1/11/2016 – How do you make a chess festival special? How do you bring together all the resources, spark the interest of the entire chess community, ignite in thousands a passion for the game, and yet make the entire project financially feasible? Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal were in London for the entire duration of the London Chess Classic and sent us thirteen reasons why this annual event is an example of one of the best planned chess festivals in the world.
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The 7th London Chess Classic, England's premier tournament, took 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, was a nine-round ten-player super tournament played at a rate of 40
moves in two hours, followed by the rest of the game in one hour, with a
30-second increment from move 41. The overall prize fund was $300,000, with
the winner getting $75,000.
Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal left home on the first of December to immerse
in the world of elite chess. Their one-month sojourn consisted in covering
two of the biggest events of 2015 – the London
Chess Classic and the Qatar
Masters, for the ChessBase newspage. Amruta was the photographer and
provided us with some beautiful moments captured during every round of these
events. Along with writing extensive and detailed reports Sagar was also
playing in the London Classic FIDE Open and the Qatar Masters Open, trying
to achieve his final GM norm – a task which he couldn't achieve. After
his games, he and Amruta would often stay awake till 4 a.m. in the morning,
finishing their reports and then getting ready for another brand new day!
All this was tremendously hectic, but what they got in return was an incomparable
experience of attending world class events and mingling with the best chess
players that our generation has seen.
Thirteen reasons that make the London Chess Classic special!
By Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal
On the surface the London Chess Classic 2015 looks like any other elite
tournament. Top players like Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, Hikaru Nakamura,
Veselin Topalov, Anish Giri showcase some high class chess, and the entire
chess world learns from their games. However for a person who was present
at the playing venue for all of these ten days of the event I have to say
that there is much more to the London Chess Classic than what meets the
eye. The moment the doors of the elevator open on the third level of the
Olympia Center in Kensington, London, you can see the entire floor buzzing
with chess activities. This article pays a tribute to many of the individuals
and special things that make the London Chess Classic what it is –
a celebration of chess!
But before we get going, here is a small trivia. You have to identify the
ten participants of the London Chess Classic whose eyes are displayed in
the above picture and also find out the logic behind placing them in this
specific order.
1. The huge audience and the chance to meet your idol
In the past grandmasters loved to play in Russia. The reason: crowds there
understood chess really well, and they would in some ways motivate the players
to showcase their best chess. The scenario was not so different in London.
A huge number of chess-literate people turned up to watch the top players
in action, and the organizers reciprocated by giving them a chance to not
only see their chess idols up close but also to take pictures, selfies and
autographs with them.
The jam packed auditorium where the chess fans
savoured each and every move made by the top players
A distance of approximately ten metres separated
the playing hall from the commentary room, and boy was it crowded! Tons
of people learned from the analysis of the grandmaster commentators, and
the elite players would pop in there after their games to share their analysis.
The players would usually be mobbed by a huge
number of fans and followers
I do not know of many elite tournaments that
give you an opportunity
to take pictures and autographs of your chess idols
2. Simuls and blitz with GMs
If you are greedy, and just meeting the grandmasters is not enough for
you, the London Chess Classic gives you plenty of opportunities to play
against titled opponents, and in fact face world famous players like John
Nunn, Jon Speelman and Luke McShane. These three gave a simultaneous exhibition
on three different days of the festival, and many chess enthusiasts, young
and old, enrolled themselves for a lifetime opportunity to play against
a GM.
At the top you can see John Nunn and Jon Speelman
giving simuls, at the bottom
Luke Mcshane playing against 20 opponents and interacting with 11-year-old
Leysaa Bin-Suhayl.
In case you don’t get a chance to play
in the simul, you can match your wits against a grandmaster
in a blitz £5 charity game, like the little kid who is playing against
John Nunn above.
3. School events and the chess atmosphere
More than 2,000 kids from different schools of London converged upon the
Olympia Center from the 7th to the 11th of December to participate in chess
events representing their schools. I am sure you can imagine how this chess
atmosphere can really get the kids hooked onto the game of chess for a lifetime.
A great experience for these young kids who
not only got to play their favourite game,
but also meet new people and make new friends from other schools
Everywhere you saw there was just chess, chess
and chess. Some visitors were playing on giant sets, some were watching
the elite games, and as you can see above, a two-year-old was learning how
to move a pawn!
