London Chess Classic Report

News release
Wednesday 8th December 2010

LONDON CHESS CLASSIC 2010: ROUND 1

The inaugural 2009 London Chess Classic was so good, with so many positive, entertaining games, that the superstitious and/or pessimistic amongst us couldn’t help worrying that 2010 couldn’t be as good. Was 2009 beginner’s luck? Would the players go on strike, play some boring Petroffs and draw all their games?

Good news: so far things in 2010 are as good as in 2009. Positivity is alive and well and producing decisive encounters at London’s Olympia Conference Centre, with only one game of the first four drawn and that one going down to the wire. But that’s not to say we didn’t have some changes of script. Far from it! As we left things last year, Magnus Carlsen and David Howell were the two big success stories, the former winning the tournament and zooming to the top of the rating list, while David Howell sailed through the event, finishing a superlative third despite his status as lowest rated player. Neither lost a game in 2009. But what a difference a year makes: in 2010, both are carefree teenagers no longer. David Howell is a university student while Magnus Carlsen is a part-time fashion model. Twenty is evidently a difficult age as the two young men both looked out of sorts in round one and lost.

A quick resumé of the games: David Howell tried to build a ‘Berlin Wall’ though, architecturally, this was a ‘pre-Kramnik’ version of the sturdy edifice which Vladimir Kramnik first erected in this same borough of London to keep out ‘Big Bad Wolf’ Kasparov in their 2000 world championship match. David admitted to the commentary room that he had not played this particular line of the Berlin Ruy Lopez before but had looked at it some weeks before. Mickey wasn’t prepared for it but found a playable line which offered him an edge. The GM pundits reckoned that 14...Nd3 was the first wrong step for Howell and he was gracious enough to plead guilty to all charges when brought before the trial judges in the commentary room. “I expected Mickey to play 15 Re2 and when he started thinking, it dawned on me that I’d missed 15 Re3!”, he confessed to the audience. Giving up the b-pawn and getting the rook onto the third rank supercharged the white attack on the queenside. Mickey thought 16...Ba6 might have been better than 16...Bxg5 but after that most of the assembled experts regarded Howell’s position as unsalvageable. “I had given up and was just trying to keep a straight face at the board,” admitted David Howell, to the laughter of the large audience.

Round 1, 8 Dec 2010

M.Adams - D.Howell

Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 4 0–0 Nxe4 5 d4 Be7

5...Nd6 is 'the real Kramnik', as used to wrest the world title from Garry Kasparov in 2000.

6 Qe2 Nd6 7 Bxc6 bxc6

7...dxc6? is rarely played as it leads to big trouble after 8 dxe5 Nf5 9 Rd1 Bd7 (only move) 10 e6! fxe6 11 Ne5 Bd6 12 Qh5+, etc.

8 dxe5 Nb7 9 c4

9 Nc3 is more frequently seen.

9...0–0 10 Nc3 f6

Nigel Short chose 10...Re8 against Chinese prodigy Hou Yifan at Corus 2008 but lost quite quickly.

11 Re1 fxe5 12 Qxe5 Bf6 13 Qg3

A new move, where 13 Qh5 had previously been preferred.

13...Nc5 14 Bg5 Nd3?

Black regretted this move, which gets him into trouble. 14...d6 is perhaps a better alternative, keeping a wary eye on White's kingside build-up and continuing with development.

15 Re3!

David Howell had originally expected 15 Re2 but when Black started to spend a long time on what he had thought an automatic response, he suddenly became aware of this more forceful move.

15...Nxb2

There is little else for it but to follow through with this capture.

16 Rae1 Bxg5?!

Mickey Adams said he had expected 16...Ba6 when he might have replied 17 Ne4 with some play for the pawn, though there is chess left in the position.

17 Nxg5 Qf6

Anything and 18 Re7 would be unanswerable.

