Friday Early Closing

News release

Friday 9th December 2011

LONDON CHESS CLASSIC 2011: ROUND 6

John Saunders reports:

Friday Early Closing

After a positive glut of decisive results during the first five rounds, there were four draws today, all in under 40 moves. One of them was fairly uneventful but there was some interesting play on offer in the other three, especially with bye player Magnus Carlsen providing insightful commentary. Hikaru Nakamura’s lead has now increased to two points, though the fact that he is not playing in the seventh round and the 3-1-0 scoring system means that three players have the chance to leapfrog over him tomorrow.

After three straight defeats, Mickey Adams could be forgiven for heading for something solid against Levon Aronian. It was a Berlin Defence and Mickey headed for a line with a lot of exchanges and a balanced pawn structure. It came down to a rook and pawns endgame and a repetition.

David Howell responded to Nigel Short’s Sicilian with 2 c3. Retired English GM Michael Stean (who paid the tournament a visit a few days ago) once suggested that 2 c3 against the Sicilian should be outlawed for being dull or cowardly or something of that sort. I hesitate to agree with him, mainly since I spent about 30 years playing it myself. It transposed into an Exchange French which also tends towards the draw. White enjoyed a slight edge for a while but Black responded positively and a draw resulted. Magnus Carlsen looked at some interesting variations from the game. Here is the final phase.

Round 6

D.Howell – N.Short

On move 17 Re2

It was interesting to see how Magnus preferred to handle this position in the commentary room. His suggestion was 17 h4 with the idea of h4-h5 to restrict the knight’s scope (it would like to go to g6 if possible). “White, if he plays accurately, might still find a way to get a slight edge here – but it’s not easy. Levon Aronian in the VIP room thought the text move 17 Re2 would be quite unpleasant for Black but Nigel Short solved his problems quite easily. 17…h6 (17…Ng6 18 h5 Ne5 19 Qg3 and Magnus looked forward to getting in h5-h6. “That should be quite an achievement for White.” Dan King suggested 19…Nc4 20 h6 g6 and now Magnus played 21 Qf4 c5 22 Rad1; 17…c5 18 h5 c4 19 Nd4 Qxb2 “This has to be bad” (Magnus) 20 Rab1 Qxa2 21 h6 or 21 Rb7: “… give up everything we have and rely on activity” (MC)) 18 h5 “maybe David needed to be more prophylactic here. (Magnus) Chris Ward now suggested 18…a5 but Magnus answered 19 Qe3, exploiting the queen’s lack of stability on b6.

17…Ng6 18 Rae1 Rxe2 19 Rxe2 Rd8 20 Nd4 c5 21 Nf5 d4 22 Qe4

As Magnus pointed out, White is threatening the same back rank mate that occurs in one of the tactical lines of McShane-Nakamura.

22…h6

In the VIP room, Magnus and Malcolm Pein looked at 22…d3 23 Qe8+ Nf8 24 Ne7+ Kh8 25 Qxf7 Ne6 26 Rd2! (26 Rxe6 d2 27 Rxb6 d1Q+ 28 Kh2 axb6 “and this must be OK for Black” (MC)) 26…c4 27 Nd5 “and with the knight coming to e3 next, White is probably better” (MC)

23 cxd4 cxd4 24 Rd2 Qa5 25 Rxd4 Rxd4 26 Nxd4 Qxa2 27 b3 Nf8 28 g3

White has a symbolic positional advantage but nothing that can be converted into a decisive one.

28…g6 29 Kg2 a5 30 Qc6 Qd2 31 Qa4 Qd3 32 Nf3 Qd5 33 b4 axb4 34 Qxb4 Ne6 35 Qd2 Qxd2 36 Nxd2 Kg7 ½–½

The current world champion, Vishy Anand, and the man he dethroned, Vlad Kramnik, started with a Queen’s Gambit and the queens soon disappeared from the board. However, what ensued was an interesting cut and thrust in which both players tried to create winning chances, or at least to stay active, fearing their opponent’s relentless technique once they had established a strangehold.