4. Organizers
Organizing an event like the London Chess Classic requires the blood,
sweat and single-minded dedication from many people. In this limited space
it is, of course, impossible to mention each and every person who played
a role in the success of the tournament, but everyone who was assigned a
job did it to perfection, and that is the reason why the festival was exceptionally
good. One person who has worked his heart and soul out is definitely the
tournament director Malcolm Pein. An excellent chess player himself, Malcolm
is a strong International Master. He is Chief Executive of Chess
in Schools and Communities which is a UK chess charity focusing on chess
for youth, and runs the London Chess Center. Malcolm also writes a daily
chess column in The Daily Telegraph newspaper and is the executive editor
of CHESS Magazine.
Talk about being a good manager!
The dream team: Operations director Tao Bhokanandh,
tournament director Malcolm Pein,
one of the main reporters John Saunders and press officer Fiona Steil-Antoni
Some other people who played an important role for the smooth conduct of
the tournament were Events and Conference manager Tereza Pribanova, the
web team of Stephen Connor and Alexis Harakis and official photographer
Ray Morris-Hill. I am sure I have missed out many people and I apologize
for the same!
5. Commentators
The London Chess Classic 2015 brought together the best line-up of commentators
for the audience present at the venue and also for those watching the livestreaming.
The grandmasters analyzed the games without using a chess engine. While
this reduces the accuracy of the variations, it gives the viewers a chance
to watch the minds of these top GMs working, see the way they think. At
the end of the day I think this is how chess commentary should be –
understanding the difficult task faced by elite players when they think
at the board and not bold, confident remarks made by the use of all-seeing
computers.
Daniel King and Jan Gustaffson have definitely established themselves as
the best in the business. There were also wise and calm men like GM Nigel
Davies, and enthusiastic livewires like GM Chris Ward, Lawrence Trent and
Jon Speelman.
One person who livened up the atmosphere at the playing venue was WGM Jennifer
Shahade. She was reporting for the Grand Chess Tour and would interview
the top players. She always had different sorts of questions, many times
informal ones, which would lighten up the mood and bring out the best from
the top players, who otherwise aren’t too talkative.
A short interview with the master of interviews!
6. Chess Stalls
Seeing a book or a DVD stand, or a food stall, is quite common at chess
tournaments. However, at the London Chess Classic there were two stalls
that were completely unique and you cannot find them at any other event.
They were Nette Robinson’s chess art and the Purling chess sets. You
can get more information from the official websites of Nette Robinson and
Purling London.
Colm Mulligan, Operations Manager of Purling
Chess Sets, and Nette Robinson with their respective art forms
7. London Chess Conference
This year’s London Chess Conference was bigger than ever with more
than 120 participants from nearly thirty countries, spanning all continents.
It was held nearby the London Chess Classic at the Hilton Olympia in Kensington
on the 5th and 6th of December 2015. Some of the really well thought out
topics included chess with refugees, chess and old people, chess in prisons,
where to invest public money in chess, chess and mathematics, chess and
football and others. The number of speeches and talks were so great that
it was impossible to keep a track of all of them. But one thing is certain
– attending this conference will surely give you new horizons and
dimensions in which to perceive the game of chess. This unique meeting was
rounded up by a Social Chess Entrepreneurship Bootcamp starting on 4th December
and workshops on New Chess Research and Advanced Topics in Teacher Training
on 7th December.
A selection of speakers for the chess conference
TDAH
y ajedrez: rehabilitación cognitiva, a Spanish project that develops
chess as an educational intervention for children diagnosed with Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), has been voted as the clear winner
of the Best Social Chess Project competition by the attendees of the Chess
and Society conference.
TDAH y ajedrez project leader Luis Blasco
de la Cruz (left) received the award and £500 from Malcolm Pein.
8. Closing dinner
The prestigious closing dinner like every year was held at the Simpson’s-in-the-Strand
on 14th of December. Simpson’s is one of London's oldest traditional
English restaurants, which was known as the Grand Cigar Divan when it opened
in 1828. It developed from a smoking room to a coffee house, and finally
achieved dual fame for its traditional English food, particularly roast
meats and as the most important venue in Britain for chess in the nineteenth
century – the Wimbledon of chess. Almost all the top players visited
the restaurant, including Wilhelm Steinitz, Paul Morphy, Emanuel Lasker,
Johannes Zukertort (who had a fatal stroke while playing there), and Siegbert
Tarrasch. It was at Simpson's in 1851 that one of the world's great games,
the famous "Immortal Game", was played between Adolf Anderssen
and Lionel Kieseritzky.