18 Rf3 Qd8 19 Nce4

White has a choice of good moves. Another is 19 Qe5, which craftily closes on the black knight, e.g. 19...Nxc4 20 Rxf8+ Qxf8 21 Qe4 with twin threats of Qxh7 mate and Qxc4.

19...Ba6 20 Nxh7!

20 Rxf8+ is also very good, e.g. 20...Qxf8 21 Nxh7! Kxh7 22 Ng5+ Kg8 23 Qh3! and it's all over.

20...Rxf3 21 gxf3 Kxh7 22 Ng5+ Kg8 23 Qh4 Bxc4 24 Qh7+ Kf8 25 Re5 Be6 26 Qh8+ Ke7 27 Qxg7+ Kd6 28 Ne4 mate

The big surprise of the round was Magnus Carlsen’s defeat at the hands of England’s Luke McShane, which was sweet revenge for Luke’s loss to Magnus in 2009. The game followed a known (if slightly obscure) line of the English Opening until Magnus experimented with 9...Ne5, when the more conservative ...Nxd4 and ...Bd7 have been tried before. Magnus found himself obliged to re-stable his horse again a couple of moves later. This (literally) cavalier play was faintly reminiscent of Carlsen’s adoption of another off-beat knight-hopping defence against Mickey Adams at the Olympiad. It was a risky plan, trying to lure his opponent into complications. For those who know the late Simon Webb’s wonderful book Chess for Tigers, it seemed as if the Heffalump was luring the Tiger into the swamp instead of the other way round. Soon we saw the equivalent of the Great Grimpen Mire open up on the chessboard but it was the cat-like McShane who emerged unmuddied whilst the Norwegian heffalump sank without trace into the primeval sludge (yes, I know I’m getting my Simon Webb enmeshed with my Conan Doyle, and my monstrous hound confused with my pachyderm, but I don’t care).

Round 1, 8 Dec 2010

L.McShane - M.Carlsen

English Opening

1 c4

Luke McShane is predominantly a 1 e4 player but he occasionally tries other opening moves.

1...c5 2 g3 g6 3 Bg2 Bg7 4 Nc3 Nc6 5 Nf3 d6 6 0–0 Nh6

Carlsen, as much the highest rated player, is trying to make the running with Black.

7 d4

The most enterprising continuation, showing that both players are up for a fight.

7...cxd4 8 Bxh6 Bxh6 9 Nxd4 Ne5!?

A new move. Previous games in this line had continued 9...Bd7 or 9...Nxd4, with only a slight edge for White. Carlsen prefers to keep material on the board and aim for complexity.

10 Qb3 0–0 11 Rfd1

A tricky position for Black. There is no immediate danger of the g2 bishop capturing on b7 but at the same time Black can't make positional progress until he has resolved the clamp on his queenside. So he resolves to move his knight yet again in order to redeploy it to c5.

11...Nd7 12 Qa3 a5 13 b4 Ra6

After the game, the players and commentators (GM Dan King and IM Lawrence Trent) had a look at some complex lines beginning 13...Nb6 14 c5 Nc4 15 Qb3 Nd2 without coming to any specific conclusions. But these lines might have been combative for Black than the text.

14 b5 Ra8 15 e3 a4

Black gets ready for a possible development of his queen on a5.

16 Rab1 Bg7 17 Ne4 Qb6 18 Nc6!

A tactical trick which yields a positional edge.

18...Re8

18...bxc6!? 19 bxc6 Qa5 (19...Qxc6?? 20 Nf6+ wins the queen) 20 cxd7 Bxd7 21 c5!? Bg4 22 Rdc1 may be playable but Magnus Carlsen didn't feel comfortable with it.

19 Nb4

White prepares to establish his knight on d5 and if Black tries to oust it with e6, the d6 pawn will be left very vulnerable.

19...f5 20 Nc3 Qc5

20...Bxc3 21 Qxc3 e6 is not an option as White can bring further firepower onto the d6 pawn and win it.

