News release Saturday 10th December 2011

LONDON CHESS CLASSIC 2011: ROUND 7

John Saunders reports:

Chess is a Cruel Game

“For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.” Chess is a cruel game. Once you‟ve been identified as off-form or otherwise not up to par, you can expect no mercy as your opponents target you. The tally of decisive games soared to 15 out of 28 in round seven as the three tail-enders were put to the sword once more, as they were on Thursday. We‟ve now reached Saturday and the last time someone other than Adams, Short and Howell suffered defeat was last Tuesday when the world champion memorably lost to Nakamura - even then two Englishmen bit the dust the same day. However, before we Brits are tempted to overindulge our favourite national pastime of self-loathing and whingeing, I should point out that the player currently in first place on tie-break is also English - GM Luke McShane, who is billed here as „the world‟s strongest amateur player‟ (although someone who visited the VIP room yesterday also has a claim to that title - Garry Kasparov).

Much of the attention in the commentary and VIP rooms was focused on the game between and Luke McShane, perhaps because Nigel decided to be romantic and offer his opponent a King‟s Gambit. This bit of Victorian whimsy was toute la rage a century or so ago a few miles up the road at Simpson‟s Divan but it faded from view during the Hypermodern and Soviet school eras that followed and is now rarely deployed in elite events. The modern view is that it is „wrong but romantic‟. Nigel quite often wheels it out when in a „devil may care‟ mood and he recently used it to beat Garry Kasparov in a blitz exhibition game.

One of the good things about the King‟s Gambit is that battle is often engaged very quickly. It is also one of the bad things about it. It was probably just as well that the players couldn‟t hear what the guests in the commentary room were saying about the game. The first guest was Viktor Korchnoi, who launched into a fascinating monologue on the opening, why it is not suited to elite tournament chess, how much he thought the players knew about it (not much, seemed to be his verdict) and then, perhaps regretting his harshness on the players‟ opening capabilities, how much he liked them as people, even though they had the discourtesy to beat him over the board now and again.

After several minutes of this entertaining soliloquy, GM Dan King tried to reassert his authority as anchorman: “Mr Korchnoi, can I ask a question?” Came the answer - “no... no...”, uttered not in an angry way but with an air of incredulity that anyone should think it sensible to interrupt his stream of consciousness. Of course, Viktor Lvovich can be genuinely testy on occasions but he also has a wicked, teasing sense of humour and here he was just playing to the crowd. Dan was finally permitted to get a word in edgeways. With reference to the book which Korchnoi co-wrote with Zak on the King‟s Gambit, many moons ago, he asked Viktor: “have you played the King‟s Gambit very much?” “No... well... I played it a couple of times by mistake.” (laughter) “For me it is a good joke to play the King‟s Gambit.”

