2011 London Chess Classic
The four 2800-rated players will repeat (from the 2011 Tal Memorial) the headlining of a super-GM event as the London Chess Classic begins with the opening ceremonies on tomorrow. World Champion Viswanathan Anand and world’s #1 player Magnus Carlsen will be joined by fellow 2800s Levon Aronian (new addition) and Vladimir Kramnik. Carlsen has won two years running.
With Hikaru Nakamura in the middle of the pack, four English GMs will hold home turf in the last major event of the year. The English quadripartite will consist of GMs Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane and David Howell. Every single player has a higher rating than last year, so we will see if there are any changes from the +2 margin of victory. Of course a non-traditional point system will be used.
The tournament is a single round-robin with time controls of 40/2 then 15 minutes with 30-second increment. “Sofia Rules” are in effect and will include the scoring system of three points for a win and one point for a draw. There will be a number of other tournaments concurrent to the Classic including a FIDE Open and a blitz tournament.
December 3-12, 2011 (London, England) |
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#
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Name
|
Title
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Federation
|
Flag
|
Rating
|
||
| 1 | Carlsen, Magnus | GM | Norway |
 |
2826 | ||
| 2 | Anand, Viswanathan | GM | India |
 |
2811 | ||
| 3 | Aronian, Levon | GM | Armenia |
 |
2802 | ||
| 3 | Kramnik, Vladimir | GM | Russia |
 |
2800 | ||
| 4 | Nakamura, Hikaru | GM | USA |
 |
2758 | ||
| 5 | Adams, Michael | GM | England |
 |
2734 | ||
| 6 | Short, Nigel | GM | England |
|
2698 | ||
| 7 | McShane, Luke | GM | England |
|
2671 | ||
| 8 | Howell, David | GM | England |
|
2633 | ||
Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
Levon Aronian ½-½ David Howell
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Luke McShane
Michael Adams ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Nigel Short bye
The 2011 London Chess Classic is underway!
Photo by Ray Morris-Hill.
Games (TWIC): https://www.chess.co.uk/twic/assets/files/pgn/loncc11.pgn
Luke McShane just blew a win against Carlsen. Sheesh!
Nigel Short 0-1 Vladimir Kramnik
Hikaru Nakamura 1-0 Levon Aronian
Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Luke McShane
David Howell ½-½ Michael Adams
Viswanathan Anand bye
Luke McShane came a hair short of winning against Carlsen.
Interesting day in the second day of the London Chess Classic with two decisive games plus a save by Magnus Carlsen against Luke McShane. The game started as a Ruy Lopez, but the middlegame got combative as Carlsen sacrificed a pawn for kingside initiative. GM Arkadij Naiditsch was providing live commentary on the match. After the pawn sacrifice, he remarked, “Seems like Magnus is out of book in not a very simple position. It is clear that Black got a good compensation for a pawn, but on other hand, “pawn is a pawn”, so Black needs to show something, in case White will manage to consolidate by playing Nbd2, Qd3 Whites position will be clearly better.”
Certainly, Carlsen was unable to generate enough counterplay and Naiditsch called Carlsen’s position “terrible”. He basically wrote an epitaph for Carlsen, but the tide began to change when McShane started to falter. Carlsen kept fighting and was able to trade down to a rook ending. On 64.f3, Naiditsch stated, “64.f3 I don’t like at all… 64…Ra2 is cutting the White king on the first rank, it always gives a lot of drawing chances.” McShane made a final mistake 67… Ra1+ 68. Ke2 Ra2+ 69. Rd2? gxf3+ and the game petered into a draw. Carlsen dodged another bullet.
Both Nakamura and Aronian glances up at the display boards.
Photos by Ray Morris-Hill.
Hikaru Nakamura shook off his winless streak with exciting win against Levon Aronian. After 20…f6 21.e4!? fxe5 22.Qe2, the board was on fire. Aronian sacrificed an exchange for two pawns, but Nakamura was able to break black’s bishop juggernaut on his e3 and waltzed into the endgame a clear exchange up. With a sprinting a-pawn, Nakamura cut off the clumsy knight with 54.Rd6 and got the full point.