Levon Aronian makes a move on one of the guest
tables as a part of the traditional multi-player simul
Magnus Carlsen with his trophies for winning
the 7th London Chess Classic and inaugural Grand Chess Tour
Director of special projects at IP Group plc,
a grandmaster, writer and a chess lover,
David Norwood, with his good friend Levon Aronian
For all those interested in king hunts must check out this game by David
against Sean Marsh from 1992:
[Event "Walsall op"] [Site "Walsall"] [Date "1992.??.??"] [Round "1"]
[White "Norwood, David"] [Black "Marsh, Sean"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C00"]
[WhiteElo "2510"] [PlyCount "71"] [EventDate "1992.??.??"] [EventType
"swiss"] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate
"1993.02.01"] 1. g3 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. O-O Be7 5. d3 c5 6. Nbd2
Nc6 7. e4 b6 8. e5 Nd7 9. Re1 Qc7 10. Qe2 Bb7 11. h4 O-O-O 12. a3 h6 13.
h5 Rdg8 14. c4 d4 15. b4 g6 16. bxc5 bxc5 17. hxg6 Rxg6 18. Rb1 h5 19.
Ne4 h4 20. Bg5 Bf8 21. Nxh4 Rgg8 22. Nf3 Rh7 {And now the start of a phantastic
combination:} 23. Nd6+ Bxd6 24. exd6 Qxd6 25. Bf4 Qe7 {[#]} 26. Rxb7 {The
start of a deadly assault on the black king. Can you guess where it will
be mated?} Kxb7 27. Qe4 f5 28. Qxc6+ Kxc6 29. Nxd4+ Kb6 30. Rb1+ Ka6 31.
Bb7+ Ka5 32. Bd2+ Ka4 33. Bc6+ Kxa3 34. Bc1+ Ka2 35. Rb2+ Ka1 36. Nc2#
{[%cal Ge8c8,Gc8b7,Gb7c6,Gc6b6,Gb6a6,Ga6a5, Ga5a4,Ga4a3,Ga3a2,Ga2a1] A
remarkable king march, don't you agree?} 1-0
9. The Pro-Biz Cup
The Pro-Biz Cup was held on the 14th of December 2015. It brings the best
business minds and the world’s leading grandmasters together in a
fun knockout tournament to raise money for the UK charity, Chess in Schools
and Communities (CSC). The businessmen bid for their favourite players and
one who bids the highest gets the chance to team up with the grandmaster.
This year the team of Hikaru Nakamura and Josip
Asik, CEO of Chess Informant,
won the event by beating Levon Aronian and Justin Baptie in the finals
The event was quite a private affair held in
the Hilton Hotel with the top players giving some really wonderful tips
to the successful entrepreneurs and businessmen. You can check the pictures
and replay the games here.
10. British Knockout Championships
Top players of Britain, with the exception of Michael Adams and Nigel Short,
took part in the inaugural British Knockout Championships. The eight players
at the start included David Howell, Luke McShane, Nicholas Pert, Gawain
Jones, Jonathon Rowson, Jonathon Hawkins, Daniel Howard Fernandez and Zhou
Yang-Fan. Top seeded David Howell won the event and took home a hefty check
of £20,000, by beating Nick Pert in the six-game final by a score
of 4-2. Nick Pert, however, was surely the man of the event, as he knocked
out two higher rated players, Jonathon Hawkins and Luke McShane, to bag
the runners-up prize of £10,000.
David Howell holds the inaugural British Knockout
championships trophy at the closing dinner
11. London Super Rapid
On the 12th and the 13th of December a ten-round Super Rapid with the
time control of 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment was held. The first prize
was quite a high sum of £2,500, which attracted a lot of strong players
to the event.
Some of the world class GMs who played were:
(top row) Rustam Kasimdzhanov, Matthew Sadler, Hrant Melkumyam, Tigran Gharamian;
(bottom row): Gawain Jones, Jon Ludvig Hammer, Jon Speelman and Jonathon
Rowson.
GM Luke McShane crushed the competition at
the event and finished
with a score of 9.5/10 to win the tournament one point ahead of everyone
else
Top final standings (after ten rounds)
Rk.