Vishy Anand played an exchange for pawn sacrifice in a position where he might have been expected to steer for a draw (as Levon Aronian commented in the VIP room) and then Vlad Kramnik opted for a piece for pawns sacrifice, which had the spectating GMs scratching their heads until they managed to figure out what he was up to. After a liquidation it came down to Vishy’s bishop and knight for Vlad’s rook but with just three pawns each on one side of the board, a draw was to be expected.

Round 6

V.Anand – V.Kramnik

On move 24 a4

The position is level but Whites strives to stay active. At the elite level, it is not enough to have a level position – you have to have an active plan because, if your position becomes static, the top players have the technique to torture you for hours until something gives.

24…Nd2 25 axb5!

A positional exchange for pawn sacrifice. Your analysis engine may fail to find it but it looks like a good practical option.

25…Nxb1 26 Rxb1 Bc5 27 Nc4 Bxf2+ 28 Kxf2

Vishy has foreseen that Black’s e5 pawn is going to be vulnerable and that the bishop on b7 has little scope.

28…axb5 29 Nxb5 Kf8

No time to defend the e5 pawn because Nd6+ was threatened.

30 Nxe5

Now it is Vlad’s turn to worry about his position becoming static and Vishy being able to consolidate his two pawns for the exchange advantage.

30…Bxe4!

Analysis engines only seem to like this after you put it on the board.

31 fxe4 Nxe4+ 32 Kg1

In the endgame, kings like to march towards the middle of the board but we haven’t quite reached an endgame yet: 32 Ke3? Nd2 33 Rc1 Nxf1+ 34 Rxf1 Re8 35 Ke4 f5+ 36 Kd5 Ra5 and the king is in danger from the two rooks.

32…Nd2 33 Rc1 Ra2 34 Na3

34 b4 Nxf1 35 Rxf1 Rdd2 and Black is assured of at least a draw.

34…Rxb2 35 Nac4 Nxc4 36 Nxc4 Rc8 37 Ra1 Rc2 38 Ne5 Rc1 39 Rxc1 Rxc1 ½–½

McShane-Nakamura was perhaps the game of the round, and mightily enhanced by the commentary of Magnus Carlsen, who did stints in both the VIP and main commentary rooms (both of which were packed out). Asked about his intentions as regards the world championship, Magnus expressed a similar opinion about it to the one in the recent interview with Janis Nisii: “The only time I think about it is when someone asks me about it.” And, to emphasise his cool attitude towards it: “right now I’m thinking more about the London Classic than the World Championship” – a comment which elicited a round of applause from the audience.

Round 6

L.McShane – H.Nakamura

Sicilian Defence

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 g3!?

Unusual, but it has been played by quite a number of elite players as a surprise weapon. In the ‘olden days’ of the 1960s and 1970s, it could be used as a way of reaching the King’s Indian Attack but that is not how it tends to be treated in the modern era.

3…d5 4 exd5 exd5 5 d4 Nf6 6 Bg2 Be7 7 0–0 0–0 8 dxc5 Bxc5 9 Bg5 Be6

9…Nc6 has been played here before and transposes after 10 Nc3 (10 Bxf6 Qxf6 11 Qxd5 is risky because of 11…Qxb2 12 Nbd2 and now even 12…Bxf2+!?) 10…Be6, etc.

10 Nc3 Nc6 11 Rb1

Moving a rook to a square behind a pawn is sometimes called a ‘mysterious rook move’. Here, though, White’s intentions are fairly clear – the b2-b4 advance.

11…d4 12 Bxf6 Qxf6 13 Ne4 Qe7 14 Nxc5 Qxc5 15 b4 Qb5

15…Nxb4? 16 Qxd4 would be bad for Black as White would get his pawn back with good play.

16 a4!?

White is trying to lure the black queen offside. 16 Nxd4 Nxd4 17 Qxd4 Rfd8 18 Qh4 also comes into the reckoning here.

16…Qxa4 17 b5 Ne7 18 Nxd4 Rfd8

By forcing White to defend his knight, Black secures a queen exchange.

19 c3 Qxd1 20 Rfxd1

White has obtained quite a useful advantage out of the opening.

20…Bd5 21 Bf1!?

There are other options but Magnus Carlsen was attracted to this. Luke McShane took a long time over it, perhaps because there are some underlying tactical sequences to analyse.

