?” “No... well... I played it a couple of times
by mistake.” (laughter) “For me it is a good joke to play the King’s
Gambit.”

The bye player today was Hikaru Nakamura and, following Viktor Korchnoi’s
session, he joined the commentary team. The game had reached move 13 –
quite an early stage in proceedings – when Hikaru arrived. Commentator
Lawrence Trent asked him jokingly “who’s winning?” But Hikaru
replied, in all seriousness, “Black”. Later Nigel Short was honest
enough to concur with the American GM’s assessment. The opening gamble
had not been a success. See the game notes for further comments by the GMs.
Incidentally, Hikaru is a great commentator and I urge you to watch his session
in the commentary room in its entirety. On a website near you...
Mickey Adams (above) is having a torrid time at Olympia. Today was his fourth
loss in five games – surely unprecedented in his long and distinguished
career, though black against Carlsen is always going to be a tough ask. However,
Magnus (above) was also quite dissatisfied with his general form, having been
surprised in the opening. The thing to look for in this game is Magnus’s
queen manoeuvres on the first and second ranks. It looked ugly (Magnus’s
description) and Mickey’s position looked OK until around move 30 but
when the white queen came to f1 suddenly Magnus’s position started to
blossom. Mickey serious spoilt his position with 33...Ra3? and irrevocably with
35...Nc4??.
David Howell (above) didn’t seem to be doing too badly against Vladimir
Kramnik’s Queen’s Gambit but he got into difficulties in the middlegame
and fell for a neat intermezzo tactic on move 21. It wasn’t quite the
end of the story but Vlad’s technique was as impressive as it was relentless.

Vlad enjoys playing in London and he looks to be back to his best form
now.

Vishy Anand facing the "Levon System"
One of the games was a relatively sedate affair and finished before the other
three. Aronian-Anand followed the game Aronian-Gelfand from the recent Tal Memorial
tournament in Moscow, with Aronian’s trademark 7.Be2, which Vishy called
“the Levon System” in the commentary room (to which Levon responded
“if I don’t play my own system, who is going to play it?”).

"If I don’t play my own system, who is going to play it?”
(Aronian)
Levon varied with 11 Nd4. He felt 17 Rd1 was a waste of time and became disillusioned
with his position. A fair amount of material was hoovered off and then there
was a repetition. A teeny bit disappointing for the big Saturday afternoon crowd
but of course there was plenty of other action to enjoy.
Who is Going to Win?
Two rounds remain - who is going to win? Given his track record for winning
elite events, it is hard to bet against Magnus Carlsen. However, what complicates
his life here is the fact that he finishes with two Blacks, versus Anand and
Short. Luke McShane, on the other hand, has two Whites - but the first is against
the other leader Vlad Kramnik and then Vishy Anand. Opposition doesn’t
get much tougher, of course. As well as the clash with Luke, Vlad Kramnik faces
Levon Aronian with White in the final round. Hikaru Nakamura is a point adrift
of the other three but he must still fancy his chances, with two Whites against
the out of form Nigel Short and Mickey Adams. The 3-1-0 system helps to keep
the tournament alive to the final round - it should an exciting denouement,
with four players still having very good chances of overall victory.
FIDE Open
In the showdown between the leaders and top seeds, Abhijeet Gupta of India
defeated Gawain Jones to move into the sole lead with 7/8. Four players are
on 6½: Keith Arkell, Peter Wells, Sahaj Grover and Jovanka Houska. The
latter needs a draw with IM Arghyadip Das in the final round to secure a GM
norm and she will enjoy a groundswell of home support. Tom Weber of Luxembourg
needs a draw for an IM norm, while Nicolas Croad of New Zealand needs a win
to do the same.
FIDE Women’s Invitational
Two players are dominating the Women’s Invitational tournament. IM Dagne
Ciuksyte of England and Guliskhan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan have 6½/8,
two clear points ahead of the field. Both have TPRs above 2400.
Korchnoi Simul
Here’s another game from the Korchnoi simul on 9 December. The great
man shows how a seemingly impenetrable pawn wall can be breached - not once,
but twice.
About the author