Vladimir Kramnik rolled over Nigel Short in a bold fashion as the Englishman went astray almost from the start and was slowly ground down. The two bishop ending was only an illusion. Short’s light-squared bishop was imprisoned and functionally useless. Despite him shuffling it back and forth for a few moves, white was essentially a piece down. Kramnik bore in with his bishop lasers and smothered white’s position in submission.
Howell-Adams was an interesting battle featuring knights versus bishops. Adams played a speculative line involving a sacrificed pawn for two bishops and a potential outside passed pawn. The game reached dynamic equality and a draw was agreed after 35 moves.
Games (TWIC): https://www.chess.co.uk/twic/assets/files/pgn/loncc11.pgn
Truth.
Levon Aronian 1-0 Nigel Short
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Hikaru Nakamura
Michael Adams 0-1 Luke McShane
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ David Howell
Vladimir Kramnik bye
“Fire on Board” in Round Three!
“Fire on Board” again today as there were three decisive games at the London Chess Classic. Levon Aronian bounced back with a win over host Nigel Short who suffered a bruising loss. It appeared as if the Englishmen was holding his position, but was slowly ground down and checkmated in the end.
Magnus Carlsen win over Hikaru Nakamura continues the saga. The game came out of a Guioco Piano and in the postmortem Carlsen was modest about his opening advantage only admitting that his game was easier to play.
As the game wore on, Carlsen built up pressure on the kingside culminating in a nice exchange sacrifice. Nakamura remarked that he felt he could hold the position, but apparently underestimated white’s compensation.
In the matchup of the round, Nakamura was unable to find an antidote for Carlsen.
After having shredded black’s king’s position, Carlsen bore in and finished the game off with a devastating attack. Nakamura has to find an answer to Carlsen as he has an ongoing winless streak against him.
Luke McShane nearly beat Carlsen in round two was vindicated by toppling his compatriot Michael Adams. Adams played a lackluster opening McShane clipped a pawn with 18…Bxh3. Accepting the sack would have given black a strong attack. Adams tried to complicate matters but McShane kept the edge and converted the point in a nicely-played queen ending.
In Anand-Howell, the World Champion tried to break out of his string of draws by going for a virulent kingside attack. However, Howell fought back and black got some counterplay. The game ended in a queen ending with equality.
Story of Streaks… Anand continues drawing surge while Carlsen continues streak against Nakamura. Photos by Ray Morris-Hill.
Games (TWIC): https://www.chess.co.uk/twic/assets/files/pgn/loncc11.pgn
Magnus Carlsen 2½/3 for 7 points; Luke McShane, 2/3 for 5 points; Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian, 1½/3 for 4 points; Vladimir Kramnik, 1½/2 for 4 points; Michael Adams, David Howell, 1/3 for 2 points; Viswanathan Anand, 1/2 for 2 points; Nigel Short, 0/2 for zero points. (Note: Scoring is 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss)
Viswanathan Anand 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura
Magnus Carlsen ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
David Howell 0-1 Luke McShane
Michael Adams 0-1 Nigel Short
Levon Aronian bye
The Anand-Nakamura game was anything but friendly.
In a match where both players have been struggling for wins, this had to have been the most exciting battle of the round, if not the tournament. Two gladiators from the old and new school set forth to engage in an all-out brawl in a King’s Indian. One cannot be sure that Garry Kasparov’s assistance may have come into play, but he was once the foremost authority on the King’s Indian. Perhaps he lent some pre-game intelligence.
Hikaru Nakamura stated that after losing to Magnus Carlsen the previous day, he wanted to play something a bit more exciting, win or lose. Well… he got his excitement. Early on Kasparov have bristled early in seeing the opening. After 18.a5 h5 19.b6 g4 Arkadij Naiditsch stated,
Fortunately for Nakamura, Naiditsch’s comments were not prophetic. Viswanathan Anand seemed miss some chances to win material on the queenside and now Nakamura had ideas of his own on the kingside!
