THE 4th LONDON CHESS CLASSIC 2012 - carlsplanet.co.uk · 1 THE 4th LONDON CHESS CLASSIC 2012 My three days at the festival of chess by Carl Portman I visited the London Chess Classic

1

THE 4th

LONDON CHESS CLASSIC 2012 My three days at the festival of chess by Carl Portman

I visited the London Chess Classic for a few days at the beginning of the tournament and I want to give a flavour of the event in the hope that you may visit yourself next time. It’s one of the strongest tournaments in the world and certainly the strongest ever held in Britain. All this and it is on our patch – that in itself should be good enough reason to support it but there’s another one which you will read about presently. There on display and within handshaking distance are most of England’s finest in Mickey Adams, Luke McShane and Gawain Jones. The current World Champion Vishwanathan Anand, a former World

Champion in Vladimir Kramnik, the strongest American player Hikaru Nakamura (known as h-bomb for his aggressive style) the world number two Levon Aronian and of course the current world number one Magnus Carlsen. In addition to this for the first time London welcomed Judit Polgar, easily the strongest female player of all time. Even the commentary box is stuffed with excellent Grandmasters Nigel Short, Stuart Conquest, Daniel King Chris Ward, David Howell, Stephen Gordon and IM Lawrence Trent. In addition one player per day from the Classic sits out and gives some time for commentary which is always very illuminating. All of this for just a few quid which wouldn’t buy you and yours a decent meal. I call that superb value for money. More than this it is actually sponsored by the charity Chess in Schools and Communities http://www.chessinschools.co.uk/ (of which I am a registered coach) and it embraces not only the classic but many other tournaments simultaneously with the likes of the FIDE Open, Weekenders and many junior and school competitions. I won’t say much more about the themes, you can easily check all this out at the London Chess Classic website which I will give later in this report and the pages are chock full of information. The first round had seen four wins on all four boards – pretty much unheard of except this is a tournament with a points system like football, three for a win and one for a draw so whilst players may get punished for drawing a game in which they battled long and hard in a complicated ending the reward for playing for a win in what might be a ‘technically drawn’ position are three valuable points and this seems to affect the way people play. This points system is often referred to as the Bilbao System. Love it or loathe it (I love it) one simply cannot argue that it has produced some wonderfully entertaining fighting chess. Anyway I am not going to shed any tears for the players if they complain about it; they know what they are getting into when they sign up for the tournament. I arrived in London for the second day on 2nd December on the Banbury-Marylebone train and stayed over at the Premier Inn at Earl’s Court. In my view this is better than the Holiday Inn (for anyone wishing to visit the Classic next year) as the rooms are more comfortable with bigger beds and the breakfast/dinner arrangements are far better in my view with a wider range of food. Also the staff were extremely friendly and helpful. I was grateful for a press pass from the organisers as I write for both the Ministry of Defence in-house Magazine DEFENCE FOCUS and the Combined Services Chess Association Magazine ‘OPEN FILE’ of which I am the editor. I was therefore able to take some photographs of the protagonists onstage. The start of the second round raised a smile. Malcolm Pein the Director and organiser of the event always gives the honour of making a ‘symbolic’ opening move for each player to a school child. They come up on stage, make a move and if the player likes it they will keep it, if they don’t they will be allowed to take it back and play their own choice. The youngster playing Magnus Carlsen’s first move ventured 1.e4

2

and Magnus smiled and gave him the thumbs up. The next one at Hikaru Nakamura’s board played 1.f4 to general amusement of everyone, not least the H-bomb himself. This was the draw for the second round. Judit Polgar – Gawain Jones Hikaru Nakamura – Vladimir Kramnik Magnus Carlsen – Levan Aronian Vishy Anand – Luke McShane There was something special about this round. If Carlsen were able to win he would pass Gary Kasparov’s all time rating record of 2581. Well you will already know what happened! Carlsen scored a superb victory over the second seed Levon Aronian. This elevated the Norwegian to a stratospheric 2856 in the live rating, five more than Garry Kasparov's all-time record. An added bonus for me anyway was to shake him by the hand on this historic day (see photo) and congratulate him on a fine achievement. It is not every day that one can witness such an event but this is exactly why attending the tournament is such fun. I can tell you further that after almost six hours play there were still no unfinished games – how amazing is that? Here is Carlsen’s seminal game Carlsen,Magnus - Aronian,Levon [C77] 4th London Chess Classic London ENG 02.12.2012 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5 7.Nc3 0–0 8.Nd5 Nxd5 9.Bxd5 Rb8 10.0–0 Ne7 11.Nxe5 Nxd5 12.exd5 Re8 13.d4 Bf8 14.b3 Bb7 15.c4 d6 16.Nf3 Qf6 17.Be3 Bc8 18.Qd2 Qg6 19.Kh1 h6 20.Rac1 Be7 21.Ng1 Bg5 22.Bxg5 Qxg5 23.Rfd1 bxc4 24.bxc4 Qxd2 25.Rxd2 a5 26.h3 Rb4 27.Nf3 Bf5 28.c5 Kf8 29.Nh2 Reb8 30.Ng4 Rb1 31.Rxb1 Rxb1+ 32.Kh2 a4 33.Ne3 Bg6 34.Kg3 Rb4 35.Kf3 Ke7 36.Ke2 Kd7 37.f3 Rb5 38.Nd1 Rb4 39.c6+ Kc8 40.Nc3 f6 41.Ke3 Rc4 42.Ne2 a3 43.h4 Rb4 44.g4 Rb1 45.h5 Bh7 46.f4 f5 47.g5 Rh1 48.Ng3 Rh3 49.Kf3 hxg5 50.fxg5

