The London Chess Classic 2012 starts on Saturday

News Release

27 November 2012 – The 4th London Chess Classic runs from 1-10 December 2012 at the Olympia Conference Centre, Kensington London W14 8UX. The official website is www.londonchessclassic.com.

Press conference at last year's Classic, with: David Howell, Luke McShane, Michael Adams, Levon Aronian,
Vishy Anand, Malcolm Pein, Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, Nigel Short

This year’s line-up is stronger than ever, with an average rating higher than any previous chess tournament held in the UK. Heading the list are world champion Vishy Anand, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, and the top two players on the world rating list, Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian.

How tall they are! World Champions: Kramnik, Anand, with Kramnik's daughter Daria

Playing for the first time is the world’s best ever woman player Judit Polgar. Completing the line-up are US champion Hikaru Nakamura and three leading players from Britain, Luke McShane, Michael Adams and Gawain Jones.

On 30 November at 14:00 GMT (09:00 EST) there will be a press conference at the venue, followed by a London Classic Stars versus the Twittersphere exhibition match played via Twitter, allowing the world’s chessplayers to test their mettle against Carlsen, Anand and co. The press conference will be streamed live via the net: questions are welcome and may be sent in advance to director@londonchessclassic or in real-time via the official Twitter feed, which is @LondonClassic. (Please use the hashtag #londonchess in your tweets.)

The opening ceremony for the Classic will take place at 13:45 GMT on December 1st, with play beginning at 14:00 GMT (09:00 EST). Play will be streamed live via the official website. Live play, timetable, course details and tickets are available here.

The London Chess Classic is a festival of the world’s most enduring game, which is staged by Chess in Schools and Communities, a UK registered charity whose mission is to deliver chess to primary schools in UK inner cities. Recent articles in top British broadsheets bear this out.

Chess makes a dramatic comeback in primary schools

Chess is making a dramatic comeback in primary schools – thirty years after it all but disappeared completely from the state school scene. In the past two years, a total of 175 schools – including those serving some of the most deprived areas of the country – have reintroduced the game to the curriculum. Now the charity behind its revival, Chess in Schools and Communities (CSC), is optimistic the take-up will spread to 1,000 state schools within the next three years.

Academics are agreed the game is a major stimulant for improving pupils’ concentration and believe it can also be used in other subject areas – such as maths – to improve skills.They could not have put it better than ten-year-old Olivia Kenwright, as she took a break from playing the game during a timetabled lesson. “It's like the brain thing she said. “It’s a really good game. It’s really good for helping out with other subjects.”

• Read the full article by Richard Garner here

Chess returns to the timetable: Schools reintroduce game in attempt to improve children's brainpower

Schools are reintroducing chess lessons in an attempt to boost children’s brainpower. Three decades after it was virtually wiped out in state schools, the game is making a dramatic comeback. In just two years, 175 primary schools across England and Wales have introduced formal teaching in chess. It follows research suggesting the ‘game of kings’ brings a range of educational benefits including improved concentration and memory. The charity spearheading the revival, Chess in Schools and Communities CSC, said its aim was to expose as many children as possible to the benefits of the game. It added that the initiative was also beginning to produce a new generation of potential chess champions.

• Read the full article by Laura Clark here

Tournament Information

The 2012 London Chess Classic will take place in the Olympia Conference Centre from Saturday, December 1st until Monday, December 10th. Games start each day in general at 14:00h London time, except for round four (16:00h) and the 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 5) 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.

There are nine players, including the three top-ranked in the world, make for a rating average of 2751. The player rested during each round will provide commentary on the games in progress.

Pairings

The games – except for rounds four and nine – 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, 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. The games of round four begin two hours later, those of the final round two hours earlier.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN All ChessBase reports on the LCC 2012 (+ 2011, 2010 and 2009) The games will be 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.