December 2009 Archives

Just a quick note because it's just about time to party. Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2010 is a happy and healthy year for friends, foes, and every Dirt reader. What are the biggest stories of the year? The best and the worst? The honor and the dishonor? Best results, biggest surprises, best games, most memorable moments? The chess pieces of 2009 that made you laugh, cry, kiss six hours goodbye? I'll incorporate your nominations with my own on a January 1 look back.

Brief Q&A with Magnus Carlsen in TIME. The usual mainstream attempt to ask angled questions that instead fall into the usual cliches of genius, madness, computers, and women in chess. Even the oft-parodied question "how many moves ahead can you see?" gets in there. You can almost hear Carlsen's eyes roll from here, but he keeps it straightforward. (Coincidentally, Kasparov addresses this old chestnut in an upcoming New York Review of Books article about computer chess.) The central failure of these interviews, like so many, is that they operate from the proposition, "what would my readers find interesting?" instead of "what does my subject find interesting?" The best interviewers know you get much better results with the second method. [Update: I didn't mean to sound like such a jerk about the TIME piece. I blame all the coconut rum eggnog I was drinking. Mostly I was complaining about how the same (largely fruitless) questions are always asked. More rambling in this vein from me in the comments here.]

It's a little tragic how we fans always fall all over ourselves whenever chess gets a big-league mention even though it's almost always this superficial. Just happy they know we exist, I suppose, but I don't think it's much of a barometer of anything just yet. It will be interesting to see if Carlsen's new sponsors get enough traction to then see if his brand can extend beyond his home turf. Remember how many thought Anand's world championship was going to release a flood of Indian sponsorship money? Not so much, as the fact that he's defending his title in Bulgaria attests. It does seem to be doing quite a bit for promoting youth and scholastic chess in India, however, though that was already the case.

Garry also just did a Q&A for TIME, about Magnus, but either it hasn't run yet or they just used it for background for this one, which seems likely. If it's the latter I'll put it up here later, though most of the material he's already covered in his other myriad interviews, many for the Norwegian press. [The journalist just let me know it will run at time.com as part of a 2-page profile on Carlsen early in 2010.] Carlsen was just named Norway's sports star of the year, which caused a little controversy due to the usual "is chess really a sport?" argument from some quarters. But he finished ahead of Thor Hushovd, Suzann Pettersen, and Brede Hangeland, and of course we all know how big they are. I mean, just saying Hushovd says it all, I think. Hushovd. [Tarjei in the comments has details here about that and the other Norwegian awards Carlsen has won and is up for.]

Carlsen and Kasparov will be headed to Morocco early in the new year for a pre-Corus training session. They'll also make a simul appearance. It will be interesting to see how well the local press and the local chess scene responds since it's one I know little about. I saw a lot more backgammon than chess in public when I went through Morocco.

They may not care too much about December 25th in Russia, but the land of Tchaikovsky gave us a few sugarplums today at the Russian championship. The crosstable news was 16-year-old Kalmykian Sanan Sjugirov, an infant neither tender nor mild, demolishing leader Peter Svidler in just 23 moves. It may take a few minutes to figure out exactly why Black is resigning, especially since White's last move is prophylaxis, but the tactical threats are overwhelming and Black loses material by force. Of course you need your opponent's help to win that quickly, but still impressive play from the teen, who was mentioned as a seven-year-old (? something like that) in JC Hallman's 2003 book "The Chess Artist." (A book I wanted to like, and did for moments. But overall I was turned off by too much overwrought prose and too many of the cliches that non-chess people are inevitably attracted to when writing about chess and chess people.)

On the black side of a Caro-Kann, Svidler pushed a few too many Pawns That Must Not Be Pushed and his position was soon crawling with more weaknesses than a French alcoholic in a room full of escargot au vin rouge. That derailed Svidler's heretofore smooth run to his umpteenth Russian championship title, though it's not as if anyone else is running away with it. Grischuk now leads on +2 after beating Riazantsev in a powerful game, if beating the Alekhine's Defense deserves so much credit. Timofeev spooned out the real sugar against Khismatullin, ending with a rook sacrifice to take four connected passed pawns and a knight against two rooks! Fabulous stuff. Every year this event produces as many or more exciting games as the usual supertournament invitationals and this edition is no exception so far. Sharp, fighting chess from top to bottom. Grischuk is already the only player without a loss, a remarkable and indicative stat.

Santa went from sack full of goodies to lump of coal mode for Tomashevsky in his game against Alekseev. Black was doing what Black usually does in the Benoni at this level -- suffer and pray desperately for a tactical miracle on the kingside. And lo, what should arise on the g-file with such a clatter? Not eight tiny reindeer, but a mating attack! Alekseev may or may not have taken one pawn too many on the queenside, but he definitely slipped up in getting his queen back on defense. 34.Qc4 looks like enough, though White is still going to have to navigate some rough waters. After 35.Bxf3?? Black is ready to go all little drummer boy on white's king. Do you see what I see? 35..Rg7! is instantly crushing. Black's move was still winning, but he let another clear win get away a few moves later when he missed the nice 37..Ng4! and White doesn't have a perpetual after 38.Rxf8+ Kxf8 39.Qxd6+ Kg8, just a few more checks and eventually f2 explodes. Black still had an extra piece and all the chances in the game, but a few more slips and it ended in perpetual check.

Another favorite, Jakovenko, wasn't so lucky. All was not silent or bright for him as he got blown out of the manger by Vitiugov. Black was already up a pawn and for choice when he got to play the cute 26..Rxh2+! Black finished the first time control with all the precision of drunken lumberjack with a rusty chainsaw, but he got the job done in the end to move to +1 and join Svidler a half-point behind Grischuk with four rounds left to play. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a leaping minor piece with excellent outposts in the center.

Bits and bobs as I've been a bit swamped with family, snow, and work lately. And apparently there are some kind of holidays this month. What's on your chess wish-list, material or otherwise?

The Russian championship just got underway in Moscow. Defending champion Svidler is the top seed. Grischuk and Jakovenko are the other big names, and as always it's a very strong field. In the first round Grischuk and Khismatullin notched wins. Kramnik and Morozevich aren't there this year.