It would appear that black should be playing something like 50...Kd8 here but in the press room Harry Schüssler (more later) suggested that he had to play the ‘ugly’ move 50...g6 which he did. The machine did not like this... g6 51.Re2 Kd8 52.hxg6 Bxg6 53.Re6 Bf7 54.g6 Bg8 [54...Bxe6 55.dxe6 Rh6 56.g7 Rg6 57.Nxf5

Ke8 58.Kf4 Kd8 59.d5 Ke8 60.Nxd6+ cxd6 61.c7] 55.g7 f4 56.Kxf4 Rh2 57.Nf5 Rxa2 58.Rf6 Re2 59.Rf8+ [59...Re8 60.Nxd6! cxd6 61.c7+] 1–0

3

The final position – enough to help take Carlsen into the history books.

On another note I received a text from my chess club captain saying that the game arranged for the following evening 3rd December was off because five of the opposition team were coming down to the London Classic. The Classic is all about building chess in the community but I was going to have a laugh with Malcolm Pein and tell him that the Classic was responsible for the temporary paralysis of club chess out there in the shires because matches were getting postponed or forfeited with players making their way to the Olympia Conference Centre! I am not

sure what his reaction might have been but he will have been pleased at the success of the tournament and the appeal to players across the UK. Here were the results of the round: Polgar ½–½ Jones (Great resourcefulness from the Englishman) Nakamura 0–1 Kramnik (A pawn up Kramnik indefatigably grinds to a win) Carlsen 1–0 Aronian (Super finish with an incentive to break Kasparov’s record) Vishy Anand ½–½ Luke McShane (Great chess from Luke – Vishy does well to hold on) I met a very amiable Swedish Grandmaster in the press room called Harry Schüssler. He, myself and Matt Lunn (a strong player working with the London Chess Organisers and master of technical issues with tweeting and uploading photographs!) had great fun predicting moves. Naturally Harry saw more than we did but Matt and I had our share of correct guesses. It was a long day and I got back to my room very late and tired but happy that I had witnessed fighting chess and met a few old friends too from the FIDE open tournament and some merely attending the main event. Monday 3rd December There was another interesting day in prospect and the draw was as follows: Aronian – Anand Kramnik – Carlsen Jones – Nakamura Adams – Polgar

4

I think it is a lovely gesture when the youngsters are called up on stage to make the first moves for players. The smiles on their faces are absolutely priceless. Indeed on one of the days later on one of the Juniors I am coaching in Oxfordshire was asked up on stage to make the opening move for none other than Magnus Carlsen against Vishy Anand. He is only nine years old (Seb, not Vishy) and that was a moment to cherish forever and a day. Could the games go on for as long as the day before? I predicted before the start that Jones-Nakamura would be the star game. Of course Kramnik’s battle with Carlsen may not be far behind. In essence here’s what happened today: Magnus Carlsen got himself into trouble early on in his game against Vladimir Kramnik. It took all of his brilliant technique to save the game, and stay on course for the record. Michael Adams was the local hero after beating Judit Polgar, and Nakamura was the last to finish as he tried his utmost to beat Jones but Jones once again played very resourcefully. Here’s the results: Aronian ½–½ Anand Kramnik ½–½ Carlsen Jones ½–½ Nakamura Adams 1–0 Polgar Here’s the one game with a positive result today: Adams,Michael - Polgar,Judit [B40] 4th London Chess Classic London 03.12.2012 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.Qe2 d5 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.0–0 Be7 8.Rd1 0–0 9.d4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nxd4 11.Rxd4 Bf6 12.Rd1 Qc7 13.c4 Nb4 14.Nc3 a6 15.Bf4 e5 16.Be3 Be6 17.Nd5 Nxd5 I was sitting in the auditorium at this point watching the game. I thought that he would take with the pawn (which he did) and I sort of new that in true Michael Adams fashion he was going to win this game. 18.cxd5 Bf5 19.d6 Qd7 20.Bb6 Rac8 21.Bc7 Bg4 22.Bf3 h5 23.Rac1 Rfe8 24.Bxg4 hxg4 25.Qe4 Bg5 It's just better for white here. 26.Rc5 Bd8 27.Qxb7 Re6 [27...Rxc7 28.Rxc7 Bxc7 29.Qxc7 Rd8 30.Qa5 f6 31.Qxa6] 28.Rdd5 Look at all that activity on the queen's side. There's no protection for white's king but he doesn't require it. 28...Rf6? Fritz gives 28...e4 as the best move and now has Judit as over a piece down. 29.Qxa6 Qf5 30.Qe2 Qb1+ 31.Rd1 Qxa2 32.Rxe5