John Saunders, an all-star defenseman in the Montreal junior leagues, played
hockey at Western Michigan University from 1974–76... No, hang on, wrong
Wikipedia entry. The John Saunders who is writing these reports attended the
Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe (1963-70), went on to Selwyn College, Cambridge,
where he obtained a degree in Law and Classics. As a winner of domestic open
tournaments he reached a peak Elo rating of 2255 (in January 1993). Subsequently
John has since made a career from chess writing and journalism, first as editor
of British Chess Magazine from 1999 to July 2010, then as acting editor of CHESS
Magazine from September 2010, and by providing news coverage for BBC Ceefax.
He has also written some instructive guides on the game, covering a broad range
of levels of expertise.
All photos by Frederic Friedel
Standings after seven rounds (London scoring)

Standings after seven rounds (traditional scoring)

Schedule and results
Round
1: Saturday, December 3, 2011 |
Vladimir Kramnik |
½-½ |
Hikaru Nakamura |
Levon Aronian |
½-½ |
Luke McShane |
Magnus Carlsen |
1-0 |
David Howell |
Michael Adams |
½-½ |
Vishy Anand |
Nigel Short (bye) – assisting
commentary |
|
Round
2: Sunday, December 4, 2011 |
David Howell |
½-½ |
Michael Adams |
Luke McShane |
½-½ |
Magnus Carlsen |
Hikaru Nakamura |
1-0 |
Levon Aronian |
Nigel Short |
0-1 |
Vladimir Kramnik |
Vishy Anand (bye) – assisting
commentary |
|
Round
3: Monday, December 5, 2011 |
Levon Aronian |
1-0 |
Nigel Short |
Magnus Carlsen |
1-0 |
Hikaru Nakamura |
Michael Adams |
0-1 |
Luke McShane |
Vishy Anand |
½-½ |
David Howell |
Vladimir Kramnik (bye) –
assisting commentary |
|
Round
4: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 |
Magnus Carlsen |
½-½ |
Vladimir Kramnik |
Michael Adams |
0-1 |
Nigel Short |
Vishy Anand |
0-1 |
Hikaru Nakamura |
David Howell |
0-1 |
Luke McShane |
Levon Aronian (bye) –
assisting commentary |
|
Wednesday,
December 7, 2011 Rest day |
|
Round
5: Thursday, December 8, 2011 |
Hikaru Nakamura |
1-0 |
David Howell |
Nigel Short |
0-1 |
Vishy Anand |
Vladimir Kramnik |
1-0 |
Michael Adams |
Levon Aronian |
½-½ |
Magnus Carlsen |
Luke McShane (bye) – assisting
commentary |
|
Round
6: Friday, December 9, 2011 |
Michael Adams |
½-½ |
Levon Aronian |
Vishy Anand |
½-½ |
Vladimir Kramnik |
David Howell |
½-½ |
Nigel Short |
Luke McShane |
½-½ |
Hikaru Nakamura |
Magnus Carlsen (bye) –
assisting commentary |
|
Round
7: Saturday, December 10, 2011 |
Nigel Short |
0-1 |
Luke McShane |
Vladimir Kramnik |
1-0 |
David Howell |
Levon Aronian |
½-½ |
Vishy Anand |
Magnus Carlsen |
1-0 |
Michael Adams |
Hikaru Nakamura (bye) –
assisting commentary |
|
Round
8: Sunday, December 11, 2011 |
Vishy Anand |
|
Magnus Carlsen |
David Howell |
|
Levon Aronian |
Luke McShane |
|
Vladimir Kramnik |
Hikaru Nakamura |
|
Nigel Short |
Michael Adams (bye) –
assisting commentary |
|
Round
9: Monday, December 12, 2011 |
Luke McShane |
|
Vishy Anand |
Hikaru Nakamura |
|
Michael Adams |
Nigel Short |
|
Magnus Carlsen |
Vladimir Kramnik |
|
Levon Aronian |
David Howell (bye) – assisting
commentary |
|
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
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. |
|
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