Malakhov, the recent World Cup semifinalist, isn't there either. But he confirmed his impressive run of form in a less lofty venue by winning the 9th Amplico Life rapid tournament in Warsaw over the weekend. He scored an amazing 11.5/13 to finish a half-point ahead of Ivanchuk. Shirov and Gashimov were also in the field, finishing with 10 and 9.5. Malakhov, who started with eight straight wins, beat all three. Fantastic result. Don't see a game file anywhere yet but I'm looking forward to it.

A mostly filler and poorly translated/written interview with Anand in the Times of India did make me think about one thing. (Other than the similarity between the verbs "improve" and "improvise.") Anand pointed out this has been a mediocre year for him, and that's certainly true. He played in two classical tournaments, making an even score in Linares and a +1 at the Tal Memorial. Even "his" event, the Mainz rapid championship, escaped him, and in the semis at that. Even a world champion can't win them all, and he didn't play all that much, but it does highlight the era of parity we've been in for the past few years.

That might well be ending as the age of Carlsen seems to be dawning even earlier than most expected. Speaking of, we had a chance to toast the world #1 with a former holder of that spot, Garry Kasparov, here in NY the other evening. (He had his Kasparov Chess Foundation master classes with top US kids this weekend.) It sounds like success at the board has attracted successes in business, and sponsors may be making Carlsen quite a big brand soon enough. I'm not sure about his being the next Tiger Woods, but that doesn't mean what it used to mean anyway. New era or no, few would bet that Carlsen, who is achieving his #1 ranking two years younger than Kasparov did, is going to hold that spot for the 20 years Garry had it. But if Carlsen can learn to work as hard as Kasparov learned to do much younger by having Botvinnik and his mother in his life, why not? Are computers too great an equalizer?

Time to go dig through the "when will Carlsen reach #1?" informal poll we had in the comments a few years ago (?). The "never" folks are in trouble. I wonder if anyone nailed January 2011? And will this lead to a real chess boom in Norway and perhaps regionally? My Norwegian Friend (by transplant) GM Jon Tisdall refers to Carlsen's burgeoning fame as his retirement plan. Chess coaches might soon be in high demand.

Just tried eggnog with coconut rum in it. Recommended.

The next steps toward the Anand-Topalov world championship match were taken today in Bulgaria, where the match will take place in late April 2010. FIDE has a report with photos from the scene, where contracts were signed by FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and Bulgarian Chess Federation president Stefan Sergiev. Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov was also on the scene. The prize money, announced at two million dollars euros, will supposedly be transferred in January. Game one is scheduled for April 23. It might be tricky for me to be on Chess.FM for that one since that's also the exact date our son is supposed to be born.

In a recent interview, Kramnik said he was surprised Anand agreed to play in Sofia, Topalov's home turf. He also said that Topalov winning would be a "disaster for chess." Danailov's history of dirty tricks is indeed daunting, though I'm more concerned about the potential for shenanigans at the candidates event in Baku. On the corruption scale, Azerbaijan is to Bulgaria what Bulgaria is to Denmark.

With all the kerfuffle over 19-year-old Magnus Carlsen winning in London and becoming the youngest-ever world #1 it was easy to forget about Boris Gelfand, all 41 years of him, winning the FIDE World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, in the same week. The top-seeded Israeli outlasted Ponomariov to take the title in the second set of blitz tiebreak games. They drew the four classical games with little intrigue. After starting the rapids with a draw, Gelfand won the second game and got some luck to hold the third when Ponomariov missed several wins in the endgame. One of the (several) tragedies of the KO format is that even as the average rating of the players trends higher as the culling goes on, the players are so stressed and exhausted from the do-or-die tension and the varying controls that the chess quality inevitably suffers. In the fourth rapid Gelfand got a nice plus against Ponomariov's "QP Sicilian," aka the Benoni. (In case of emergency, like a must-win with black...) Pono kept finding sharp ideas and avoiding simplification and eventually his passed pawns were more than a match for White's extra exchange.

On to blitz, where Ponomariov, now a three-time KO finalist (an incredible stat that can't be a coincidence. His nervous system is amazing.), started off on the wrong foot by tripping over his move order in a Kan Sicilian and getting blown out of the Siberian snow in around 15 moves. His king under fire, Black instead found a way of losing his queen. Ponomariov came back yet again to stay alive in game two, Gelfand missing a draw by a single square at the end, putting his knight on c4 instead of the strong 33..Nd5! Gelfand won the third blitz when Ponomariov went for some unsound tactics instead of the solid 44..b5. Pono tossed his last chance away in the fourth game with the prosaic blunder 23.b6, turning a solid advantage into a lost position instantly. A sad way to go out, but the better man won in the end. A nice trophy to bring home for Hanukkah. Mazeltov!

The Israeli played 36 games during his Cup run. 16 classical (well, fast classical), 14 rapid, and 6 blitz. He knocked out Obodchuk, Amonatov, Polgar (tb), Vachier-Lagrave (tb), Jakovenko (tb), Karjakin, and Ponomariov (tb). Stunningly, considering all the tiebreak games he played, Gelfand lost only a single game at any control, the second classical game against Polgar, during his trek to the final. Now that's some serious concentration. In a hat-tip to Elo, he scored exactly his rating expectation in the 16 classical games.

Gelfand thus adds his name to the list of players in the next stage of the candidates cycle, the matches that are planned to take place in Baku, at least in part. (So much for Abu Dhabi as the alternative venue!) He'll join the loser of Anand-Topalov (WCh loser), Kamsky (previous candidates loser), Aronian (Grand Prix winner), Carlsen and Kramnik (rating) and two others: the Grand Prix runner up (almost certainly Wang Yue, Gashimov, or Radjabov, and assuming the final GP event actually happens) and the organizer wildcard, aka the PTBNL, or in this case, the ATBNL, or Azerbaijani To Be Named Later.

The principal translator must have left Khanty-Mansiysk with Ponomariov, but the official site has a bland post-event interview up with Gelfand. He won the event on his mother's birthday, btw, not her "anniversary." And Gelfand wasn't really the oldest player in the event. He eliminated the oldest player, Obodchuk, in the first round. But point taken; he was definitely the oldest contender. Three 40-somethings in the top 10 and we keep hearing about the youth movement. Stay strong, my fellow paunchy, balding children of the 60s!