Round 7 N.Short - L.McShane King’s Gambit 1 e4 e5 2 f4 “Time to punt it... I did beat Garry Kasparov with it a few weeks ago, so I thought it was worth a try” (Nigel Short). Nigel related an anecdote of a conversation with Morozevich at the World Blitz Championship. The Russian asked Nigel whether he should play the King‟s Gambit and Nigel said „“why not?”. Morozevich replied “but how do I equalise after 2...exf4?” Luke McShane, for his part, thought the King‟s Gambit was the least likely line he was going to face. 2...exf4 3 Nf3 h6 The Becker Defence - but, as Nigel helpfully pointed out, not named after the tournament‟s recent visitor Boris Becker, but the Austrian IM Albert Becker (1896-1984). 4 d4 g5 5 Nc3 d6 Viktor Korchnoi joined the commentators during the early stages of the game and gave some interesting asides on a violent line beginning 5...g4 6 Ne5 Qh4+ 7 g3 fxg3 8 Qxg4 g2+ 9 Qxh4 gxh1Q 10 Qh5 Rh7 11 Bg5 d6 12 0–0–0 where White obtains compensation for the rook sacrifice. He was merely exemplifying the range of things players have to know before embarking on such a dangerous line in an elite tournament. There was more than an element of disapproval about the grand old man‟s comments on the subject. 6 g3 Viktor was scathing: “Nigel Short is playing like a beginner. g3... what is the point of g3? 6...fxg3 Viktor went on: 6...g4 7 Nh4 f3 8 Be3 “I‟m not sure Nigel Short knew this line... whether he had played it before” (VK). 7 hxg3 7 h4!? was the line suggested by tournament director . “I didn‟t think of it,” admitted Nigel. Of the King‟s Gambit in general: “I slept well last night so felt fresh and ready for action.” The continuation of Malcolm Pein‟s line was 7...g4 8 Ng1 Be7 9 Bg2 which is give as advantageous to Black by analysis engines but may give White some practical chances. 7...Bg7 8 Be3 8 Bc4 was another more direct possibility. Having expressed something close to outrage about his choice of opening, Viktor went on to say how his relations with Nigel Short were good, and also with Luke McShane “even though he has beaten me a couple of times - he‟s OK!”. 8...Nf6 9 Qd3 Ng4 10 0–0–0 c6 11 Re1 Nigel got excited by 11 e5!? but then spotted the reply 11...Bf5! which takes the sting out of it. 11...Nd7 12 e5 “I just got too excited here” (NS). 12 Bh3 is a steadier alternative. The players quickly looked at 12...Nb6 13 Bg1 Qe7 14 Nd5 but there may be better moves. 12...dxe5 13 Bh3 13 Nxg5!? looks aggressive but 13...hxg5 14 Rxh8+ Bxh8 15 Qh7 Qf6 and Black can enjoy his extra material. 13...Nxe3 Hikaru Nakamura joined the commentary around here. Lawrence Trent asked him as a joke “who‟s winning?”. But Hikaru was perfectly happy to answer seriously and state that Black was winning. He felt that Nigel Short had gone into the game with the „devil may care‟ attitude that Hikaru himself displayed against Anand in their epic King‟s Indian Defence game, but that Nigel had become tentative as early as move seven in the opening. 14 Rxe3 0–0 Now that the dark-squared bishop is off the board, Luke feels he can risk castling. 15 Ne4

15...Nf6! Luke rejected 15...exd4!? because of 16 Nfxg5 dxe3 17 Bxd7 but now the amazing 17...f5! was found in the VIP room and corroborated by Garry Kasparov. The text move may not be as objectively strong but it is more practical and prevents all the flashy tactics. 16 Bxc8 16 Nfxg5 Nxe4 17 Nxe4 Bxh3 18 Rxh3 exd4 19 Re2 Qd5 and now the desired deflection 20 Rxh6 with a view to forking king and queen on f6 doesn‟t work because 20...Bxh6+ is check. 16...exd4 17 Bxb7 dxe3 18 Bxa8 Nxe4 19 Qxe4 Qb6! A useful intermezzo, threatening Qxb2+. The commentators concluded Black was winning, though both players only had around 12–15 minutes for their remaining 21 moves. 20 Ne5 Luke McShane wondered about 20 b3!? for his opponent here, and 20...Rxa8 21 Re1 Qc5 22 Rxe3 Qa3+ 23 Kd2 Qxa2 24 Qxc6, etc. 20...Rxa8 21 Qxc6 Qxc6 22 Nxc6 Re8! 23 c3 Re6 24 Nxa7 24 Nd4 is the last chance but “pretty grim” (Short) 24...Bxd4 25 cxd4 Kg7 26 Kc2 f5 and it is easy to see that the kingside pawn avalanche will be fatal. 24...Be5!

“Badnewsville, Tennessee! Harry the horse disappears.” (Short) The principal threat is Bxg3, facilitating the advance of the e-pawn. 25 Nb5 After 25 Kd1, Black has 25...Bb8!, preparing e2+ and Bxg3 winning. 25...e2 26 Kd2 Bxg3 27 Re1 Playing on to entertain the crowd only. 27...Bxe1+ 28 Kxe1 h5 29 Nd4 Ra6 30 a3 h4 31 Kxe2 g4 32 c4 h3 33 Kf2 h2 34 Kg2 Rh6 35 Kh1 g3 36 Nf5 g2+ 0–1

The bye player today was Hikaru Nakamura and, following Viktor Korchnoi‟s session, he joined the commentary team. The game had reached move 13 - quite an early stage in proceedings - when Hikaru arrived. Commentator Lawrence Trent asked him jokingly “who‟s winning?”. But Hikaru replied, in all seriousness, “Black”. Later Nigel Short was honest enough to concur with the American GM‟s assessment. The opening gamble had not been a success. See the game notes for further comments by the GMs. Incidentally, Hikaru is a great commentator and I urge you to watch his session in the commentary room in its entirety. On a website near you...

