Mig 
Greengard's ChessNinja.com

London Classic Final Round

| Permalink | 61 comments

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.

61 Comments

Somehow 7 rounds leaves one wishing this was DRR.

There are more chess going on in London - in Fide-Rated Open Jon Ludvig Hammer has 7.5 of 8 points, with a rating performance of 2831!

Go Norway!

"...borderline desperate opponents with chips on their shoulders"

Surely you don't mean Naka and Short???

And he's so relaxed as well. Another big star in the making perhaps. The name does strike a frisson of fear into opponents- you play against Hammer and expect to receive a hammering?

Short-Carlsen looks drawn while Kramnik has the edge over naka. I am rooting for kramnik to win the tournament.

Anything could happen in Nakamura-Kramnik. They're both going to be in time trouble and I can't see either of them following the Rybka lines for long (too many weird moves). Nakamura's long think seemed to do him good, though maybe he missed something playing 22. Bd4. It's more the sort of position you'd think Nakamura would want, but Kramnik should have winning (and losing) chances, so given the tournament situation it's ok for him too.

I feel for Short (I think he was slightly tricked by Carlsen, who knew it would be very hard for Short to take an early draw with white when he probably could). Though maybe he can put up a virtuoso defence - at least time's not an issue there.

Naka winning vs. Kramnik, Short vs. Carlsen very sharp.

Tricked? In what way? By not playing into a drawing line? But Short chose the line up to that point...where's the trick? Seems to me his opening prep was not up to much.

Kramnik's 20th move seems to have been a mistake (..Qxf2 instead of ..Bh5) and now it is equal but very dynamic.

Short-Carlsen seems dead even. Not sure if I am watching the same games as Laj.

Chessok gives Carlsen's 16...Bh6 as the novelty, and then after Qxd4 the f6 pawn's offered - with black able to force a perpetual (best, according to Rybka). But maybe Short didn't see that, or Carlsen/Kasparov had prepared something else!? I suppose there was nothing too much wrong with Short playing on but he was immediately worse at that point, and the position very quickly became too simplified for him to have any real attacking chances of his own.

It's only a mistake at Chessbomb - Chessok, with deeper analysis, agrees with Kramnik. The problem is white can play Rdg1+, Rg3 and f4 and the white queen and bishop are trapped.

Naka and Short could get into serious time trouble.

If Howell and Adams win it'll make the final table a fairer reflection of how well everyone's played - cancelling out the "Bilbao" effect.

Time trouble make the advantage in those games decisive incredibly quickly! Congratulations to Carlsen on winning the tournament - and to Kramnik for not letting a loss to the other favourite make him rethink his more aggressive strategy. And to the organisers for putting on such a good event - but please can we have the full videos from the press conferences soon :)

Thanks, mishanp, for the clarification.

Kramnik disappoints yet again by not pushing harder when a win was needed. Where as Carlsen keeps pushing the old man even after he has won the tournament.

Kapalik

Surely Hua will think a bit more and resign... No defense to the plan Ke5-d4-c3.

Adams-McShane is insane..

But how exactly was Kramnik supposed to push harder!?? Maybe he could have pushed the g pawn at the end, but Rybka thinks it's drawn or better for white, and there's always a chance of blundering something. Otherwise he went in for a risky position where both players ran serious risks of going wrong. Nakamura might not quite have the chess education to challenge consistently at the top level, but give him a complex position to calculate and he's not someone to take lightly.

Adams won a beautiful game.

Hey Mig,
Any words on Gelfand-Pono?

Queens endings are horrible .


I enjoyed watching Kramnik play lately. He has changed his style to more aggressive/dynamic play which is exciting, plus when needed he can do solid grinding endgame play which is also a pleasure to watch/learn.
He seems to be determined not to let the young gun(s) taking over quite yet.

hm ... looks like Short could win against Carlsen in the Q ending ... amazing !!


oh well ... Short-Carlsen is a draw.
Congratulations to Carlsen !!

whitout queens left it looks like a technical draw

I would add to the list of players with phenomenal preparation Topalov. Carlsen, despite what everybody expected from working with Kasparov, still seems to be shooting from the hip in the opening (relative to his colleagues, of course). If you look at his recent games he hasn't really challenged in the deep main lines as a rule, preferring to take play into less charted areas (such as his recent Nh4 in the Slav). Perhaps he feels that the only area where his opponents are equal to him is the opening, and he can better outplay them in unfamiliar positions? Hard to say. I'm loving the new/old (don't forget how he cut down everyone in the mid 90s) sharp Kramnik. How long until we start seeing Rauzer's and Sveshnikov's from him again?