In an unusually tense final round, Magnus Carlsen came through with flying colors to take clear first place at the London Classic with an impressive +3 undefeated score. His was the last game to finish as he and Nigel Short played a complicated Dragon down to bare kings, a fitting finale for a fighting event. This also means Carlsen will be confirmed as the world #1 on the January 2010 rating list, the exact goal set by Carlsen and his coach, Garry Kasparov, when they began working together near the start of this year. Congratulations to Carlsen on both counts! It's always a little early to hang a "Mission Accomplished" banner, but it's been an impressive year for the newly 19-year-old Carlsen, especially the last few months. First in Nanjing, equal second at the Tal Memorial, and now first in London. That's +11 =15 -0 against the world's elite. Not even counting his domination of the World Blitz. And, as if to respond to Kramnik's November statement that, "To my mind, Magnus is still not as strong as some of the "old guys", like Anand, me and Topalov," in those events Carlsen finished ahead of, umm, Topalov, Anand, and now Kramnik, and beat Topalov and Kramnik. (I know, I know, and I respect Kramnik's evaluation of "strength" as opposed to mere results. But results do matter. And the #1 rating spot has to be worth something.)

Against Kasparov's former world championship challenger Short Carlsen avoided the Najdorf and went with his old love, the Dragon. They followed Smeets-Radjabov from a few months ago for 20 moves and Black comes out with center control while White has the better long-term endgame prospects because of his bishop and mobile queenside majority. But Carlsen kept the initiative burning all the way down to a queen and pawn endgame, though Short also played excellently and quickly throughout. A draw was likely looming, but for some strange reason Carlsen decided not to take the annoying white f-pawn on move 54. He would have been two pawns up and the white c-pawn is no further advanced than in the game. Instead, suddenly he was having to find difficult moves to avoid losing the game. (He would have won the tournament title anyway but it might have cost him the clear #1 spot on the next list.) Carlsen played the rest with computer-like accuracy to hold the draw.

Kramnik's clear second place in London with +2 is impressive because it came after an opening loss to Carlsen that would have taken the wind out of many a sailor's sails. He came back with two straight wins and later beat Short to make the final round relevant. All of his wins had the look of a heavyweight against lighter, less substantial fighters. He had to fend off a charged-up Nakamura in the final round and was again up to the task, sacrificing the exchange to gain counter-chances and eventually force a repetition draw. (Because Carlsen had the head-to-head tiebreak, this meant Carlsen knew he had clinched first even if he lost to Short.) As Nakamura told us himself live on Chess.FM from London after the game, "Kramnik is Kramnik, he's just so solid." Had Black gone for 20..Bh5 21.Rdg1+ Kh8 Nakamura said he might have had a chance at the brilliancy prize, such were the wild variations he envisioned. But after 20..Qxf2! things quieted down substantially.

Speaking of the brilliancy prize and the massive 10,000 euros that accompany it, it went to Luke McShane for his round-five win over Nakamura, much to the surprise of just about everyone I polled before the award was announced. (Of the GMs I asked on the ICC today, four went for Carlsen-Kramnik, one for Carlsen-McShane.) It's great for the hometown hero McShane, the former prodigy and now amateur chessplayer who has a real job and who came to the tournament from home every day. It does leave me a little fuzzy on the other criteria for the prize, however. It's a nice game and all, but at the time it looked like Nakamura fluffed the opening and that Black was basically much better as soon as he squelched some desperate attacking attempts. Certainly Carlsen-Kramnik was a far better game on the whole, although that's not usually how brilliancy prizes (as opposed to best game prizes) are decided. But the prize-winning game fails on that count as well, since there aren't any of the flashy sacrifices that usually attract trophies. Those are quite rare these days, of course, but both Carlsen-McShane and McShane-Kramnik come closer to fitting that bill. (Adams would have been a lock had he completed his piece sac game against Carlsen with the winning line.) Maybe it's just me, but I like an exclam or two in my brilliancy games! (22..Bh6 is probably worthy, and, as I mentioned at the time, 44..Bg7 is nice, if a bit easy for an exclam. All other moves lead to relatively clear draws.) Anyway, these things always seem to come about mysteriously, though I do hope the committee that awarded the prize publishes their reasoning. I'm sure it would enlighten us all quite a bit about the game. No doubt the big prize helped assuage the pain of McShane's final-round debacle against Adams. (FYI there is no daily best game prize for round seven.)

Adams and Howell saved their best for last and picked up their only wins of the event in the final round to both finish +1 undefeated. This is particularly impressive from the bottom-seeded Howell, the 19-year-old British champion. He was lost against Carlsen for a moment in an otherwise fine game, and was generally very solid. McShane seemed to be holding on against a typical slow-burning Spanish attack from Adams today, but he imploded in time trouble. Black's sacrificial attack with 33..Nxg2 is very interesting; McShane just didn't have enough time to do it justice. His blunder on move 39 ruined any chance of holding on. In a way I'm glad McShane didn't win this game. Had he done so he would have reached an even score and yet finished ahead of Howell and Adams thanks to the 3-1-0 scoring system they used in London. I'm all for the Sofia Rules and encouraging fighting chess with financial incentives, and for using number of wins or 3-1-0 as a tiebreaker. But putting someone who loses as many as he wins ahead of someone who wins more than he loses is distortion and beyond the scope of what should be attempted with rule modifications. It's not as if Howell (or Adams) didn't play hard or play to win games. As an added perk, Adams should now take back the English #1 spot on the rating list.

Nakamura sounded surprisingly upbeat after the event. He felt he played well, missed a few chances, and has no reason to fear the future. He now heads into a busy stretch with the World Team Championship followed immediately by Corus and then perhaps Aeroflot. If he even survives that schedule he should win some sort of prize. Or maybe the frequent-flier miles are worth it. McShane brought just what I said he would bring at the start, excitement and losses to go with wins. Ni Hua did the same, especially the losses part. He fell apart today against Howell, who played a nice pawn sac with 12..b3!, a sac that goes back to Leonhardt-Duras, 1909! White never got organized and Howell had total domination by move 30. Time trouble made things ugly before the Chinese resigned after reaching the control at move 40.

A great event well worth the attention lavished on it. The top players played well and every round was full of fighting chess from start to finish. Organizer Malcolm Pein said at the closing that there would be another LCC event in 2010 and that they hope to bring the world championship to London in 2012, the year the city also hosts the Olympic Games.

