News release
Sunday 11th December 2010
LONDON CHESS CLASSIC 2010: ROUND 5
Today’s chess was an unofficial ‘England versus the World’ match as well as a critical juncture in the tournament as the joint leaders Vishy Anand and Luke McShane clashed. By the end of the round the number of leaders had swelled to three, as Magnus Carlsen took advantage of the ‘football scoring system’ to join Vishy and Luke at the head of the field.
The first game to finish was Anand-McShane, which ended in a draw. Luke seemed to be under some pressure from the opening and Vishy retained an edge for most of the game, but he was never able to amplify his edge. He tried a pawn sacrifice to activate his queen but it was only enough for a repetition of position.
Nigel Short had another off-day. In a spirit of recklessness born of desperation, he tried a sacrificial sideline of the Marshall Attack (9...e4) for which Hikaru was barely prepared but was able to find a stable continuation based on 11 g3 which suggests that this line may not be feasible at super-GM level. Short’s position after 20 Qf5 looked hopeless and so it proved. Nigel was his usual ebullient self in the commentary room and even treated us to a burst of his singing voice at the end.
London Chess Classic 2nd London (5), 12.12.2010
H.Nakamura - N.Short
Ruy Lopez, Marshall Counterattack
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0–0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 0–0 8 c3 d5
The Marshall. Nigel has played this a handful of times over the years but Hikaru was probably not expecting it.
9 exd5 e4!?
The Steiner variation. It may be that, after GMs have analysed this game thoroughly, that the exclamation and question marks shown here swap places - or the exclamation mark may disappear completely. "This is the sort of recklessness that happens when you've got ½/4" (Short). "I had an idea Nigel would play something a little bit crazy" (Nakamura). Nigel alleged that Malcolm Pein plays this line and jokingly suggested that he played it in his honour but no game with ...e4 by our esteemed tournament director could be found on the latest Mega Database.
10 dxc6 exf3 11 g3
This logical continuation, simply aiming at emerging from the opening with an extra pawn, was more or less improvised by Hikaru at the board. It has been played before but barely mentioned in books on this line. "The book recommendation is 11 d4 - maybe there will be a new book recommendation after this game" (Short); 11 Qxf3 is another way to play and one chosen by Bobby Fischer a couple of times.
11....Re8 12 d4
Black's innocuous-looking last move actually carried a payload of venom. If 12 Qxf3? Bc5! and White is suddenly vulnerable to tricks against his rook and back rank, e.g. 13 Rf1 Bg4! 14 Qg2 Qc8, etc.
12....Bg4 13 Bg5 h6
13....Qd6 14 Qd3 h6 15 Bxf6 Bxf6 16 Nd2 Qxc6 17 Qg6!? Be6 18 Qh5 rounds up the f3 pawn and ensures White keeps his one-pawn advantage.
14 Bxf6 Bxf6
White's decision to give up his dark-squared bishop wasn't too problematic as the residual black dark-squared bishop doesn't have much of a future against White's preponderance of pawns on black squares.
15 Nd2 Qd6 16 h3! Bh5
16....Rxe1+ 17 Qxe1 Bxh3 18 Qe4 and White will soon be a pawn up once again, with an enhanced positional advantage.
17 Qc2!
With the threat of Qf5, embarrassing the h5 bishop.
17....Bg5 18 Ne4 Qxc6
If 18....Qg6 White can step up the pressure with 19 Qd3 and then 11 Bc2, while Black has only succeeded in bottling up his own pieces on the kingside.
19 Nxg5 hxg5 20 Qf5
Nigel told us that, paradoxically, he still had some belief in his position while he was a pawn down, but now the material was level, he completely despaired of it.
20....Rxe1+
20....Qg6 21 Qxg6 Bxg6 22 Bd5 wins the f3 pawn, leading to a comfortable technical win.
21 Rxe1 Re8 22 Re5
Not 22 Rxe8+? Qxe8 when the back rank threat would necessitate 23 Qe5 Qxe5 24 dxe5 and White has endangered his winning chances.
22....Rxe5 23 dxe5 Bg6
Once again 23....Qg6 allows 24 Qxg6 Bxg6 25 Bd5 and the f3 pawn drops off.
