Chess, by Luke McShane

Chess By Luke McShane
Sunday December 26,2010

FIGHTING spirit was much in evidence at the 2nd London Chess Classic earlier this month.

Much of this was down to the attitude of the players themselves, of course, as well as the 'Sofia rules' which forbid draw offers until all the normal play is exhausted.

But there was one controversial factor in play too - the 'Bilbao scoring' whereby, just like in football, the players are awarded three points for a win and one for a draw.

As it turned out, this system worked against me in London.

With the conventional scoring system I would have shared first place with Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen on 4.5/7, but Carlsen's volatile string of wins and losses left him clear first with the scoring system in use.

Some purists would have preferred the traditional system, but I must admit I remain rather fond of the Bilbao scoring.

Naturally, it's a strong incentive to play complex and interesting games, but perhaps one of the best features of this system is that it gives players a chance to catch up after a poor start, just as Magnus did in London.

Despite the games he lost, his determination to fight for the full point in every game was admirable.

Moreover, the Bilbao system keeps all the final standings up for grabs until the very end.

Full article here: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/219047/Chess-26-12-10

Changing guard

Gawain Jones and Luke McShane blossom as British chess changes guard
Leonard Barden
Thursday 23 December 2010 20.22 GMT

For the best part of two decades Michael Adams and Nigel Short have been the top dogs in UK chess. Short challenged Garry Kasparov for the classical world title in 1993 and Adams reached the Fide world title semi-final and final in 1997 and 2005.

But now Short is 45, Adams 39 and the old order is changing. Luke McShane's impressive tied second result at the London Classic coincided with Short finishing in last place and put the 26-year-old former Goldman Sachs trader ahead of his rival in the international rankings.

Another significant, though less publicised, advance also took place at the Classic. The England No5, Gawain Jones, 23, was the best performer for the national team at the world Olympiad in October and was co-winner with Simon Williams at the London Classic Open, totalling an unbeaten 7.5/9 ahead of a flock of European grandmasters and masters.

Immediately after London Jones flew to Warsaw for the European Blitz championship where, as the only competing English GM, he scored 17.5/26, well above expectations and including wins over leading GMs from Ukraine, Germany and France.

Meanwhile David Howell, 20, the England No4 and youngest GM who had mixed results in 2010, has begun a philosophy course at Cardiff, at least temporarily rejecting a full-time chess career. So the target for Jones is to reach a 2600 rating, surpass Howell and challenge Short. However this turns out, the advance of the under-27 trio can only benefit English chess.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk

Wide open race in London

Open race at London Chess Classic
Hari Hara Nandanan, TNN, Dec 14, 2010, 12.48am IST

CHENNAI: The London Chess Classic is now an open race after the fifth round on Sunday. With two rounds to go, World Champion Viswanathan Anand and World No 2 Magnus Carlsen of Norway are in the lead along with Luke McShane of England with nine points each.

Curiously, the head-to-head games among them are over, so it boils down to how they fare in the remaining games against others.

Anand and McShane fought for 41 moves in Ruy Lopez before the game was drawn. Playing with white in Ruy Lopez, Anand was expected to go all out for a win against the English GM who is in terrific form, but the Indian seemed a little tentative. McShane seemed to be under some pressure from the opening and Anand retained the edge for most of the game but was never able to convert it into a win.

Standings:

Anand, McShane and Carlsen: 9 points each,
Vladimir Kramnik and Nakamura: 8 each,
Michael Adams 6,
David Howell 2,
Nigel Short 1.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

London Chess Classic

Crosstable after 5 rounds

Nr.	Title	Name	Fed.	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8		tot	TPR
6	GM	Short, Nigel D	ENG	2680		0	½	0	0			0		1	2375
7	GM	McShane, Luke J	ENG	2645	1		½	½			1	½		9	2909
5	GM	Adams, Michael	ENG	2723	½	½				1	0	½		6	2706
1	GM	Anand, Viswanathan	IND	2804	1	½			½	½	1			9	2845
4	GM	Nakamura, Hikaru	USA	2741	1			½		½	0	1		8	2810
8	GM	Howell, David W L	ENG	2611			0	½	½		0	0		2	2532
2	GM	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2802		0	1	0	1	1				9	2777
3	GM	Kramnik, Vladimir	RUS	2791	1	½	½		0	1				8	2752

http://www.londonchessclassic.com/index.htm

Magnus wins again, joins the leaders

Round 5 results

David Howell 0-1 Magnus Carlsen
Vishy Anand ½-½ Luke McShane
Michael Adams ½-½ Vladimir Kramnik
Hikaru Nakamura 1-0 Nigel Short

Scores after round 5:

Magnus Carlsen, Vishy Anand, Luke McShane 9
Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura 8
Mickey Adams 6
David Howell 2
Nigel Short 1

Magnus wins, Anand joins McShane at the top

Standings after 4 rounds

Nr		Title	Name	Rating	Fed	Score	TPR	Birthday	Tiebreak
1		GM	Anand, Viswanathan	2804	IND	8	2902	1969	2x black
2		GM	McShane, Luke J	2645	ENG	8	2942	1984	1x black
3		GM	Kramnik, Vladimir	2791	RUS	7	2764	1975
4		GM	Carlsen, Magnus	2802	NOR	6	2728	1990
5		GM	Nakamura, Hikaru	2741	USA	5	2752	1987	3x black
6		GM	Adams, Michael	2723	ENG	5	2685	1971	2x black
7		GM	Howell, David W L	2611	ENG	2	2572	1990
8		GM	Short, Nigel D	2680	ENG	1	2419	1965