My cold and I have to rise and blab for the 7am ET start time of the London Classic final round on ICC Chess.FM, so will keep it brief. Kramnik again "shafted" Nigel Short, in Short's words, notching his third win to land just a half-point behind Carlsen heading into tomorrow's final round. Carlsen is lucky to have that margin. Adams played a wonderful defense and then sacrificed a piece for what looked like a crushing attack against the leader. But either his nerve or his senses failed him at the critical moment and instead of the sharp 25..dxe3 touted aggressively by Larry Christiansen, he went for a safe endgame edge he couldn't convert. A narrow escape by Carlsen, who, despite his score, has been in trouble a few times in recent rounds.

McShane-Ni Hua was a dull affair we mostly ignored all day until suddenly McShane began to outplay his opponent and it looked like he was about to make contact. But in mutual time pressure he missed a nice defensive shot, 29..Bc6! that held on. After that it was Ni Hua's turn to outplay and outlast, and 20 moves later Black had a clearly winning endgame. He might have been made to look bad by Carlsen and Kramnik (join the club) but Ni Hua's endgame skills are very good indeed. During the recent UK-China match I pointed out that the Brits kept getting good positions only to be outplayed in the endgame and the transition to it, leading me to to wonder if this aspect of the game got special emphasis in the centralized Chinese training regimen. McShane would have been the one playing for a win had he played the banal but effective 29.Bxf6 Nxf6 30.Rd8+ Rxd8 31.Rxd8+ Kg7 32.Rc8 and the c-pawn exits.

That game started as one of two French Tarraschs, and oddly Adams, the leading exponent of that line on the white side, wasn't involved in either of them. Nakamura plied the Fronch against Howell and it soon looked like he would be under pressure for a long time. But Howell, who admitted to ICC's Macauley Peterson after the game that nerves and a fear of a first loss got to him, couldn't keep the initiative against the ever-ambitious Nakamura. All draws for the young British champion certainly can't be called a poor result in this powerful field, and he's played fighting games in just about every round.

A sight we became accustomed to at the Tal Memorial was Kramnik blitzing out his opening moves, tossing out a sharp novelty in an offbeat line, and getting 30-40 minutes ahead of his opponent on the clock before he ever started spending any time at the board. His opening preparation is still a category beyond anyone else's excepting Anand, and he had a little something lined up for Short in the rarely seen 5.Qb3 line of the otherwise very topical Ragozin QGD/Nimzo. (Coincidentally, one hopes, Kramnik defended this against Karpov 12 years ago.) 8.Bg5 seems to be a novelty, if an obvious one, and the sharp play that arose seems to be Kramnik's 2009 style. Short sacrificed two pawns, got one back, but never quite managed to get his head above water. Kramnik consolidated, grabbed another pawn, and it was over. The strangely pedestrian 18..Rg6 is given by the computer as providing enough counterplay for Black. Hard to believe at first, but the point isn't so much the hit on g2 as that now Black can play ..f5, hitting the well-placed knight. 25..Qxa2, threatening ..Rxc3+ and a million checks, was likely Black's last best chance to escape.

The winning attempt for Black in the Carlsen-Adams game was 25..dxe3! 26.Be2 Re5 27.h4 Rf5 28.Qa8+ Bf8 29.Rxf6 Rxe2! Or 26.Bd3 Bc5! 27.Bxc2 e2+ 28.Kg2 exf1Q+ 29.Qxf1 Qc6+! 30.Qf3 Re2+ 31.Kg3 Bf2+. Close call. McShane is still the only Englishman to win a game.

In the final round Carlsen and Kramnik have black against borderline desperate opponents with chips on their shoulders, which, combined with the Sofia Rules, should make for an entertaining day. R7: Nakamura-Kramnik, Short-Carlsen, Ni Hua-Howell, Adams-McShane.

Back from a quick jaunt to California with a bad cold, courtesy of a Jetblue passenger I can only hope feels even worse than I do. Hack, sneeze. At least Ponomariov and Gelfand have played a pretty tedious/exhausted affair of a final match. Tiebreaks tomorrow.

Magnus Carlsen was very close to starting out the London Classic with three straight wins. He was a series of checks away from victory when he lost the thread and had to settle for a half point, confirming, if nothing else, that he's not a Terminator programmed by Skynet (aka "Rybka") and sent from the future to destroy all our chessplayers. (What, you didn't know Skynet started as a chess program?) David Howell deserved the draw after putting up excellent resistance until his inevitable time-trouble. While Carlsen's momentum slowed in round three, Kramnik won his second in a row after his initial loss to Carlsen. He took out McShane in a nice attacking game with black to move to a plus score. I'm all for avoiding the Petroff like the plague it is, but if White can't do better out of the Bishop's / Vienna Opening than he's been doing over the past week, it might be time for a little 2.f4. Gelfand beat Karjakin at the World Cup with a very nice attack with black against this and now Kramnik joins the fun.

Also in round three, Adams' new Marshall move 18..Re7 put Ni Hua in the tank for a good 40 minutes. (Aronian played 18..h5 this year.) When he emerged he still couldn't find anything to do with his e-pawn other than to give it away. Black had all sorts of potential threats on the long diagonal thanks to the Bb7 and they were enough to keep White at bay. There were also many sharp ideas in the Nakamura-Short game but none of them made it to the board despite the players' best intentions to do their worst.

Round four saw four draws for the first time. Carlsen-Nakamura was the headliner and it didn't disappoint. The first phases were a sharp 5.a4 Slav and Carlsen trying to do something against Black's isolated e-pawn. Nakamura defended well and even grabbed a pawn as the end of the first time control approached. Now Black was for choice, but with so little time remaining it would have been very risky to recapture on d5 with the c-pawn on move 38. 39.Qe5! was the only move to hold the balance and Carlsen found it, saving himself from a long defense down a pawn.

