Interim London Chess Classic round 6 report

News release
Monday 14th December 2009

LONDON CHESS CLASSIC: ROUND 6 INTERIM PRESS RELEASE

Please note that this is an interim summary press release – full press release to follow

Magnus Carlsen had a narrow escape in the penultimate round of the London Chess Classic today when he overreached against Michael Adams and allowed the English super-grandmaster to sacrifice a piece for a dangerous attack. It looked like Magnus would lose and endanger his chances of appearing at the top of the January 2010 FIDE Rating List but Michael Adams missed his chance and the game petered out to a draw, ensuring that Magnus stayed top of the table.

Vladimir Kramnik moved up to within one point of Carlsen and consigned Nigel Short to last position after a scrappy game. The Russian unfurled a new move, 8 Bg5, against Short’s Nimzo-Indian set-up and the English number one struggled against his well-prepared opponent. There may have been a missed opportunity to get back into the game with 25…Qxa2 for Short but thereafter Kramnik made no mistakes.

David Howell and Hikaru Nakamura drew after most of the pieces were hovered off the board by move 33. Nakamura tried a kingside counter-offensive with Black but Howell resisted stoutly, reaching a drawn opposite-coloured bishop endgame.

Luke McShane seemed to be doing very well against Ni Hua until move 29 when his Nd6 move was answered by Bc6. From that point on, his bad bishop was a major handicap and the Chinese super-GM played very well and ground him down to score his first win in London.

Note: tomorrow’s games start at 12 noon, London time, two hours earlier than usual

After today’s two decisive results, the scores with one round to go are as follows: Carlsen 12/18, Kramnik 11, McShane 7, Adams, Ni Hua, Howell 6, Nakamura 5, Short 4. In the final round Carlsen still needs to win (with Black against Nigel Short) to be sure of the overall tournament victory. A draw will not be enough – if Vladimir Kramnik wins with the black pieces against Hikaru Nakamura, he would leapfrog over the young Norwegian and snatch first place. Lots to play for tomorrow!

There were be a longer report on Round Six, with annotated games and more photos in a few hours’ time.

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

ENDS

For further information please call:
John Saunders
Chess Press Chief, London Chess Classic
Press Room: 020 7598 6598
Mobile: 07777 664111
E : chesspress@londonchessclassic.com