21…a5

Magnus demonstrated a deadly trick after 21…Rac8 22 c4! when Black cannot play 22…Bxc4?? because of 23 Bxc4 Rxc4 24 Nc6!! Rxd1+ 25 Rxd1 Ng6 26 Rd8+ Nf8 27 Ne7+ Kh8 28 Rxf8 mate.

22 bxa6 bxa6 23 Re1

Black seems to equalise fairly easily after this. Perhaps 23 Ra1 retains some pressure.

23…Kf8 24 c4 Nc6!

Magnus had already foreseen this and wondered whether Luke might have missed it in his calculations.

25 Nb3

25 cxd5 Nxd4 26 Bg2 Rab8 turns out to be equal.

25…Be6 26 Bg2 Rac8 27 Nc5 Bf5

After 27…Bxc4, there is a long forcing sequence to reach a drawn position: 28 Nb7 Rd4 29 Bxc6 Rxc6 30 Na5 Re6 31 Rb8+ Ke7 32 Rxe6+ Kxe6 33 Nxc4 Rxc4 34 Rb6+, etc.

28 Nb7 Bxb1 29 Nxd8 Nxd8 30 Rxb1 Rxc4 31 Ra1 ½–½

White regains the pawn and the resultant position with pawns all on one side of the board is drawn.

LOOKING FORWARD…

Three rounds remain, with most of the players now having just two games left. Hikaru Nakamura now sits out round seven and may see as many as three players (Carlsen, Kramnik and/or McShane) leapfrog over him. But when he returns to the board in round eight, he has two more games with the white pieces to look forward to, against Adams and Short, while Magnus Carlsen finishes with two Blacks. Hikaru may be slight favourite to win but anything can happen, especially under the 3-1-0 system.

FIDE Open

Leaders: The two top seeds, Abhijeet Gupta and Gawain Jones, are among the five players in the lead on 6/7 and meet in round eight (Gupta has White). The other three on 6 are Peter Wells, IM Bjorn Thorfinsson and IM Jovanka Houska, with the latter two having very good GM norm chances.

Korchnoi Simuls

In the second of his two simuls, the great Viktor Korchnoi scored 18 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss. Here is his loss:

London Simul 2011

V.Korchnoi – Arild Rimestad

Scandinavian Defence

1 e4 d5 2 exd5 Qxd5 3 Nc3 Qa5 4 d4 Bf5 5 Qf3 c6 6 d5 e6 7 dxc6 Nxc6 8 Bb5 Rc8 9 Nge2 Bb4 10 0–0 Nge7 11 a3 0–0 12 Be3 Bd6 13 Ng3 Bxc2 14 Nge4 Ne5 15 Qe2 Bxe4 16 Nxe4 Bb8 17 b4 Qc7 18 Rfc1 N7c6 19 f4 Ng6 20 Bd3? Nxf4 0-1 “What to do?”, said Korchnoi, and promptly resigned.

No Name Win Draw Loss Score / games Tie break Rating TPR

1 Nakamura 3 2 1 11 / 6 2758 2882
2 McShane 2 3 0 9 / 5 2 black wins 2671 2900
3 Kramnik 2 3 0 9 / 5 1 black win 2800 2914
4 Carlsen 2 3 0 9 / 5 0 black win 2826 2882
5 Anand 1 3 1 6 / 5 black win 2811 2725
6 Aronian 1 3 1 6 / 5 white win 2802 2737
7 Short 1 1 3 4 / 5 2698 2607
8 Howell 0 3 3 3 / 6 2633 2557
Adams 0 3 3 3 / 6 2734 2543

The scores above are ‘absolute’, i.e. they make no allowance for the three players who have played fewer games. My unofficial ‘relative’ scores (using a golf-style formula but in reverse: +2 for a win, 1 for a loss, draws don’t count):

1 Nakamura +5, 2 McShane +4, 3 Kramnik +4, 4 Carlsen +4, 5 Anand +1, 6 Aronian +1, 7 Short -1, 8-9 Adams, Howell -3.

Round 7 games start on Saturday 10 December at the usual 1400 UK time. Hikaru Nakamura has the bye and will be joining the commentary team for the day.

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