In today's round five, perhaps inspired by his big win at the Tal Memorial, Kramnik sacrificed a piece on f2 for the second time in three days. This time it was a real sac and the game would have been far more fascinating (and far shorter, one way or another) had Howell said a few prayers and grabbed the piece. 22.g3?! f4! is no walk in the park. One line leads to two more piece sacrifices by Black and the computer wants it to end in a perpetual check. 23.Kg2 fxg3 24.hxg3 Bh3+ 25.Kxh3 Bxg3 and the bishop is immune at penalty of mate. So 26.Nf3!? Rxf3 27.Kg2 Rf2+ 28.Kxg3 Rxf2 with a position only a computer could love. But 24..Bxg3 is stronger for Black, although the lines are harrowing. 25.Bxh7+ (25.Kxg3 Qg5 is hard to meet.) 26..Kh8 26.Rh1 Qg5! An incredible position. Discoveries and mate threats everywhere for both sides. A shame we missed it! Apparently 27.Bf5+ is then the only move. 28.Ne4 (naturally) 28..Bf3+ (of course) 29.Kf1 (obviously) 29..Qxf5 30.Rxh4+ Kg8 31.Nf6+! (only move, throwing away a knight) 31..Rxf6 32.Qxf5 Rxf5 and ta-dah, Black has an extra pawn. Yeesh.

Instead it quickly boiled down to an endgame with Kramnik having a rook and two pawns for a two pieces. There were some twists and turns but the balance was never broken. We might have had some drama had Howell taken on f4 while Black pushed his h-pawn, but even that race looks pretty dry. In the game they found a quick repetition. Adams and Short, battling for the #1 English spot, failed to play one of the short draws they have foisted on us in recent match-ups. Maybe it's the anti-short-draw rules in effect or maybe there's more tension now that Short has recaptured the top spot and isn't rated 80+ lower than Adams as in recent years. Adams got nothing but a two-bishop headache against Short's Open Ruy, the new toy he's been playing with to fine effect lately. But Short couldn't make any headway and 40.e6! eliminated any torture possibilities.

Carlsen had more success with his black bishop pair against Ni Hua. The leader endured an awkward kingside development scheme for a few moves but saw that he would come out of it unscathed and with the better pieces. When everything came off except queens and one set of minors, bishop for Carlsen and knight for Ni Hua, and 14 pawns on the board, Carlsen went to work. Just recently a minor himself, Carlsen is nevertheless a remarkable endgame talent, "as good as Karpov!" gushed his coach, Garry Kasparov after the game. He certainly made quick work of Ni Hua, who, like most of the Chinese stars, is a tenacious and well-grounded endgame player himself. The white king came over to help but soon came under fire. It doesn't seem like Black should be able to penetrate with such effect against queen and knight. 35.Qd2!? is certainly a better try, for example. 35..Qd4 36.Qxd4 exd4 37.Kd2 with c3! next looks horrible but isn't easy to crack.

Carlsen's third win makes him a lock for the #1 rating spot on the January list if he holds on. It's also close to a lock on the tournament, since he has a full-point lead over Kramnik with two rounds to play. He has white against Adams and black against Short in the last two rounds, and with the Sofia Rules in effect there are always chances for a slip-up. Kramnik has white against Short and in the final round, black against Nakamura.

That last will likely be the American's legions of fans' last hope to take away something positive from this event. Nakamura lost to McShane with white today, playing a grabby line of the King's Indian in which Black gets a knight and two pawns for a rook. Here White got neither a quick attack nor open lines for his rooks against McShane's solid play and was soon on the defensive. It's likely White had opportunities to hold in the R vs B endgame, but it's a thankless chore. The subtle 42.Re8 leaves Black will few ways to improve. 43..Kh7!, tossing the worthless f-pawn, was a nice move. But White can ignore it. I'm still not sure how Black wins after 44.axb4 cxb4 45.Rb5. That looks like a solid wall to me. Long king walks seem unlikely. In the game, after the white king gets stuck on the first rank it's only a matter of time before bishop gets out to deliver the coup de grace.

R6: Carlsen-Short, Kramnik-Adams, McShane-Ni Hua, Howell-Nakamura. I'm on Chess.FM with LarryC starting at 9am, raspy voice and constant sniffle and all. Only three players have scored wins so far.

London is getting the headlines, but in less glamorous Khanty-Mansiysk a spot in the next stage of the world championship cycle is up for grabs this week. It will go to either Ruslan Ponomariov or Boris Gelfand. Pono dispatched Malakhov in rapids despite losing the first game with white. Gelfand was waiting for him, having beaten Karjakin in both classical games. The final match is four games followed by a day for tiebreaks. Ponomariov has given Gelfand trouble over the years at faster controls, although they haven't played enough to make a real case for nemesis. Just a few weeks ago they drew at the Tal Memorial, followed by a 2-nil sweep for Ponomariov in the blitz. Gelfand has to be considered the favorite on chess performance.

The London Chess Classic is just underway and before you could say "Cor blimey guv'ner!" Magnus Carlsen has a full point lead on the field. He took full advantage of his #1 spot in the draw by winning both his first games with white, today taking out the other round one winner Luke McShane. Kramnik bounced back with a win over Ni Hua to return to an even score. Short drew with his occasional charge Howell after having chances in a Petroff. Nakamura held a pawn-down endgame against Adams, who for the second day in a row was involved in an entertaining tactical flurry.

McShane didn't try to play something quiet today despite his epic marathon win against Short the day before. He played the Classical King's Indian with 7..Na6, a modern line that just about every top player to dabble in the KID has taken for a spin once or twice. Topalov tried it against Kramnik at Melody Amber last year and got stuffed like a Thanksgiving turkey, but others have played it since, so the opening wasn't to blame. (That Kramnik win was a spectacular queen sac game, btw.) With a small fudge in the move order Carlsen-McShane left the books early for a King's Indian. The bishop usually comes to g4 on move nine, with the usual line going 10.d5 Nb4. With the rook on b1 that knight move is meaningless, so we're left to wonder if this is a new plan by McShane or if he forgot something. As a new idea it doesn't impress much. Carlsen seemed to be making steady progress on the queenside without having much to worry about the kingside. 21.bxc5 looks strange, allowing the structure to become rigid. Giving up the c-file to doubled rooks looks bizarre, but White wasn't worried about that and went to work on the black b-pawn.

