News release
Saturday 11thDecember 2010
LONDON CHESS CLASSIC 2010: ROUND 4
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. So the scores are: Vishy Anand,Luke McShane 8/12, Vladimir Kramnik 7, Magnus Carlsen 6, Hikaru Nakamura 5, Mickey Adams 5, David Howell 2, Nigel Short 1.
A WALK IN THE PARK
Sunday sees the clash of the two leaders, while Monday is the rest day. I dare say everyone is looking forward to a break from the frenetic, not least Vlad Kramnik who told us that his 7 hour 47 minute marathon against Luke McShane was his personal record in terms of time at the board. I have no inside information as to what super-GMs do during these breaks in play. One of them, Luke McShane, is a London resident so I am guessing he won’t move far from his place in Pimlico on Monday. Vlad Kramnik is reputed to be a ‘night owl’ so he will probably lie low for a day, though he might be tempted to pop down to Riverside Studios near the river at Hammersmith where he relieved Garry Kasparov of his world championship title ten years ago in order to seek inspiration for the coming fray.
My own suggestion for what to do would be a walk in the park. London has an excellent selection of open spaces to pick from, my own personal favourite being Richmond Park, partly because it is so handy for where I live but also because it is a nature reserve where you can see a wide variety of birds and other animals. It is not so convenient for central London so a better bet might be St James Park, with its eclectic mixture of impressive views andwater birds. For example, take a look at this...
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This is a view of Whitehall from St James Park, with all the government buildings strangely clustered together like animage from a fairy tale. Here’s another...
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It is probably hard to believe that this building is right in the heart of London. It is the so-called Swiss chalet in St James Park, and only a short distance from the prime minister’s residence, 10 Downing Street.
The flora and fauna in the park are also rather surprising. Take, for example, this fearsome beast...
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A pelican in St James’ Park. Hardly a native species but they were introduced to the park centuries ago and thrive there, gliding up and down the lake as if they own the place. I’d like to believe that they were imported from Sicily (Sicilian Pelican - get it?) but it turns out that the Russian ambassador presented the original pelicans to King Charles II in 1664. A few years ago a pelican horrified people in the park by gulping down a live pigeon in full view. Pigeons also have to beware of danger in the air as there is now a growing population of peregrine falcons for whom London’s best-known birds are the ‘fast food’ of choice.
Moving on from St James towards Buckingham Palace, you can see some more traditional ‘touristy’ things such as brightly-coloured soldiers marching up and down...
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and the ‘Queen Vic Statue’, built to commemorate the pub in England’s most popular soap opera ‘Eastenders’...
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... or possibly a 19th century queen of that name. Her husband was Prince Albert and, in Hyde Park (another vast open space with much to recommend it), stands Victoria’s tribute to her much-loved consort.
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In 1962 the satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’ published a photo of the Albert Memorial with the caption ‘Britain’s first man in space’.
But enough of the tourist guide. We still have to deal with the events of round four. After emerging from some initial difficulties with his Closed Sicilian opening, Nigel Short seemed to be doing quite well around move 28, when Vishy Anand 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 entertain the crowd.
Vladimir Kramnik built up a steady advantage from the opening (a Grünfeld) against David Howell and opened up the h-file for his rooks to infiltrate. It wasn’t easy to make further progress and a liquidation occurred to what looked like a less dangerous position. However, Vlad established his rook on the seventh rank and his bishop on g4 and Black suddenly had difficulty protecting his king from their unwanted attentions. David tried a desperate b5 push and after a further inaccuracy found he couldn’t prevent the advance of Vlad’s d- pawn. Game over. Vlad is now a point behind leaders Vishy and Luke.
Luke McShane opened with the quiet 1 g3 and Mickey Adams gradually assumed the initiative. He established his queen and rook on the seventh rank but Luke had a tactical trick to swap the queens and relieve the pressure. Further exchanges were made and the game eventually came down to an opposite-coloured bishop - hence drawn.
Hikaru Nakamura answered Magnus Carlsen’s English Opening with a sort of Dutch Defence, but the Norwegian emerged from the opening with a steady edge. One interesting juncture was when Magnus exchanged a bishop for a knight (23 Bd4 and 24 Bxb6). It looked as though Hikaru might be OK with his two bishops but Magnus’s pressure told in time trouble when Hikaru didn’t have time to work out the consequences of 33...Rd8!? which he thought might have been a better try. He missed the desperado sacrifice 38 Rxg6+ after which he was left a pawn down in an endgame. Magnus’s technique was immaculate and he soon brought the game to an end.