Bxc7? 32. Re6 is suggested by the machine. Now it gives black as over 11 points down. 33.Re8+ Rxe8 34.Qxe8+ Kh7 35.dxc7 Qa7 36.Qe4+ and Judit resigns. When I went to the commentary room only Mickey was there. It could be that she had been in and left but

5

understandably Polgar won't be happy with her start in London.[36.Qe4+ g6 37.c8Q Qxf2+ 38.Kh1 Rf5 39.Qcc2] 1–0

As I was leaving the venue I shared the lift with Levon Aronian and his lovely Australian girlfriend Arianne Caoili. She kindly obliged and took a photograph (see below) down in the foyer before we left.

Quote of the day must go to arbiter Albert Vasse the Chief Arbiter. I complimented him on his cream (off white) blazer and black trousers. He said something about it would be nice to give four defaults and go sightseeing around London in such attire. I replied that life is never that easy. ‘Life is easy’ he replied ‘All you have to do is breathe’. I love that quote but official event photographer Ray Morris-Hill gave me an even better one attributed to James Bond, aka Daniel Craig. He said that life was easy; all you had to do was breathe in, breathe out...and repeat. I only had one more day to go and tomorrow the round starts at 16:00hrs so it will be a later day. The draw for the fourth round is as follows:

Nakamura – Adams Carlsen – Jones Anand – Kramnik McShane – Aronian Here are my predictions before the games so let’s see if I am any kind of chess pundit. They will all be draws except for Carlsen who will beat Gawain after a tough game. I would love to be wrong about this as I have a new found respect for Jones game – not that I didn’t before but he is really interesting on and off the chess board. It is Judit’s turn to sit out and assist with commentary – if she feels in the mood of course. And the results were: Nakamura ½–½ Adams Carlsen 1–0 Jones Anand ½–½ Kramnik McShane 0–1 Aronian Well, I was close but no cigar. I cannot leave without picking a game and although you will be able to find both of the wins in the Databases I want to show the final position from the Anand-Kramnik game because quite frankly it is amazing. Have a look at this position. Does anything strike you?

Nigel Short gave two Simultaneous Exhibitions, both of 30 boards each

and astonishingly his score in both simuls was +29 =1 with no losses… now

that’s magic!

6

That’s right chess fans, there are still 16 pawns on the board and all this after 40 moves – black has just played 40...Bd6. Remarkable. Then there was this from the game Carlsen – Jones. It was Jones to play his 18th move. Study the position, what did he play?

Did you find it? Yes Gawain played a queen sac against the world’s number one (I like your style Gawain) and played 18..Qxa3. Gawain said “I thought I might as well sacrifice my queen against the world’s number one if I am going to do it against anyone”. Carlsen called this “A serious move. Again, you’ll find the game online. Regrettably, my time in London had ended as quickly as it had begun. Three days went too quickly but I had immense fun and I really do recommend that other people come and visit for themselves. As I said it is run by the Charity Chess in Schools and Communities and if chess players ‘out there’ gave just a small amount of money as a donation it could potentially fund next year’s event. Heaven forbid that this would be the last London Chess Classic. Go to their homepage here http://www.londonchessclassic.com/index.htm and you will see on the right hand side that there are many ways to give. Please do consider it. The winner of the tournament was Magnus Carlsen and his ‘Live rating’ currently 2861.4 is an all time record and has surpassed Garry Kasparov's record of 2851 which stood for 13 years.

7

As if to emphasise the point that chess has no barriers this gentlemen (whose name I unfortunately do not know) is blind but followed the games in the commentary room using his specially designed chess set where he could ‘feel’ his way through the moves. This must be difficult enough to do but when four games are being commented upon and the room is a little noisy it must take huge concentration. I can only hope that he derived great enjoyment from the tournament. He certainly seemed to…

I want to thank Malcolm Pein, Tao Bhokanandh, Ray Morris-Hill and Matt Lunn in particular for making my enjoyment of the event better than I could have hoped for but my acknowledgement and appreciation extends further to the army of volunteers and supporters of all ages and abilities who back the top team up and make the London Chess Classic the World Class event that it is.

Make sure that you can

get your seat next year…

8

Some of my photographs from the event

All photographs © Carl Portman