24 Qxg5 Qe4 25 Qd8+ Kh7 26 Qh4+ Qxh4 27 gxh4 f6
Annoyingly for Black, the doubled h-pawns almost help White's cause. If he tries to defend his f-pawn with 27....Bh5 the white king can now march out to attack it via h2 and g3 and then play ¥d1 to win it.
28 exf6 gxf6 29 Bd5 a5 30 b4 axb4 31 cxb4 Bd3 32 Kh2 Bc4 33 Be4+
33 Bxc4?? we can discount as the black pawn cannot be stopped; 33 Bxf3? is also sub-optimal as after 33....Bxa2 Black might have a few tricks based on driving the b-pawn through (on a very good day, anyway).
33....Kh6 34 a3 1–0
At this point in the commentary room, Nigel concluded the session with a short snatch of song with the first line "What do you get when you sac a pawn?" to the tune of the 1960s hit "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" by Bobbie Gentry (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIVOjfadGf0). It was a show-stopping rendition, with the crowd on their feet begging for more and throwing garlands of flowers. A whole new career suddenly opens up for Nigel - this year Olympia, next year the Albert Hall. You can hear it for yourself on video 5.3 at the website. Nigel graciously attributed the libretto to former British champion and joker extraordinaire GM Jonathan Mestel. It was only a shame that GM Dan King hadn’t brought his guitar (he had been gigging the night before, playing latin music) or we could have had an Olympia jam session.
But, returning reluctantly to the chess, Black is right to quit at this point: a line such as 34....Be6 35 Bxf3 Kg6 36 Kg3 f5 37 Kf4 Bd7 38 h5+ Kf6 39 Be2 Bc6 40 Bd3 Bd7 41 h6 is indicative and quite hopeless.
Mickey Adams confronted Vlad Kramnik’s celebrated Berlin Wall with 4 d3, which the great Russian said he thought of as the “second main line” against his trademark barricade. After some exchanges, the players reached a position with a small edge for White but one which proved readily defensible by Black. After some further exchanges a draw was agreed.
David Howell, like his senior English colleague, found the cruel truth of the biblical quotation “he that has not, from him shall be taken even that which he has”. There is always a tendency to gang up on players who are not doing too well in a tournament. Of course, the fact that he was paired with Magnus Carlsen didn’t help. Even so, David was alive and only suffering from a slight disadvantage at the time control. However, he went astray almost immediately with 42 g5 and then the disastrous 43 Qg3 which cost him a piece.
London Chess Classic 2nd London (5), 12.12.2010
D.Howell - M.Carlsen
Black has the safer king and other small advantages but it doesn't add up to much.
42 g5?
David prefers to seek counterplay but he should have been content to sit and suffer as this has a tactical flaw. 42...Qa4! Black's immediate threat is now Qe4 and Qh1 mate. White could defend with Ng3 but that would cost him his f-pawn and his position would collapse.
43 Qg3?
This loses a piece. White's best might have been 43 Qe3 when 43...Qd1 44 Qe2 Qxe2 45 Bxe2 hxg5 46 fxg5 Nxe5 would probably win for Black.
43...Qd1! 44 Nf6+
Desperation. White could do nothing to defend his knight on h5. If 44 Qh4 Bc4 45 Ng3 Black plays 45...Nd4! and all the tactics work for Black. For example, 46 Bxd4 Qxd4+ 47 Kh1 Bd5+ 48 Bg2 Bc5 49 Ne2 Qd1+ and wins.
44...gxf6 45 gxf6+ Kh8 46 Qd3 Qxd3 47 Bxd3 Nb4 48 Bb1 Ba2 49 Be4 Nd5 50 f5 Nf4 51 Kh2 exf5 52 Bxf5 Be6 53 Bg4 Bxg4 54 hxg4 Ne6 55 Kg3 Bc5 0–1
This third win for Magnus catapulted him into the joint lead with Vishy Anand and Luke McShane; technically he is the leader on tie-break because he has had more Blacks (and more wins) than his rivals. The unofficial ‘England versus the World’ thus ended 3-1 in favour of the World. Asked whether he liked the ‘football scoring system’, Magnus smiled and answered “Now I certainly do!”.
Monday is a rest day - round six is on Tuesday.
Scores after round 5: Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, Luke McShane 9/15, Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura 8, Mickey Adams 6, 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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John Saunders
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