London Rd8: Giri joins MVL in the lead
12/12/2015 – It was not for lack of trying, but round eight saw four of the five games draw, a scene the fans are all too familiar with. The only win was Anish Giri's victory over Hikaru Nakamura, still not recovered from yesterday's disheartening loss. Magnus Carlsen pressed Vesselin Topalov for the longest time, but could not crack the Bulgarian. Express report with video analysis by Daniel King.
The 7th London Chess Classic, England's premier tournament, takes place at its traditional venue of Kensington Olympia from Friday December 4th to Sunday December 13th. The main event, the strongest ever held in the UK, is a nine-round ten-player super tournament played at a rate of 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by the rest of the game in one hour with a 30-second increment from move 41. The overall prize fund is $300,000, with the winner getting $75,000.
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| Round 8 Saturday 12 Dec, 14.00-21.00 | ||
| Anish Giri |
1-0 |
Hikaru Nakamura |
| Veselin Topalov |
½-½ |
Magnus Carlsen |
| Alexander Grischuk |
½-½ |
Levon Aronian |
| M Vachier-Lagrave |
½-½ |
Michael Adams |
| Fabiano Caruana |
½-½ |
Viswanathan Anand |
Daniel King: Round 8 Anish Giri vs Hikaru Nakamura
Round-up of day 8 by Fiona Steil-Antoni
Today’s penultimate round saw a lone decisive result, but the players treated us to plenty of fighting chess and set the stage perfectly for tomorrow’s 9th and final round in which a huge amount is at stake. The winners of the London Chess Classic and Grand Chess Tour will be decided as well as who qualifies for next year’s Tour.
The first game of the day to finish saw tournament leader Vachier-Lagrave draw with Adams who defended the Ruy Lopez with ease. MVL decided to repeat moves and a draw was agreed on move 37. While this game was always balanced, the draw that soon followed between Grischuk and Aronian was a much wilder affair. The Russian joked in the post-game analysis that this had not been one of Aronian’s better opening preparations, as White got a tangible advantage. However, Alexander soon found himself in time trouble (again!) and not only let his edge slip, but even found himself worse. By his own admission, Aronian then committed the mistake of trying to flag his opponent, allowing a nice piece sacrifice which led to a perpetual check.
Carlsen and Caruana were a pawn up in their respective endgames against Topalov and Anand. Caruana had held an edge for some time but Anand had seen that the game was going to be drawn despite the pawn minus. Anish Giri demonstrated the method in an instructive live commentary. Topalov-Carlsen was a battle of attrition with Carlsen very nearly giving us another demonstration of how he can create something from nothing. With just rook, knight and three pawns each remaining, all on the same side of the board, Carlsen managed to tie the back marker up in knots. The spectators were puzzled as to why Carlsen decided to liquidate into a drawn endgame with rook and 3 pawns against rook and 2 pawns. Giri also demonstrated the drawing plan of Ra3-Ra6 pinning the e6 pawn. Afterwards, Carlsen revealed that he needed to avoid the 50 move rule and an interesting discussion ensued as to whether the rules need a tweak, particularly in games with increment. Carlsen was always making progress and he didn’t have enough moves to fully carry out his plans. Something for everyone to ponder after the tournament.
That leaves us with today’s decisive encounter in which Giri inflicted a second consecutive defeat on Nakamura. Anish chose the best moment to produce a beautiful game, as he not only joins MVL in the tournament lead, but also moves into first place in the Grand Chess Tour standings. Giri remains unbeaten throughout the Tour, a fantastic accomplishment!
This means that going into tomorrow’s last round, MVL and Giri share the lead with 5/8, but they are closely followed by Carlsen, Aronian and Grischuk, who trail them by just half a point. Tomorrow’s three crucial encounters are therefore Aronian-Vachier Lagrave, Anand-Giri and Carlsen-Grischuk. Chess fans couldn’t have hoped for a more exciting climax to the Grand Chess Tour, as with one game to go, four players are still in with a realistic chance of winning the Tour: Giri, MVL, Carlsen and Aronian. An interesting subplot will also be unfolding in the Aronian-Vachier Lagrave encounter, as the Armenian will most probably have to decide the game in his favour in order to edge out MVL for the last qualification spot of the 2016 Grand Chess Tour. A tie for first in the London Chess Classic or the Grand Chess Tour will necessitate a play-off – it could be a late night!
Before the start of the ‘big games’, over 350 players made their way to Olympia Conference Centre to participate in the Super Rapidplay. After 5 rounds, four players are still on a perfect score: Howell, Melkumyan, McShane and Arakhamia-Grant (who, despite her 2393 rating, took out Hawkins, Rowson and Hammer!). The tournament is incredibly strong with over 30 GMs taking part.
Replay games of round eight (with times per move)
Standings after eight rounds
Schedule of the London Chess Classic 2015
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Live commentary on Playchess
| Day and round | English | German |
| 12.12 Saturday Round 8 | Georgios Souleidis/Oliver Reeh | Sebastian Siebrecht |
| 13.12 Sunday Round 9 | Yannick Pelletier | Oliver Reeh/Martin Breutigam |
Links
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Discussion and Feedback
Join the public discussion or submit your feedback to the editors
I will repeat myself for the x time. 2nd ranked player has never beaten 1st ranked in 30 encounters??? Some folks on chess.com compare this with Kaspy vs Shirov but there are many differences. Shirov has never been above 2800, he has never been 2nd ranked player. I have a feeling Nakamura is afraid of playing against Magnus for some reason. At this level it is unexplainable.
Fons, I'd only be in favor of removing the 50-move draw rule for solved endgames like the 6-piece TBs. Other than that, it becomes a thing where you remove traditional strategy, much like making stalemate a win for the aggressive side.
To avoid the 50-move rule Carlsen had to play an inferior move that led to a draw.
For the absolute top level the 50-move rule is not really needed (for a variety of reasons even).
Therefore a simple solution might be to simply abolish the rule for the absolute top level (like the Grand Chess Tour).
Or else add a clause where if the player can show he is making progress play goes on.
(This has the added benefit to catch all theoretical endgames that can only be won with more than 50 moves.)
For the absolute top level the 50-move rule is not really needed (for a variety of reasons even).
Therefore a simple solution might be to simply abolish the rule for the absolute top level (like the Grand Chess Tour).
Or else add a clause where if the player can show he is making progress play goes on.
(This has the added benefit to catch all theoretical endgames that can only be won with more than 50 moves.)
Chess is quite the cruel sport and an evil game. Looking at the cross-table with Nakamura, Anand and Topalov at the bottom one would think the arrangement was in reverse. Wicked!! Not only is it unthinkable, its near unbelievable to see. They didnt even bother to calculate their tie-breaks............why bother?? lol
dear ulyssesganesh, please remember that the former world champ you refer to is in bad form and should lose to the current world champ!
dear edward, please remember topalov is a former world ch.,! and on his day, he can beat any one!
Wow...Magnus IS in bad form...he can't even beat Topalov!!
has rd 8 started?please tell d timings acc. to New-Delhi Time Zone
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