With the World Cup and the London classics now behind us, does anyone know what is the next big chess event to look forward to...? Seems like there will be a long break...

Now, Magnus deserves the Chess Oscar of 2009.

Short and Nakamura combined for 0 wins.

um... corus?

We can look forward to Corus Chess Event in January 2010 : http://www.coruschess.com/participants.php?year=2010&group=1

Corus 2010 starts Jan 15th. Hope you can survive a month

Request: I am looking for a popular chess forum to discuss international tournaments such as this one! Does anyone have any recommendations?

When the average player is Dominguez or Shirov, that's a strong field.

Participants grandmaster group A
Name Country Rating

GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2801 Photo

GM Viswanathan Anand IND 2788 Photo

GM Vladimir Kramnik RUS 2772 Photo

GM Peter Leko HUN 2752 Photo

GM Vassily Ivanchuk UKR 2739 Photo

GM Sergey Karjakin RUS 2723 Photo

GM Leinier Dominguez CUB 2719 Photo

GM Alexei Shirov SPA 2719 Photo

GM Hikaru Nakamura USA 2715 Photo

GM Nigel Short ENG 2707 Photo

GM Sergey Tiviakov NED 2664 Photo

GM Fabiano Caruana ITA 2662 Photo

GM Loek van Wely NED 2652 Photo

GM Jan Smeets NED 2650 Photo

Not a good tournament for Nakamura after all the hype over his blitz success he didnt seem to have anything in the openings a bit disappointing

so that should be a 13 round super tournament! quite a rarity these days...

Linares actually has 14 rounds (8 players double round robin), but personally I am glad that Corus hasn't succumbed to the hype of "highest possible category" and rather goes for a larger and more diverse field.

@TM: If one month is too long of a break ... there are certainly numerous open tournaments around Christmas and New Year's Eve - but maybe sub-2700 GMs aren't interesting enough. Next try: The Superfinal of the Russian championship is from 20-29 December, featuring Svidler, Jakovenko, Alekseev, Grischuk, Tomashevsky, Riazantsev, Khismatullin, Vitiugov, Timofeev, and Sjugirov.

Corus A: Very interesting list of participants - and finally Fabiano Caruana enters this league. Will be interesting to see him face karjakin and Carlsen. I expect them to meet at several occasions in the years to come.

Yay, Magnus!

Naka will only continue to improve and he will show great results in the future.

And while I am at it ... : If roughly two weeks between the Russian Superfinal and Corus is too long of a break, there is the World Team Chess Championship in Bursa, Turkey from 3-14 January ( http://wtcc2009.tsf.org.tr/ ) - 10 teams (4 players + 2 reserves) round robin with Russia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Israel, Egypt, USA, Armenia, Turkey, China and Greece.

Russia has Morozevich, Karjakin (first time in a team event?), Grischuk, Malakhov [who is Malakhov? ,:)], Tomashevsky and Vitiugov

USA have Nakamura, Onischuk, Shulman, Akobian, Hess and Robson (where is Kamsky?). Nakamura will face at least two 2700+ players (Russia and Azerbaijan have one even on board 3) - and the US participants in Corus ABC won't suffer from jetlag, but maybe from climate change?

"Naka will only continue to improve and he will show great results in the future."

I think so too. Nakamura is great when he is at his best. And today, against Kramnik, he had some of his finest moments. He really rose to the occasion: Fearless and unwavering.

Nakamura’s entry into top-level tournaments has not been an unbridled success. Certainly in London he did not expect to compete for the jumbo spot

Give him time, and he may well rise high.

How can Kramnik disappoint? Nonsensical conclusion. Kramnik is second place, only behind the combined efforts of Carlsen and Kasparov. Plus he won 3 perfectly played games.

Re: Nonsensical conclusion
-----------------------

"Kramnik is second place, only behind the combined efforts of Carlsen and Kasparov..."

Many elite players, especially Russians, have a whole team around themselves. Not so with Carlsen! Kasparov’s influence should be seen for what it is: He has instilled a new-found discipline in Carlsen, with regards to over-the-board play as well as preparations.

It is, however, Carlsen playing the games. He is not sitting on Kasparov’s lap, nor is the former World Champion sitting beside him. He is playing the games himself!

