Carlsen Is London Classic Champion!

16 December 2010, Kuala Lumpur – In the London Chess Classic 2010, GM Magnus Carlsen clinches the Classic title with a win in round 7 over tail-ender Nigel Short and with 13 overall points. With the win goes are 50,000 Euros first prize and the London Chess Classic 2010 champion’s title. As a result, Carlsen would be able to reclaim his No. 1 world ranking in January 2011.

Anand finished in second place with 11 points. Meanwhile Luke McShane becomes the best U.K. GM with joint second place, also 11 points.

 

[Event "London Chess Classic 2nd"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2010.12.15"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Black "Short, Nigel"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2802"]
[BlackElo "2680"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2010.12.08"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Nf3 Be7 6. Bc4 Ngf6 7. Nxf6+ Nxf6
8. O-O O-O 9. Ne5 c5 10. dxc5 Qxd1 11. Rxd1 Bxc5 12. Be2 Ne4 13. Nd3 Be7 14.
Be3 h6 15. a4 a5 16. g3 Rd8 17. Ne5 Nf6 18. Nc4 Rxd1+ 19. Rxd1 Nd5 20. Nb6 Nxe3
21. fxe3 Rb8 22. Kf2 e5 23. Rd5 Be6 24. Rxa5 Rd8 25. Bd3 Bf6 26. e4 Rd4 27. Rb5
g6 28. a5 Kg7 29. Ke2 Bg4+ 30. Kf2 Be6 31. Kf3 h5 32. Nd5 Bd8 33. b4 Bc8 34.
Ke2 Bg4+ 35. Ke1 f5 36. Rxb7+ Kh6 37. Ne3 Bf3 38. a6 fxe4 39. Be2 Bg5 40. a7
1-0

White has an advanced a-file pawn at a7 with a b7 white rook in close support. White is almost certain of having a new queen on the board without much trouble.

* Official website - click here.
* Susan Polgar's Daily News - click here.
* fireyrook's blog - click here.

All Round 6 Games Drawn, London Chess Classic

15 December 2010, Kuala Lumpur – The trio of GMs, Carlsen, Anand and McShane continue to jointly lead at London Chess Classic 2010 after all round 6 games ended in draws.

(photo by Ray Morris-Hill)

Here is the game viewer of the drawn game between Carlsen and Kramnik in the 6th round of the London Chess Classic 2010 played yesterday (14 December 2010). Chessbase.com reported that Carlsen did a Houdini act.

* Official website - click here.
* Susan Polgar's Daily News - click here.
* fireyrook's blog - click here.

Carlsen Wins Against Howell, London Chess Classic

13 December 2010, Kuala Lumpur – Here is the game that GM  Carlsen won against GM David Howell of England yesterday during the fifth round of the London Chess Classic 2010. This win puts Carlsen, Anand and McShane on equal first with 9 points each. Both Anand and McShane drew their round 5 game. Meanwhile Nakamura won against Nigel Short and Adams drew against Kramnik.

 

 

* Official website - click here.
* Susan Polgar's Daily News - click here.
* fireyrook's blog - click here.

* Round 5 games in *.pgn – click here.

* Top photo by Ray Morris-Hill.

Anand Leads At London Chess Classic 2010

12 December 2010, Kuala Lumpur – At the London Chess Classic 2010, Vishy Anand wins against Nigel Short of England with a checkmate.

At the official website, John Saunders reports that “The tournament has passed the midway point and we now have joint leaders. World champion Vishy Anand celebrated his 41st birthday by defeating backmarker Nigel Short to join Luke McShane (who drew with Mickey Adams) in the lead. It wasn’t quite such a good day for the English players as Friday as David Howell also lost, to Vladimir Kramnik. The last game to finish was Carlsen-Nakamura, which Magnus won after five hours of play.

After emerging from some initial difficulties with his Closed Sicilian opening, Nigel Short seemed to be doing quite well around move 28, when Vishy allowed him to open the g-file and land a rook on the seventh. He worked a knight around to assist in the attack but then had an aberration, sacrificing first a pawn and then a bishop to hack a way through to Vishy’s king. But there was a flaw in his calculation - Vishy had the simple move 38...Qd6! which covered all the mating threats. He was left a piece adrift, so fell on his sword, allowing a mating finish.”

To watch how the World Champion, Vishy Anand executes his checkmate as black in the fourth round game against Nigel Short, please see the game viewer below.

The following tables indicate the standings of the eight participating chess players in the London Chess Classic 2010 with Anand leading with 8 points, the same as Luke McShane of England.