Final Position in Anand-Nakamura
after 49…Kh7-h6
As Nakamura started tossing pawns at the white king, Anand hunkered down and prepared to weather the blows to come. As the American aimed his wave of black terror on the kingside, white’s huddled pieces looked lost on the queenside. Black’s pieces… Nh4, Rg3, Qh5 looked menacing, but perhaps 37…Nxb6! was winning immediately since 38.Nxb6 Rc1! 39.Qxc1 Nxf3+ and mate coming. However, after 37…a5, players raced moves in incredible time pressure. Mistakes were made, however, black had a much easier position to play and simply kept increasing the pressure. Anand eventually collapsed and resigned after running out of spite checks.
Carlsen-Kramnik game had a lot of tense moments as the Russian was determined not to become the next victim of the once “Boy Wonder”… now “Man Wonder”. There were some tense moments, but white’s advantages never materialized into anything tangible. Howell-McShane looked like a 19th century battle with the Scotch being thrown on the board.
The game unraveled and Howell decided to pitch his queen for a rook and a seemingly strong attack. That attack did not fully materialize since McShane prevented the coordination of white forces. Because of that, the fleet-footed queen was able to launch an attack on the white king and the loose minor pieces simultaneously… Howell ended up tossing a rook. The win put McShane in a joint tie with Carlsen.
Nigel Short finally got on the board in impressive style. Photos by Ray Morris-Hill.
Nigel Short got on the board with his first win over a listless Michael Adams. The white pieces took another beating this round as Adams got nothing out of the opening. Short slowly coordinated his pieces, doubled rooks on the open b-file, then doubled his rooks on the 1st rank. White’s knight on the e3-square was holding the position by a thread, but when Short played 44…Rc3 and 45…Rxe3 white’s position collapsed.
Short just started picking off pawn after pawn. With several pawns for the exchange, they crawled down the board like a herd of ants. The game ended with black queening… then white queened… but black followed with mate in two.
Games (TWIC): https://www.chess.co.uk/twic/assets/files/pgn/loncc11.pgn
Magnus Carlsen, Luke McShane, 3/4 for 8 points; Hikaru Nakamura, 2½/4 for 7 points; Vladimir Kramnik, 1½/3 for 5 points; Levon Aronian, 1½/3 for 4 points; Nigel Short, 1/3 for 3 points; Viswanathan Anand, 2/3 for 2 points; Michael Adams, David Howell, 1/4 for 2 points. (Note: Scoring is 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss)
Analysis from Anand-Nakamura
Analysis from Howell-McShane
Videos ChessBaseGmbH.
Deep insight given by Kramnik on abstract structures. Very instructive. Good analysis in Nakamura in an absolute firestorm of a game. Very good insight on the King’s Indian.
FREE DAY today on December 7th.
Hikaru Nakamura 1-0 David Howell
Nigel Short 0-1 Viswanathan Anand
Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 Michael Adams
Levon Aronian ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
Luke McShane bye
Nakamura takes sole lead on the strength of three wins!
After a forgettable tournament last month at the Tal Memorial, Hikaru Nakamura was seeking redemption and thus far, he is putting up a good case for it. The top American player scored a bruising victory over David Howell with a nice sequence of finishing tactics. Having played the top four players in the tournament (and world), he is looking to assert himself against team England in the remaining three rounds (he also has a bye).
Nakamura trotted out the English and almost immediately had a comfortable edge with his strong bishop pair. Howell seemed to be a step to slow in his quest for equality. The Englishman’s pieces got a bit clumsy and Nakamura took advantage of the lack of coordination with a series of pinning tactics. Howell seem to lose the thread on the position after 29…Ne6 after which white got a decisive advantage after 30.Rxb7! Qxb7 31. Bxd5 Qc8 32.Bxh6! The idea being that 32…gxh6 is met by 33.Qg6+ and 34.Qxf6+. Howell had to donate material and with a three-pawn deficit he resigned.
Magnus Carlsen has his eyes on Levon Aronian who trails him on the live rating list, but both are currently chasing Hikaru Nakamura who has pulled out front with a win in round #5. Photo by Ray Morris-Hill.