Mickey Adams is having a torrid time at Olympia. Today was his fourth loss in five games - surely unprecedented in his long and distinguished career, though Black against Carlsen is always going to be a tough ask. However, Magnus was also quite dissatisfied with his general form, having been surprised in the opening. The thing to look for in this game is Magnus‟s queen manoeuvres on the first and second ranks. It looked ugly (Magnus‟s description) and Mickey‟s position looked OK until around move 30 but when the white queen came to f1 suddenly Magnus‟s position started to blossom. Mickey serious spoilt his position with 33...Ra3? and irrevocably with 35...Nc4??.

Round 7 M.Carlsen - M.Adams Nimzo-Indian 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Nf3 b6 5 Qc2 Bb7 6 a3 Bxc3+ 7 Qxc3 d5 8 cxd5 Qxd5 Magnus admitted he didn‟t really consider recapturing with the queen here. 9 e3 Nbd7 10 b4 0–0 11 Bb2 a5 12 Bd3 “Terribly unnatural but I didn‟t see what else to do!” (Carlsen). 12 Bc4 Qf5 is not so good for White. 12...axb4 12...Qd6 is another good option, according to Magnus. 13 axb4 Rxa1+ 14 Bxa1 Qa2 15 0–0 Nd5 16 Qe1

Now Magnus was quite happy with this position though his pieces have been pegged to the back rank. 16...c5 17 dxc5 bxc5 18 b5 Ra8 19 Qc1 h6 20 h3 Qa3 21 Qd2 Qb4 22 Qc2 Qa4 23 Qb2 f6 GM Daniel King was disapproving of this move. He had nothing specific in mind: it was more a general foible or phobia. “I like to glue my f-pawn to f7/f2.” However, he had to admit that it was better than the alternative - being mated on g7. 24 Rc1 Nb4 25 Be2 Bxf3 26 gxf3 Nd5 27 f4 N7b6 28 Bg4 Kf7 29 Qb1 Qa3 Magnus expected 29...g6 to shut out the white queen. 30 Rd1 Hikaru felt this position was basically equal, but he also thought somebody was going to win. 30...f5 31 Bf3 Hikaru and Daniel in the commentary room, aided by GM Peter Wells, looked at 31 Bxf5!? exf5 32 Qxf5+ Kg8 33 Qe6+ Kh7 34 Bxg7! Kxg7 35 Kh2, which looks very good for White. 31...Ra4 Here Hikaru preferred Mickey Adams‟ position because he has ideas of advancing the c-pawn. 32 Be5 Qb4 “Looks fine for Black” (Nakamura) 33 Qd3

33...Ra3? Nakamura wanted to try 33...Qc4 here: 34 Qxc4 Rxc4 35 Bd6 Nc3 36 Ra1 Nxb5 and Black seems to hold. 34 Qf1! Carlsen is getting ready to relocate his queen on g2 where he exerts pressure on g7. Suddenly it is looking very unpleasant for Black. 34...g6 Black would like to play 34...c4 but 35 Qg2 threatens Qxg7+ and also prevents the d5 knight from moving (Bd6 would be the consequence). 35 h4 Nc4??

Big blunder. 35...Rb3 is playable though White is certainly on top. 36 Rxd5 Nxe5 36...exd5 37 Bxd5+ Ke7 38 Bxc4 is game over. Carlsen: “There was just one funny line: 36...Nxe3 37 Rd7+ - “this actually wins by force” - 37...Ke8 38 fxe3 Kxd7 39 Qd1+ Kc8 40 Bb7+! wins. 37 Rxe5 Qc3 38 Kg2 1–0

David Howell didn‟t seem to be doing too badly against Vladimir Kramnik‟s Queen‟s Gambit but he got into difficulties in the middlegame and fell for a neat intermezzo tactic on move 21. It wasn‟t quite the end of the story but Vlad‟s technique was as impressive as it was relentless. Vlad enjoys playing in London and he looks to be back to his best form.

Round 7 V.Kramnik - D.Howell Queen’s Gambit Accepted 1 Nf3 d5 2 d4 Nf6 3 c4 dxc4 4 e3 e6 5 Bxc4 c5 6 0–0 a6 7 Nc3 Nc6 8 a3 b5 9 Ba2 Bb7 10 Qe2 Qc7 11 Rd1 Rd8 12 d5 exd5 13 Nxd5 13 Bxd5 had been played before. Kramnik considered it but felt he couldn‟t make it work. 13...Nxd5 14 Bxd5 Be7 15 e4 0–0 16 g3 Na5 17 Bf4 Qc8 Perhaps 17...Qb6, defending the knight and the b-pawn, is a little safer. 18 a4!