21 Nxa4!

Another tactical trick with positional intentions.

21...Qa7 22 Na6 bxa6 23 b6 Nxb6

23...Qb8 is answered by 24 Qb3! with threats of c5+ and b7 forking rook and bishop. If 24...Bb7 25 c5+ Kh8 26 c6 and wins.

24 Rxb6 Rb8 25 c5! Be6

25...Rxb6? 26 cxb6 Qd7 27 b7 Bxb7 28 Nc5 wins a piece; 25...dxc5 26 Qb3+! c4 27 Qxc4+ Kh8 28 Qf7! is remarkably effective, e.g. 28...Rf8 29 Rxb8 Rxf7 30 Rxc8+ Bf8 31 Nc5 and White has a firm grip on the position.

26 Rdb1 dxc5 27 Rb7 Rxb7 28 Rxb7 Qa8 29 Nxc5!

Good choice. 29 Rxe7 Qd8 30 Rxe8+ Qxe8 31 Nxc5 Bf8 is much less decisive. Luke McShane is playing with great accuracy.

29...Qc8 30 Qxa6 Bf7

30...Qxc5 31 Qxe6+ Kh8 32 Bc6 leads to an overwhelming position for White.

31 Bc6 Rd8 32 Nd7!

32 Rxe7? would be a serious error after 32...Bf8. White is getting ready to strangle Black with Qb6 and Rb8 so Black plays something desperate.

32...Rxd7 33 Bxd7 Qc1+ 34 Qf1 Qxf1+ 35 Kxf1 Bc4+ 36 Kg1 Bxa2 37 Ba4 e5 38 f3 Bh6 39 Bb3+ 1–0

“I played strategically and got mated,” said a whimsical Nigel Short of the final stage of his loss to Vlad Kramnik. Nigel has had some splendid results with old-fashioned 1 e4 e5 openings over the years (including a good win against French star Laurent Fressinet at the Olympiad) but he made little impression on the former world champion, who built up a solid positional advantage based on his central pawns. Eventually an e-pawn thrust cut Short’s position in half, separating his queen from his vulnerable king, and Kramnik conjured up a powerful kingside offensive to kill the white king. Short tried a few defensive alternatives in the commentary room and let out an audible expression of pain as Kramnik announced a particularly vicious refutation of his idea.

Hikaru Nakamura also played a ‘Berlin Wall’ but this was the standard Kramnik recipe used to tranquillise Garry Kasparov (should we call it the Hammersmith variation?). The world champion of the year 2000 couldn’t break it down so maybe his successor a decade on would also find it tough. Vishy was playing his first chess game in Britain for 16 years but he looked very composed as he set about grinding out an endgame win. English GMs Jon Speelman and John Nunn were practically salivating at the prospect of a long-distance endgame. Vishy Anand is another person who can remember when endgames really were endgames (with those strange rituals called adjournments, sealed moves and resumptions which Magnus, Hikaru and co will be blissfully unaware of), but in the end he couldn’t break down Hikaru’s rugged resistance. Yesterday Hikaru wasn’t best pleased with his tournament draw - Black versus Anand, Kramnik (tomorrow) and Carlsen (in round 4), but the upside of this equation becomes apparent if he succeeds in toughing it out with the big guys - it leaves him with some whites against the others. Maybe things are looking up for the American.

Scores after round 1: Michael Adams, Luke McShane, Vladimir Kramnik 3 points; Vishy Anand, Hikaru Nakamura 1 point; David Howell, Magnus Carlsen, Nigel Short. (Note, games are scored 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss)

Note that the Round 2 games start two hours later than in Round One, for one round only, on 9 December 2010. That’s 4pm British time.

For more information and to buy tickets to The London Chess Classic, please go to www.londonchessclassic.com

High quality photos may be found on the website athttp://www.londonchessclassic.com/photos.htm

ENDS

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John Saunders

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