In Aronian-Carlsen, the world’s top player was in slight trouble against the world’s number two player. However, one wonders whether it is Carlsen’s tenacious to defend worse positions, or the opponents lack of attention to detail? While white never had a decisive advantage, it was large enough to cause a bit of concern amongst the commentators. For several moves, Carlsen had a sick rook on a7 with pawns on b7 and a6.
Carlsen waded through the positional pressure and got a well-earned half-point. With Nakamura now out front, Carlsen has to score against Michael Adams, Viswanathan Anand or Nigel Short. Certainly doable, but Nakamura has the preferable schedule. However anything can happen with the Sophia Rules.
In Short-Anand, the World Champion equalized in a Rossolimo Sicilian despite the Englishman offering a gambit. The gambit was declined and Anand broke in the center equalizing. Short failed to get pieces coordinated and his passed pawn was fully blockade by a strong knight. Meanwhile, his own knight got a penalty for being offside. The penalty was allowing the black pieces to take of positions in the black camp when a knight would normally disrupt this action.
In Short-Anand, black to play…
textbook win!
Anand won a pawn and was poised to escort the b-pawn up the board. However, white tried to complicate matters to open a path to the black king. Anand decided to give up his passed b-pawn to get queens off the board and lead to a problem ending where he would gain winning opposition with 60…f3+! 61.gxf3+ Kf4. After 62.Kf2 f6! white is zugzwang. (see diagram) This win breaks a long winless streak by the World Champion.
Kramnik-Adams was another disaster for the off-form Adams who has lost three games in a row. Adams seemed to overextend his pawns and they were gradually picked off. Down material and with an trapped knight, the Englishman resign. All English chess players lost this round with the exception of Luke McShane who had a bye this round. Not a valiant way to hold home turf.
Games (TWIC): https://www.chess.co.uk/twic/assets/files/pgn/loncc11.pgn
Hikaru Nakamura, 3½/5 for 10 points; Magnus Carlsen 3½/5 with 9 points; Vladimir Kramnik, Luke McShane, 3/4 for 8 points; Levon Aronian, Viswanathan Anand, 2/4 for 5 points; Nigel Short, 1/4 for 3 points; Michael Adams, David Howell, 1/5 for 2 points. (Note: Scoring is 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss)
Michael Adams ½-½ Levon Aronian
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
David Howell ½-½ Nigel Short
Luke McShane ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura
Magnus Carlsen bye
Nakamura holds lead as all games are drawn
This picture of the boy playing the ceremonial move may be worth something ten years from now. Are we looking at a future English GM? If so, he is in distinguished company including GM John Nunn in the background. Photos by Ray Morris-Hill.
Hikaru Nakamura stated on his Facebook page that he had two wins and one draw when playing on his birthday. He kept his record undefeated on his 24th birthday and thus kept his lead at the London Chess Classic after. All games were drawn for the first time in the tournament. Luke McShane played a very obscure line against the Sicilian after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 steering away from well-known theory. The game had moments of tension, but Nakamura was never in any danger and the game was drawn in 31 moves.
All four games drawn today.
Photos by Ray Morris-Hill.
Anand-Kramnik was a game rich in positional ideas and included fascinating middlegame complications, but the game ended in a draw. Some believe Anand is still saving preparation from his upcoming match with Boris Gelfand. Certainly Gelfand will be following the games. Adams-Aronian was drawn with little fanfare from a Berlin Ruy Lopez. The game petered out and my move 34, a truce was signed. Keeping in with tradition of the round, Howell-Short was drawn in under 40 moves. Howell played the c3-Sicilian which ended up looking like a Tarrasch French. While Howell-Short ended quietly symmetrical, Adams-Aronian game would have taken such the “most symmetrical” game prize.
After the players finish celebrating Nakamura’s birthday, they will attempt to take away from him what would be a wonderful gift… his strongest tournament victory. Nakamura holds a two-point lead and another victory would probably clinch the tournament. After his bye in round seven, he has to get past the English dynamic duo of Adams and Short. Magnus Carlsen had his bye this round and faces Anand and the same English duo. It should be an exciting finale.