London Chess Classic 2nd London (4), 11.12.2010
M.Carlsen - H.Nakamura
English Opening
1 c4
Magnus is now a confirmed 'anglophile' when it comes to his choice of opening for White...
1...f5
... while Hikaru favours the Netherlands with Black. Of course it is not a true Dutch as White does not play d4 at any stage.
2 g3 Nf6 3 Bg2 d6 4 Nc3 g6 5 e3 Bg7 6 Nge2 0–0 7 0–0 e5 8 b3 Nbd7 9 d3 c6 10 Ba3 Qc7 11 Qd2 Re8 12 Rae1 Nc5 13 h3 e4 14 dxe4
14 d4 isn't really an option because of 14...Nd3 and the knight makes a nuisance of itself.
14...Nfxe4 15 Qc2 Nxc3 16 Nxc3 Be6 17 Rd1 Rad8 18 Bb2 Bf7 19 Rd2 a5 20 Rfd1 Be5 21 Ne2
So far, a lot of cautious jockeying for position has ensued, but now Hikaru makes a committal move. 21...a4 22 b4 Nd7 23 Bd4
Note the immediate capture of the a-pawn with 23 Qxa4 would be a very bad idea because of 23...Nb6! 24 Qb3 Nxc4 and White is actually losing material. However, the a-pawn remains a liability in the long term as it is awkward to defend.
23...Nb6
23...Bxd4 is not a good idea as Black would be giving up a key defender of the d6 pawn.
24 Bxb6! Qxb6 25 Rb1 Qc7 26 Nd4 Rc8 27 Rc1 Qe7 28 Rd3
The a-pawn is still indirectly defended: 28 Qxa4? Bxg3! is good for Black.
28...c5 29 bxc5 Rxc5 30 Qxa4 Rec8 31 Rb1 Rxc4 32 Qd1!
White was quite brave to surrender bishop for knight on move 24 but his positional plan appears to be to target Black's loose pawns on b7 and d6.
32...b6
After this White takes a firm grip of the position. Perhaps 32...R4c5!? was worth a try, e.g. 33 Rxb7 R8c7 34 Rxc7 Qxc7 35 Qd2 Rc1+ 36 Kh2 Bxd4 37 Rxd4 Rc2
33 Nb5 R4c5
Hikaru was short of time. He looked at 33...Rd8 34 f4 Bf6 35 Nxd6 Rc3 36 Rxb6 Qc7 37 Rxc3 Qxc3 38 Qe2 Bd4!? but didn't have time to check all the implications.
34 Nxd6 Bxd6 35 Rxd6 Bxa2 36 Ra1 Rc1 37 Rxc1 Rxc1 38 Rxg6+
A desperado move to secure the extra pawn.
38...hxg6 39 Qxc1 Qd6 40 h4 Bf7 41 h5 Kh7
41...gxh5 42 Qc8+ Kg7 43 Qxf5 is worse.
42 hxg6+ Kxg6 43 Qc2 b5 44 g4 Qe5
44...Be6? 45 gxf5+ Bxf5 46 e4! wins a piece; but 44...b4!? seems worth a try since it is quite hard for White to restrain the b-pawn and Black's f-pawn is lost anyway.
45 gxf5+ Kg7
45...Kf6 46 Qc6+! Kxf5? 47 Bh3+ Kg5 48 f4+ wins the queen.
46 Qe4 Qd6
The exchange of queens leads to a win for White as we shall see shortly.
47 Qh4 Bc4 48 Bf3 Qf6 49 Qxf6+ Kxf6 50 Be4 Ba2
50...b4 51 f4 b3 52 Kf2 b2 53 Bb1 wins.
51 f4 b4 52 Kf2 b3 53 Bd5 Kxf5 54 Kf3 Kf6 55 e4 Kg6 56 Ke3
It's now a straightforward technical win though those of us less skilled at the game could easily mess it up. For example, 56 Kg4? Bb1! is a draw.
56...Kh5 57 Kd4 Kg4 58 f5 Kg5 59 Ke5 1–0
Scores after round 4: Vishy Anand,Luke McShane 8/12, Vladimir Kramnik 7, Magnus Carlsen 6, Hikaru Nakamura 5, Mickey Adams 5, David Howell 2, Nigel Short 1. (Note, games are scored 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss)
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ENDS
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