Others imply (or say directly) that Carlsen has access to a treasure chest of "secret weapons". That is folly!

Thus, to suggest that Kramnik came in second place "behind the combined efforts of Carlsen and Kasparov" (as though he had to battle against both) is a nonsensical conclusion.

Maybe Kramnik disappointed today: winning with black against a 2700+ player should be standard procedure, a draw is certainly disappointing (note irony!). And it was a missed opportunity to overtake Anand on the live (and official Jan2010) rating list ... .

But in any case I agree with Dante, I can add that his TPR was 2787, not that bad at the end of day and tournament? At the very least, "yet again" in your post needs clarification ... .

Yes, why is that almost every time Kramnik draws something, he "disappoints".
Taking second place in London takes more relevance just after winning one of the strongest tournaments of all time: Tal Memorial. If logic prevails Kramnik should win the Chess Oscar this year, not Carlsen.

Hikaru Nakamura had an ok debut at this level. He swam with sharks and acquitted himself rather well and seemed to be affable away from the games. I think he'll be awesome when his natural strengths are boosted by resources- sponsorship, seconds etc.
As for Kramnik, maybe now the naysayers can see what Kasparov saw many years ago.The man is just extremely strong when he's motivated enough.
And McShane didn't do that badly for a full-time banker and amateur GM.

"...to suggest that Kramnik came in second place 'behind the combined efforts of Carlsen and Kasparov' (as though he had to battle against both) is a nonsensical conclusion"

Yes, Kasparov is Magnus Carlsen's coach, but what Magnus does at the board is his own responsibility, and he deserves full credit for his success (or failure).

Not sure McShane is a full-time banker any more.

Great tournament to watch; Short-Carlsen was a fantastically tough battle.

Nigel said after the game he had the position after move 23 on the board before his game and didn't take it seriously; he just thought he couldn't possibly be worse in such a position. Pause, and then with Nigel's usual comic timing. 'I may have to re-evaluate that assessment'. The crowd wanted to see Carlsen play ....g5 instead of ...fxg4; hxg4 h5. He said after the game he never considered this move.

The players are all very tired though. According to Short Carlsen reached out to play ...Qxc5?? in the ending allowing mate in three.

I was wondering why on move 54 he did not play q takes f6 as tablebases gave that as a win for him and instead played qd1? He might have missed c5 and the childish mate lol..congrats magnus world blitz champion, world rated #1, chess oscar winner non-parralel.

According to some heavy Rybka analyzes, 54. .. Qxf6 does NOT win the game for Carlsen.

I guess Carlsen realized it - he spend a lot of time on this move - and played on as he did, hoping that Short would play inacurate. (Which he didn't. Actually it was Carlsen who had to sweat for the draw in the very end).

Kudos to the players who turned this drawish midlegame into a thrilling endgame!

Assuming perfect play by Black, how does White avoid a loss after 54..a4+ 55.Kb4 Qxf6 ?

Is a winless -1 score an "OK debut" for Nakamura? Maybe so, e.g. Carlsen did worse in his first supertournaments ... . Still Naka's result must be a bit deceiving to him and/or his fans - at least it leaves room for improvement and doesn't suggest he will be a WCh candidate very soon (he is out of the current cycle anyway, when will the next one be?). In London, he can be happy and proud about his games against Carlsen and Kramnik, what about the five other games?

Briefly on Nakamura-Kramnik (I didn't look at the game in much detail yet): Both players had opportunities to go wrong in a complex position. They didn't, and a draw was a logical result!?

And as the Chess Oscar was mentioned here: I think there can be no doubt that the top 3 will or should be Aronian, Carlsen and Kramnik - in alphabetic order, the actual order may be debatable. Also interesting and debatable: Who will be the runners-up (#4-10)? Should Nakamura be one of them? Objectively I don't think so: Outside of the USA, he won one event (San Sebastian), something he shares with - list may be incomplete - Karjakin, Grischuk, Shirov and Vachier-Lagrave, but their events were stronger ones.

Kramnik and Carlsen -- The two most impressive players of 2009
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Yes, why is that almost every time Kramnik draws something, he "disappoints". Taking second place in London takes more relevance just after winning one of the strongest tournaments of all time: Tal Memorial. If logic prevails Kramnik should win the Chess Oscar this year, not Carlsen."

Now I do agree! I take issue with anyone who believes Kramnik’s performance in London was a disappointment.