Games (TWIC): https://www.chess.co.uk/twic/assets/files/pgn/loncc11.pgn
Hikaru Nakamura, 4/6 for 11 points; Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Luke McShane, 3½/5 with 9 points; Levon Aronian, Viswanathan Anand, 2½/5 for 6 points; Nigel Short, 1½/5 for 4 points; Michael Adams, David Howell, 1½/6 for 3 points. (Note: Scoring is 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss)
Magnus Carlsen 1-0 Michael Adams
Levon Aronian ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 David Howell
Nigel Short 0-1 Luke McShane
Hikaru Nakamura bye
Amazing! Amazing! Amazing!
Three wins vault players into joint 1st!
Hikaru Nakamura was probably awestruck at the fact that he did nothing wrong today, but went from being in first place to fourth. An amazing turnabout took place today in London as today’s three winners moved into joint first surpassing Nakamura. Magnus Carlsen beat a beleaguered Michael Adams who lost for the fourth time in the last five games. The game was fairly level when Adams walked into a one move blunder after 35…Nc4?? 36.Rxd5! Nxe5 (36…exd5 37.Bxd5+) 37.Rxe5 netting a piece.
Magnus Carlsen handed Michael Adams his fourth loss in five games.
Nigel Short has had better tournaments in his storied career, but his adventurism got the better of him in round seven. Short trotted out the King’s Gambit against Luke McShane, an opening that has had an interesting history, but is rarely seen at top level. Unfortunately for Short, his compatriot was well-prepared with this experiment. It appeared that when Short’s dark-squared bishop was captured, his position soon came under pressure.
Luke McShane has compensated for the poor performance of his mates (4½/20) and finds himself tied for first with two rounds left… albeit with Kramnik and Anand ahead. Photos by Ray Morris-Hill.
After the board exploded into a blaze of exchanges, the smoke cleared and black had a towering passed pawn in the middle of the board cutting white’s position in half. In order to stop the pawn, Short had to donate an exchange, but was unable to stop the avalanche of pawns on the kingside.
Vladimir Kramnik handed David Howell his third loss in four games with an impressive victory. Howell seemed to be caught flat-footed as Kramnik fully mobilized his forces. The Russian then hit Howell with the neat 21.Rxc5!
The ensuing positions resulted in a pawn race and in the end and Kramnik finished nicely with 39.Rxc3! b1(Q) 40.Rc8. Black resigned before playing on further with 40…Qf1+ 41.Kxf1 Qa6+ 42.Kg2 Rxc8 43.Nd4. A clean performance by Kramnik. The only indecisive game was Aronian-Anand both playing to an interesting, but short draw. Both are virtually eliminated from contention.
Games (TWIC): https://www.chess.co.uk/twic/assets/files/pgn/loncc11.pgn
Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Luke McShane, 4½/6 with 12 points; Hikaru Nakamura, 4/6 for 11 points; Levon Aronian, Viswanathan Anand, 3/6 for 7 points; Nigel Short, 1½/6 for 4 points; Michael Adams, David Howell, 1½/7 for 3 points. (Note: Scoring is 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss)
Video by ChessBaseGmbH.
Fascinating analysis by Kramnik!
Nakamura gives his impressions on working with the former World Champion. His comments have many angles.
Video by ChessBaseGmbH.
As I suspected, this interview was the beginning of the end to the relationship. In interview Nakamura said some rather unflattering things about the relationship. ChessBase has released breaking news of the split.
Link: https://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7764
Viswanathan Anand ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
David Howell ½-½ Levon Aronian
Luke McShane 0-1 Vladimir Kramnik
Hikaru Nakamura ½-½ Nigel Short
Michael Adams bye
An in-form Kramnik moves into 1st with one round remaining
Vladimir Kramnik surged to victory in an interesting battle. Photos by Ray Morris-Hill.