McShane finally slipped up under pressure on both sides of the board, and likely on the clock, and allowed the nice pawn grab shot 37.Bxb6! (37..Rxb6 38.Qf2 wins the exchange.) Black sacrificed the exchange, then Carlsen gave it back for an attack on the black king. The sting at the end of the tail was 47.Nc5! (47..dxc5? 48.d6 with Bc4+ coming). After the knight makes it to e6 any defense was going to require miracles. McShane put up a good fight to get it into a difficult endgame but couldn't hold it against yet more powerful play from Carlsen. The last best chance was to test White's technique after 56..g5, definitely a much better version of the endgame in the game with White still having his h-pawn, which is just resignable. You could tell that by the way McShane resigned.

Kramnik bagged his win earlier, taking out Ni Hua in trademark fashion. His recent attacking displays notwithstanding, Kramnik's strength over his peers is clearest when the queens are off the board. For this reason alone 19..Qxe5 is worthy of criticism. But the sharper 19..Qg6!? also looks better because White's king is still in the center and should be made a factor. The a-pawn is covered and Black threatens to go on the attack with ..Rfe8. Instead, Ni Hua gave up a pawn and had nowhere near enough activity to compensate. Kramnik faltered a little near the end of the first time control and Black might have put up a much more annnoying defense with 41..Ne8!, picking off the d-pawn and dragging things out at the very least. But no miracles were in the cards and Kramnik took the game on what looked very much like sheer class from start to finish.

Nakamura got no birthday presents from Adams in a French. He was under slow pressure for the entire game, pressure Adams converted into a pawn at the cost of going into a rook endgame. It looked like White should have gotten more than he got with two connected passers. Nakamura held confidently to maintain the even score for both players. Nigel Short recently accompanied David Howell to Argentina for the World Junior championship, which went from a decent result to a disaster in the final rounds for the British champion. It can be awkward for both players to face off after working together; usually there is a tacit agreement to avoid lines they studied together. Out of a Petroff both sides took on doubled pawns that didn't last long. After they came off Short kept a little space advantage and tried to make something of it. As so often in the Petroff, Black just doesn't have enough weaknesses to make a meal of no matter how well White deploys his forces and they drew on move 44.

Round 3: McShane-Kramnik, Howell-Carlsen, Nakamura-Short, Ni Hua-Adams. Carlsen and Howell have faced each other only once before, in 2003 at a First Saturday tournament in Budapest where both pre-teens were norm hunting.

In sports that reward maximum aggression and adrenaline, thinking American football here, a regular cliche has to do with not "giving the other team something to put up on the bulletin board" by talking trash during the week leading up to the game. This isn't exactly an issue in chess, which only rarely has head-to-head match-ups with any media attention to speak of, let alone much trash talk. The world championship has seen its share of both, if usually in relatively oblique fashion in interviews. But timing is everything, and when Kramnik gave interviews in Russia after his big Tal Memorial win, he got many questions about Carlsen and the Norwegian's ascent to the #1 spot and his work with Kasparov. Kramnik's comments were far from harsh, and he certainly didn't have any specific future battles in mind when he said things about how Topalov, Anand, and he were still playing at a higher level than Carlsen. There's no reason to doubt it was a typically forthright evaluation from Kramnik.

Fast forward to Tuesday in London. Fate, or perhaps karma, delivered the pairing Carlsen-Kramnik in the first round of the Classic. Carlsen, well aware of Kramnik's interview comments, plays one of the best games of the year and slowly dismantles the former world champion. It was Kramnik's first classical loss since game six of his world championship match with Anand a year ago. Really lovely stuff from start to finish. The opening was a popular line of the English Four Knights that has much in common with a Dragon reversed. There are many playable options in the early going and isn't really a fertile ground for startling novelties. With that in mind, it shows how often this line is played that they made it all the way to move 19 before leaving the database.

It also says a lot that Carlsen outplayed the positional maestro Kramnik in such a position. White won a pawn but Black had plenty of activity. Kramnik then started a series of bishop and queen maneuvers that got him nowhere at all and allowed Carlsen to consolidate. Look at the positions after 29.Qxd1 and after 36.Ra8. Black's queen is on f7 instead of c7, that's it! The knight on the rim was still dim and the white center pawns advanced to create an annoying bind. White's bishops started slicing and Kramnik got desperate in the final moves before time control, going from bad to lost in a hurry. Carlsen wrapped up precisely to take the early lead in the tournament. And, if you're into that sort of thing, also make a succinct reply to Kramnik's interview.

Later -- much, much later -- Carlsen was joined in the lead by Luke McShane, who needed 163 moves and nearly eight hours to beat Nigel Short. It was really a remarkable effort from McShane, who massaged a turgid position with a slight space and structural advantage for a long time before winning a pawn and then slowly, very slowly, wearing his opponent down. It could have lasted even longer since it looked like Short was hoping to make his young countryman mate with bishop and knight, but a potential 200-mover was avoided. Nakamura got a solid plus against Ni Hua but couldn't make use of his extra exchange. He gave the material back and tried to win the pawn-up rook endgame without success. The position turns double-edged if White keeps the exchange and goes for a race with 35.Rxh6 Rxb2 36.Rf6 Kd4 37.Rxf7. Howell tried the Scotch against Adams but met with some pretty tactical defense that led to liquidation.

A fantastic kick-off to the tournament! All four games went into the second control (Sofia rules are in effect, btw) and all were real fights. And things keep turning up roses as the leaders meet on Wednesday. Round 2: Carlsen-McShane, Adams-Nakamura, Kramnik-Ni Hua, Short-Howell.

The London Chess Classic begins Tuesday at 1400 GMT local time, 9am ET. It's a short event with an impressive field that has been fully matched, and this is an an extreme rarity, by the preparation that has gone into promoting the event. England's top four players take on four international stars. It's just seven rounds, so anything can happen. The field: Carlsen, Kramnik, Nakamura, Ni Hua, Short, Adams, Howell, McShane.

The draw is up and it's got to be considered favorable for the unofficial world #1 Magnus Carlsen, who apparently needs +3 here to make that official on the January list. (It seems he'd lose a crucial point and end up behind Topalov if he scores +2. But I'm not 100% sure of this.) He has white against his two main rivals, at least according to Elo, Kramnik and Nakamura. The super-clash against the former world champion comes without delay to open the tournament. Cool. Round 1: Carlsen-Kramnik, Howell-Adams, McShane-Short, Nakamura-Ni Hua. A decisive result in that one would likely have a major impact on the final configuration of the podium. Kramnik had Carlsen on the ropes with black in Moscow last month, also a round one encounter. The teen had a measure of payback by beating Kramnik in both games en route to his stunning World Blitz win.