2009 clearly belongs to two players: Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik. On Carlsen’s improvement and stellar performance we’ve already spoken aplenty.

Just as impressive, IMHO, is the way Kramnik has reinvented himself as a far more dynamic and aggressive player. At the age of 34 such a feat is even more impressive, bearing testimony to an exceptional will and self-discipline.

May 2011 be a fruitful new year for both players!

"Assuming perfect play by Black, how does White avoid a loss after 54..a4+ 55.Kb4 Qxf6 ?"

I have fired up my Rybka. It needs a lot of time to evaluate end games like this. I'll tell you the outcome in the evening!

"I have fired up my Rybka. It needs a lot of time to evaluate end games like this. I'll tell you the outcome in the evening!!"

Whoa! Having to give a computer five or six times as much time on the clock as a human player -- what’s the world come to? ;)

"And as the Chess Oscar was mentioned here: I think there can be no doubt that the top 3 will or should be Aronian, Carlsen and Kramnik - in alphabetic order, the actual order may be debatable"

Agreed, but I think Carlsen will win the vote clearly. What stands out most in 2009 is probably Carlsen's 3000+ TPR in a category 21 Nanjing, combined with his crossing 2800 and reaching #1 at such a young age. He also has top results against players like Anand and Topalov during the year.

Kramnik had an excellent year, but played little. He won 9 games (not all against top opposition, two against Naiditsch, one against McShane, Short and Ni Hua). A "normal" year winning Dortmund plus Tal Memorial could have been enough, but my guess is that it won't this year because of Carlsen, and that Kramnik will finish second.

Aronian won Nalchik and the Grand Slam final, but the latter was a four player event where he was the big favourite (and invited without qualifying). To me it would be very surprising if he ends up ahead of Carlsen in the vote but third place seems fair.

If we include rapid events (why not, as others - at least on Chessvibes - also mentioned Carlsen's victory at the blitz WCh?):
- Kramnik did well at Amber, Azerbaijan vs. World and Zurich Jubilee
- Aronian won Amber and Mainz

Maybe the solution is to have Oscars in different age categories:
70 Korchnoi (not only for lack of other candidates ...)

If we include rapid events (why not, as others - at least on Chessvibes - also mentioned carlsen's win in the blitz WCh?):
- Kramnik did well at Amber, Azerbaijan vs. World and Zurich Jubilee
- Aronian won Amber and Mainz

Maybe a solution would be to have Oscars in different age categories:
under 20 Carlsen (questions asked only for second place: Karjakin, Vachier-Lagrave or So?)
20-30 Aronian
30-40 Kramnik
40-50 Gelfand
over 70 Korchnoi (not only for lack of other candidates)

"Assuming perfect play by Black, how does White avoid a loss after 54..a4+ 55.Kb4 Qxf6?"

Rybka on depth=28 still cannot find any win:
54..a4+
55. Kb4 Qxf6
56. c5 Qg5
57. Kxa3 Qc3
58. Ka2 Qxc5
59. Qg4+ Kf8
60. Qxh4

Conclusion: As far as I can see, there where NO WIN in this endgame. After pawn exchange, Black has an extra pawn, but the white king is close enough to stop black from queening.

"Rybka on depth=28 still cannot find any win:
54..a4+
55. Kb4 Qxf6
56. c5 Qg5
57. Kxa3 Qc3
58. Ka2 Qxc5
59. Qg4+ Kf8
60. Qxh4"

You probably mean 56..a3 above? The position at the end of that line is a tablebase win. 61..Kg7, 61..Qf5 and 61..Qc2+ wins. Don't ask me why exactly those moves win and everything else draws, but such is the case.

argh... 60..Kg7, 60..Qf5, 60..Qc2+

Indeed, judging from the video aired on ChessVibes and a passing comment on the Carlsen blog it looked like McShane was on the way back to being a full-time chess player.
Since public figures have less right to their privacy compared to most of us, I presume we will soon find out whether this is his own decision or if Goldman Sachs has been forced to cut jobs during a time of economic crisis and recession...

Twitter Updates

    Follow me on Twitter

     

    Archives

    About this Entry

    This page contains a single entry by Mig published on December 14, 2009 10:58 PM.

    London Classic: Kramnik Comeback; Carlsen Human (Maybe) was the previous entry in this blog.

    Carlsen Wins London Classic is the next entry in this blog.

    Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.