SNo
Title
Name
Rtg
Pts.
1
12
GM
Mcshane Luke J
2650
9.5
2
7
GM
Melkumyan Hrant
2675
8.5
3
4
GM
Lenderman Alex
2687
8.0
5
GM
Hansen Eric
2680
8.0
10
GM
Pert Nicholas
2657
8.0
13
GM
Edouard Romain
2629
8.0
14
GM
Hammer Jon Ludvig
2607
8.0
16
GM
Grigoriants Sergey
2600
8.0
18
GM
Jumabayev Rinat
2587
8.0
40
IM
Eggleston David J
2432
8.0
45
GM
Fodor Tamas Jr
2410
8.0
12
3
GM
Howell David Wl
2687
7.5
11
GM
Gharamian Tigran
2652
7.5
23
GM
Cherniaev Alexander
2552
7.5
32
GM
Arkell Keith Cc
2470
7.5
50
IM
Fernandez Daniel H
2402
7.5
62
IM
Gullaksen Eirik T
2350
7.5
12. Fide Open
Parallel to the elite event a strong FIDE Open consisting of 216 players
from all around the world took place. The rating average of the tournament
was 2125 and there were 27 grandmasters taking part, six of them having
an Elo above 2600.
GM Benjamin Bok of Netherlands won the FIDE
Open with an impressive score of 8.0/9, with a performance of 2771. He went
back home richer by £5,000. Benjamin beat no less than four grandmaster
opponents: Alexander Cherniaev, Keith Arkell, Eric Hansen and Alex Lenderman.
Top final standings (after nine rounds)
Rk.
SNo
Title
Name
Rtg
Pts.
1
8
GM
Bok Benjamin
2594
8.0
2
1
GM
Postny Evgeny
2670
7.0
7
GM
Jumabayev Rinat
2599
7.0
9
GM
Hansen Eric
2577
7.0
10
GM
Hawkins Jonathan
2569
7.0
13
GM
Vakhidov Jahongir
2546
7.0
18
IM
Sadzikowski Daniel
2506
7.0
8
2
GM
Gharamian Tigran
2654
6.5
3
GM
Melkumyan Hrant
2654
6.5
5
GM
Lenderman Alex
2626
6.5
11
GM
Dragun Kamil
2564
6.5
14
GM
Baron Tal
2544
6.5
15
GM
Hillarp Persson Tiger
2521
6.5
16
GM
Vishnu Prasanna V
2514
6.5
17
IM
Gledura Benjamin
2513
6.5
22
GM
Fodor Tamas Jr
2492
6.5
29
IM
Galyas Miklos
2465
6.5
34
GM
Wells Peter K
2442
6.5
63
Nguyen Piotr
2329
6.5
13. The beautiful city of London
River Thames flows through the city of London and gives a serene feel to
the city. In the background you can see the London Eye, which is a giant
Ferris wheel that lends a spectacular view of the city. It is 135 meters
high and has a diameter of 120 meters. The London Eye is the most popular
tourist attraction in UK, with more than 3.75 million visitors annually.
Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the clock at the north end
of the Palace of Westminster in London, and often extended to refer to the
clock and the clock tower. The tower has become one of the most prominent
symbols of the United Kingdom and is often in the establishing shot of films
set in London.
Something you will just love in London are
the huge, green, clean and beautiful parks.
Imagine walking in this serene atmosphere and unwinding after a hard game
of chess!
A huge festival called Winter
Wonderland was held at one of the biggest parks in London – the
Hyde Park. Above you can see thousands of visitors enjoying a glass of beer
in a place called Bavarian Village,
inside the park, which gives you an authentic German experience.
If you plan to play in the London Chess Classic
in 2016 make sure
that you keep at least two extra days in your schedule to enjoy this beautiful
city
The above picture is the answer to our trivia question at the start of
the article. The eyes on the left side are the players in the top row and
the eyes on the right are the players in the bottom row. And we have arranged
the players in the order of their age – the youngest 1994 born Anish
Giri at the start and the oldest 1969 born Anand at the end.
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 there
and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase
or any of our Fritz
compatible chess programs.
Sagar ShahSagar is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He is also a chartered accountant. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder and CEO of ChessBase India website, the biggest chess news outlet in the country.
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