* Official website - click here.
* Susan Polgar's Daily News - click here.

* Chessbase.com News – click here.
* fireyrook's blog - click here.

* Top photo by Ray Morris Hill

Anand Numero Uno!

11 December 2010, Kuala Lumpur – At the London Chess Classic 2010, Anand had a victory against Magnus Carlsen while McShane maintains his leadership with a drawn game against Vladimir Kramnik.

On the official website, John Saunders reports that “Today was the big one - world number one plays world number two, right here in London town (we had to pinch ourselves that it was really happening). Note that I didn’t specify precisely which was which - Vishy is numero uno on the official November list but Magnus is no.1 on the unofficial but authoritative ‘live list’. Prior to today they had met nine times in 2010 with five of those at longplay chess (the other shorter stuff doesn’t really count to purists).”

 

Here is the winning game by World Champion, GM Vishy Anand against GM Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the third round of the London Chess Classic 2010.

* Official website - click here.
* Susan Polgar's Daily News - click here.
* fireyrook's blog - click here.

* Top photo by Ray Morris Hill

McShane Continues His Winning Ways!

 10 December 2010, Kuala Lumpur – Luke McShane continues his winning ways with another win against fellow countryman, Nigel Short in the second round of the 2nd London Chess Classic at the Olympia yesterday.

McShane has scored 6 points from two wins and leads the standings after two rounds.

In second place is Nakamura with 4 points, after winning against Kramnik in the second round.

With three points from two games are Kramnik, Carlsen and Adams. While World Champion Anand is in sixth place with 2 points followed by Howell with 1 point and Short without a score to show yet.

Here is the winning game by Nakamura as black against Kramnik in the second round of the London Chess Classic 2010 played on 9th December 2010.

Here is the second round game between GM Carlsen and GM Adams of the 2nd London Chess Classic 2010 played yesterday, 9 December 2010. The English Opening transpired during the game. The game ended with Carlsen having a rook, a knight and six pawns against black’s a rook, a knight and four pawns. Carlsen won this round.

* Official website - click here.
* Susan Polgar's Daily News - click here.
* fireyrook's blog - click here.
* chess-in-Malaysia’s blog – click here.
* Games in PGN : click here.

Mc Shane Surprise Win Over Carlsen!

9 December 2010, Kuala Lumpur – At the London Chess Classic 2010, Luke McShane made a surprise win over GM Magnus Carlsen during the first round of the London Chess Classic 2010 at the Olympia Conference Center, Kensington, London. Kramnik and Michael Adams won their games, while Vishy Anand drew against Hikaru Nakamura during the first round of play.

McShane had a rook, a bishop and four connected pawns as opposed to white’s bishop pair and four connected kingside pawns. White just played 39.Bb3+ and the game ends heavily in favour of white if black plays 39…Bxb3, then 40.Rxb3 +-. Brilliant game by McShane!

Vladimir Kramnik playing as black against Short gets a win here! Black has an advanced black pawn at e2 with both sides having two rooks, a queen and three pawns.

World Champion Vishy Anand gets a draw against Nakamura. White has four pawns to blacks to two with both sides having a bishop which ended in a draw.

Here is the last remaining game between Adams and Howell with a win for Adams.

* Official website - click here.
* Susan Polgar's Daily News - click here.
* fireyrook's blog - click here.

London Chess Classic Is Back!

8 December 2010, Kuala Lumpur – The annual London Chess Classic is back again. The chess event begins today and will last till the 15th December 2010. Eight of the world’s top ranked players will be in London to participate in this prestigious event. Vishy Anand, the World Champion, Magnus Carlsen of Sweden, V Kramnik of Russia, Hikaru Nakamura of the USA and four of U.K.’s top chess grandmasters will be there.

The rankings of the participating chess players:-

The schedule is as shown below:-

 

Official website: http://www.londonchessclassic.com/

News release London Chess Classic 2010 : ChessVibes

15 September 2010, London - Chessvibes.com has published news regarding the upcoming London Chess Classic 2010 after the successful 2009 event held in December 2009. The 2nd edition is slated for the 8th-15th December 2010 and will involve 8 well known chess players. Magnus Carlsen, Anand Viswanathan, Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, Nigel Short, Michael Adams, Luke McShane and David Howell will participate in this year's event. Four of the super-GM players are top world class players and four top British GMs play each other in exclusive surroundings in the Olympia Conference Center, London.

Please read more at this link - News release London Chess Classic 2010 : ChessVibes