Looking at how awestruck the audience was at Vladimir Kramnik’s commentary with David Howell yesterday, maybe it becomes apparent of just how strong a 2800 player is. Kramnik continues to demonstrate this with another convincing win against Luke McShane. He has beaten all four English players for his +4 margin.
Thus, Kramnik took possession of first place while Magnus Carlsen fell back two points with a draw against Viswanathan Anand. Hikaru Nakamura drew with Nigel Short leaving him a full three points off the mark. David Howell held Levon Aronian to finish out his playing schedule.
The tournament is still wide open with key matchups in the finale. Kramnik gets Aronian while Carlsen gets Short. Carlsen will be pressing for the win. McShane will have a tough pairing with Anand, but may see if he can catch Anand in some preparation. Nakamura will get a hapless Adams, but of course the Englishman still has sharp teeth despite his poor showing.
Vladimir Kramnik, 5½/7 with 15 points; Magnus Carlsen, 5/7 with 13 points; Hikaru Nakamura, Luke McShane, 4½/7 with 12 points; Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, 3½/7 for 8 points; Nigel Short, 2/7 for 5 points; David Howell, 2/8 for 4 points; Michael Adams, 1½/7 for 3 points. (Note: Scoring is 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss)
Luke McShane ½-½ Viswanathan Anand
Nigel Short ½-½ Magnus Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik ½-½ Levon Aronian
Hikaru Nakamura 1-0 Michael Adams
David Howell bye
1st: Kramnik 2nd: Nakamura 3rd: Carlsen
Vladimir Kramnik drew his last game thus clinching the title for the 2011 London Chess Classic. Even if Magnus Carlsen had won and tied Kramnik, the Russian had better tiebreaks since he won more games with black. A wonderful performance by Kramnik!
Vladimir Kramnik
2011 London Chess Classic champion
Photo by ChessBase.
Hikaru Nakamura had a fine result as he beat tailender Michael Adams to vault into the second position. Thus, Nakamura begins the year and ends the year in fine fashion. In Nakamura-Adams, an interesting subplot occurred at move two when the American played 2.f4!? for the King’s Gambit. Nigel Short unsuccessfully played it against Luke McShane the previous round.
Hikaru Nakamura, with a determined look and trademark last-round attire, launches the King’s Gambit against Michael Adams. Photo by Ray Morris-Hill.
Apparently, Nakamura wanted to show an improvement from Short-McShane where white got nothing. However, Adams seemed to get good play and by some accounts stood better. As time pressure crept up, the position was still double-edged and Adams blundered with 38…b3? After 39.Qc3! white had many nasty threats on the unguarded black king. Black scurried back, but after 39…Rf8 40.Ne6 b2 41.c7 black resigned.
While McShane-Anand ended quietly in 25 moves, Nigel Short tried to salvage what has been a horrible showing for the Englishmen. Such a victory over the number one player would have taken some of the sting from the mounting losses. Magnus Carlsen faced a Guioco Piano, but played a bit timidly.
Short got a good initiative after 18.d4 and later sacrificed a pawn to gain space. Carlsen defended well, but was still under pressure. Unfortunately, Short’s pressure only yielded a pawn and such was not sufficient to claim a full point. The rook and pawn ending was drawn without drama. If there were any moral victories, Short prevented a coup de grâce on British chess.
Vladimir Kramnik, 6/8 with 16 points; Hikaru Nakamura, 5½/8 with 15 points; Magnus Carlsen, 5½/8 with 14 points; Luke McShane, 5/8 with 13 points; Viswanathan Anand, Levon Aronian, 4/8 for 9 points; Nigel Short, 2½/8 for 6 points; David Howell, 2/8 for 4 points; Michael Adams, 1½/8 for 3 points. (Note: Scoring is 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss)
In the post-game interview, Nakamura stated that he was inspired by Nigel Short’s King’s Gambit. He also felt that Adams’ poor form encouraged him to go for complications.
I like the fact that Hikaru wear the colors of The Chess Drum in the last rounds of tournaments. 🙂
Wonderful photos by Ray Morris-Hill. Here is information from his website.