Many interesting narratives here apart from the seeing Carlsen and Kramnik in action again so soon after the Tal Memorial, where Kramnik took first and Carlsen second. US champion Nakamura just beat Carlsen in a Norwegian blitz event and wants to come back strong from his disaster at the NH Tournament. Short has been enjoying a Renaissance and comes in as the UK #1 after a long absence from that slot. The man who had that title the entire time, Mickey Adams, hasn't played many top events lately and hasn't impressed when he has. Perhaps the home turf can see him return to top-ten form. Ni Hua is the sort of player usually described as "dangerous," which means he can beat anyone on a given day but isn't expected to challenge for the top spot. But with only seven games, +2 should mean a share for first and he's certainly capable of that.

Howell and McShane are clear outsiders who don't really have an elite track record to analyze. Howell, 19 and the reigning British champion, finished in last place at a Cat. 15 in September and lost his last three games at the World Jr. in October. McShane, a former prodigy himself who was semi-retired at school for a while, doesn't play that frequently but has turned in some nice performances in team play this year, including wins over Volokitin, Cheparinov, and van Wely. He plays sharply and tends to have plenty of losses with his wins, an organizer's dream.

I'll be doing some ICC Chess.FM coverage during a few rounds. There's some complementary action there with the organization so I expect we'll have player access when convenient, which always adds a lot.

The word "gangly" was invented to describe Boris Gelfand. He's got a Kurt Rambis vibe, that supporting cast feel that makes you think he's destined for a life as a character actor, never the leading man. But you sleep on him at your peril, as player after player has found out at the World Cup in Khanty-Mansiysk. The Israeli veteran, both the top seed in the event and one of the oldest players in the original field at 41, smoothly disposed of Jakovenko in the rapids, drawing the first with black and then winning two in a row. And he's already halfway to the final match, wasting no time and beating Sergey Karjakin with the black pieces in a sharp attack. Always one of the deepest calculators in the game, Gelfand's preference for slower play, and especially his recent dropping of his Najdorf for the Petroff, make this a welcome reminder of how tactically acute he is. He'll have more opportunities if his opponents keep avoiding the Petroff like Karjakin did today.

Now Gelfand needs only a draw with white tomorrow to head into the final match against either Ponomariov or Malakhov, who drew their first semifinal game. Ponomariov took out Gashimov in rapids, also with a 2.5-0.5 score. He got some help in the very sharp first game as the players traded mistakes in the time crunch. Ponomariov either lost or gave up a piece for dubious counter-chances that paid off when his Azerbaijani opponent allowed the white c-pawn to become a factor. Ponomariov's play hasn't exactly been convincing but the guy is just relentless and has no nerves at all. His semifinal opponent, Russia's Malakhov, has been playing very confidently as well. He drew their first game with black with great precision, inexorably swapping every possible chance out of the position.

There will be a rest day on the 9th after the semis and then the four-game final match begins. This will overlap with the London Chess Classic, where Kramnik, Carlsen, and Nakamura star starting on the 8th.

The 2009 World Cup just took a turn for the strong, and by definition in a KO, the boring. Every match in this round finished in favor of the higher-rated player. (Jakovenko eliminated the identically-rated Grischuk in blitz.) KOs really can't win. If there aren't any upsets they are boring and if they are too many, they are criticized for randomness a lack of rigor and star power. It's a system designed for drama only. Much of the thrill left Khanty-Mansiysk today, packed into the bags of teenage upstarts Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana. Their higher-rated opponents, Malakhov and Gashimov, dispatched them mercilessly in the rapid tiebreaks. Sergey Karjakin, already through over Laznicka, is still a teen himself for a few more weeks but it's hard to count him as any sort of outsider or underdog when he's been around center stage for over six years.

Gelfand needed blitz to eliminate Vachier-Lagrave, and it easily could have gone the other way. The young Frenchman had the better of things in the first rapid and the Biel champion was a move away from an upset win in the first blitz game. 55.c6! and the c-pawn can't be stopped after 55..Bc7 Rb5 or 55..Rf6 Bd5. White delayed the push by a critical move and the black king got close enough to defend. That was the last gasp from Vachier-Lagrave and Gelfand finally got some traction with his English in the next blitz game and smashed through on the kingside to move into the quarters. Jakovenko went through at the same time, beating Grischuk in the first blitz with black and wrapping up smoothly with white. Grischuk doesn't often play the Catalan and for some reason, certainly not his results, he likes it against Jakovenko. Maybe he's just at a loss of what to play against his occasional training partner. Despite his sharp style Grischuk has a dramatically higher winning percentage with 1.d4, 71% compared to 59% and 57% for 1.Nf3 and 1.e4, which he plays not infrequently, if less combined than 1.d4. And so Jakovenko was the winning dancer at this cynic's ball, with two non-games before the tiebreaks leaving him well rested for his quarterfinal match against Gelfand. This is nice for locals, since Jakovenko is from Nizhnevartovsk in Siberia.

Ponomariov, a KO winner nearly a decade ago, saved his best for last and knocked out Bacrot in the first decisive game between them, the final rapid game. The previous three hadn't shown much of anything but Ponomariov never sleeps and never takes anything for granted. After impressive runs, especially So's, Caruana and So ran out of gas at the same time. Malakhov won all three rapid games against So. Caruana lost the first two to Gashimov and failed again to refute Petroff in the third. His first effort to do so resulted in the backfire of a wild rook sacrifice and the loss of the first tiebreak game with white. So was being squeezed by Malakhov but went about giving up the exchange in the wrong way and the steady Russian doesn't miss at that range.

Now there are just eight contenders for the Cup and the spot in the candidates tournament/matches/whatever-Ilyumzhinov-can-dig-up-money-for. All of them were born in the Soviet Union, if Karjakin by only a year. They represent just four countries. Tomorrow's matchups: Gelfand-Jakovenko, Ponomariov-Gashimov, Svidler-Malakhov, Karjakin-Mamedyarov. Malakhov is the only player seeded below 13 at 22, having had his path conveniently cleared of super-GMs by So. Now he gets Svidler, the first time the Russians have met over the board in many years. Mamedyarov-Karjakin is the most exciting pairing on paper, I'd say. For some recent flavor, Karjakin just beat Shak twice at the World Blitz. Jakovenko did the same to Gelfand. Pono and Gashimov drew both their games.

The official site continues to put out nice interview clips. In his, the ever-sardonic Grischuk teases Bacrot and Ponomariov for the atrocious knight endgame in which Ponomariov missed win after win until eventually it ended drawn.

Only one decisive game today and it put Sergey Karjakin through to the quarterfinals. He beat Vitiugov to join Svidler and Mamedyarov, who drew with white against Shirov and Laznicka to clinch their matches. The other five all drew again to head to rapids tomorrow, though there was more fight in a few than I expected. Countrymen Grischuk and Jakovenko played the expected perfunctory draw to complement yesterday's, the two games totaling 26 moves as original as an Andrew Lloyd Webber piece. But Ponomariov broke the compact with Bacrot and went, well, Ponomariov, playing 93 moves before ending with bare kings. That's definitely the way I like to be proven wrong! Caruana-Gashimov was also a long one, when the bishops of opposite color provided an easy excuse to take a half-day and rest up for the rapids.

Speaking of rest, Laznicka must really need some to agree to a draw in 13 moves in an elimination game. Sure, beating a 2700 with black on demand isn't easy, but it's got to be better to play the Benoni or the Dutch and go down in flames with your internal organs hanging out and your wife and family cringing in horror and your friends pointing and laughing than to play 13 moves of QGA theory in 20 minutes and head to the airport. Horrible. Is he ill? Eager to get back to opens and team competitions? This isn't the first time we've seen this in the KOs and it's always a shock and a disappointment to the fans. (Not in the "these guys owe us something" way you have in elite invitationals, but in a "what a joke" way.) Then we always get some sage (or worse, the players themselves) telling us to respect the player's decision to "be realistic" or "save a few rating points" or "act like a timid field-mouse." Bah. Unless he's got swine flu or the score is wrong, it's simply pathetic. It's supposed to be "come back with your shield or on it," not "come back with your shield carved into feminine jewelry and a little case for your balls."

Speaking of players whose cojones are not in doubt, 2007 KO runner-up Alexei Shirov did not go gentle into that good Siberian night after losing to Svidler with white yesterday. Shirov knows it's possible to win back with black because he did it himself ten years ago against Ivan Sokolov in the second round of the 1999 Vegas KO, and in just 24 moves! (Yes, I actually remember this. It was the first major event we covered at the new "Club Kasparov" English website.) Russian champion Svidler is made of sterner stuff, despite his less-than-rigorous tournament preparation routine of Skyping with his family and playing online poker. Oops, giving away trade secrets again. It was surprising to see Shirov opt for a Ruy Lopez instead of a Sicilian. He plays both regularly and while the Spanish might promise a longer fight, there's little reason to cast doubt on the conventional wisdom that says the Sicilian is as close as we come to a guarantee of a sharp battle. Easy for me to say in hindsight, naturally, and Svidler made it look easy to get symmetrical pawns and opposite-colored bishops for a trivially drawn endgame. I guess if you don't have anything new cooked up in the Najdorf and don't see 2..Nc6 3.Bb5 as good for winning chances, you've still got to play something.

The charmingly eccentric coverage at the official site seems to ambush Shirov about his female companion at the event in a post-match interview, then fails to follow up on "Olga." I assumed it was Ukrainian/Spanish IM Olga Alexandrova since she's one of the few WGMs in the world Shirov hasn't dated, but last I knew she was married to Miguel Illescas, so that would be a little awkward. Regardless, Olga is a great name for a GM's companion to have, if Capablanca is any measure. (No so much with David Bronstein, whose first wife (of three) was an Olga.)

Karjakin won with black against Vitiugov, one of the unheralded young players in the 2650-2700 range Russia always has a surplus of. It's an instructive game in the stereotypical sense in that it gives you what look like clear trade-offs. White gets two bishops vs two knights in exchange for a structure that would make any pre-WWII champion throw up. White pitched a pawn to get some space for his bishops but couldn't back it up against Karjakin's accurate play. Still playing for Ukraine, according to FIDE, while living in Russia, Karjakin hasn't been solid but has shown flair and determination when needed. The cute finish to his comeback win against Navara in round 3.2 is a bon-bon highlight. Here he basically overpowered a 2700 with black and made it look like technique.

Top seed Boris Gelfand got about nothing against Vachier-Lagrave and will go to tiebreaks for the second match in a row. The Frenchman's 11..Bb6 looks odd but if he can get in ..d5 so quickly it's all good. Caruana-Gashimov was a great battle again. The best Italian representative since Gioachino Greco showed no interest in a safe draw with white and tiebreaks tomorrow against the second-seeded Azerbaijani. He got a solid plus and milked it into an endgame where he was slowly but steadily outplayed until Black reached a draw. He might have gone through had he had time to find 42.Rc7! with the blunt threat of 43.Rc6. E.g. 42..Be5 43.Rc6 Rxc6+ 44.dxc6 Bc7 and the white king walks up. Not so simple, but not so simple to defend against either. The uninspiringly passive 42..Nd7 43.Rc6 Bf8 44.Bd4 gives up a lot of turf. The other teen survivor, giant-killer So, handled Malakhov quite well again. A nice sequence of knight moves by Black at the end liquidated to a draw he doesn't have the worse end of.

There's no playing favorites in crunch-time rapids. Anything can happen, especially if you go out for a smoke. Elo favors Gashimov and Malakhov against their young opponents, though it would be a shame to lose both the wunderkinds. Grischuk and Jakovenko, meanwhile, share the exact same rating. Ponomariov and Bacrot are old sub-x rivals from a dozen years ago. Now they are both 26 and trying to get back to the top 10. Several players I'm regularly down on for having results and ratings higher than their visible chess quality and commitment did or are doing quite well in Khanty-Mansiysk (Eljanov, Mamedyarov, Bacrot, Gashimov) so I'm staying away from even heavily disclaimered predictions. And since I already mangled the mere rules several times (apparently confusing two players qualifying from the Cup with two qualifying from the Grand Prix), I'll leave well enough alone for now. Plus, I once got 1/8 correct in predicting the results of a KO final 16 and I'll never be able to top that.