Vlad was quite happy with his game here, once he had found this move, which undermines Black‟s queenside. Commentator Daniel King thought the queenside configuration had something in common with some positions in the Ruy Lopez where a similar strategy is appropriate. 18...b4 After 18...Nc4 19 Bxc4 bxc4 20 Qxc4, Vlad thought Black had some play but not enough for the pawn. 19 Rac1 Now Vlad didn‟t like Black‟s position. 19 Ne5 Bxd5 20 Rxd5 Nb3 21 Rad1 Nd4 22 Qc4 Qe6 23 Be3 was one of the lines Vlad looked out but it is not so clear. 19...Bc6? This might have been a mistake, Vlad thought. He tried to make 19...Qb7 work but wasn‟t convinced. The computer suggestion 19...Rfe8 doesn‟t look bad. 20 Bg5! Clever. White deflects the dark-squared bishop, thus removing a defender from the c5 pawn. 20...Bxg5 21 Rxc5! A cunning intermezzo move, exploiting the looseness of all Black‟s residual minor pieces. “Now it‟s basically over,” said Vlad. 21...Bf6 Hikaru tried to make 21...Bb5!? work, but 22 Qc2 is a good move and the threats to the black minor pieces remain. 22 Rxa5 By now Hikaru had lost faith in the position too. White is already one pawn up and on the brink of winning another. Black has no viable counterplay even though the a5 rook is slightly offside. 22...Bxd5 23 Raxd5 Rxd5 24 Rxd5 Qc1+ 25 Kg2 Bxb2 25...Qxb2 26 Qxa6 Bc3 27 a5 is similar to the game. 26 Qxa6 Qc2 27 Rd2 Qb3 Against 27...b3, White has 28 Qe2 Rc8 and now 29 Ne1 resolves the position on c2. 28 a5 Bc3 29 Rd5 Qc2 30 Qb7! b3 30...Qxe4 allows White to win the pawn race with 31 a6 and there is no way of exploiting Black‟s pin on the long diagonal. 31 a6 b2 32 Rb5 Qa4 33 a7 h6 34 e5 An uneasy stand-off has been reached. Not 34 Qb8? when Black can reply 34...Qxe4 and White‟s advantage has dissipated. 34...Kh7 34...Qa1 35 Qe7 b1Q 36 Rxb1 Qxb1 37 Qxf8+ Kxf8 38 a8Q+ should win. 35 Rb3 Qa2 36 h4 Commentator Lawrence Trent was justly proud of predicting this squeezing plan. 36...Kg8 37 h5 Vlad called this „making a box‟ for the black king. More of a coffin, actually. 37...Qa5 38 Qb8 Qa2 39 Rxc3! b1Q 40 Rc8! 1–0

40...Rxc8 41 Qxc8+ Kh7 42 a8Q and White‟s pair of queens proves more potent than Black‟s. 40...Qf1+! is clever but after 41 Kxf1 Qa6+ 42 Kg2 Rxc8 43 Nd4 seems to win anyway.

One of the games was a relatively sedate affair and finished before the other three. Aronian-Anand followed the game Aronian-Gelfand from the recent Tal Memorial tournament in Moscow, with Aronian‟s trademark 7 Be2, which Vishy called “the Levon System” in the commentary room (to which Levon responded “if I don‟t play my own system, who is going to play it?”). Levon varied with 11 Nd4. He felt 17 Rd1 was a waste of time and became disillusioned with his position. A fair amount of material was hoovered off and then there was a repetition. A teeny bit disappointing for the big Saturday afternoon crowd but of course there was plenty of other action to enjoy.

Who is Going to Win?

Two rounds remain - who is going to win? Given his track record for winning elite events, it is hard to bet against Magnus Carlsen. However, what complicates his life here is the fact that he finishes with two Blacks, versus Anand and Short. Luke McShane, on the other hand, has two Whites - but the first is against the other leader Vlad Kramnik and then Vishy Anand. Opposition doesn‟t get much tougher, of course. As well as the clash with Luke, Vlad Kramnik faces Levon Aronian with White in the final round. Hikaru Nakamura is a point adrift of the other three but he must still fancy his chances, with two Whites against the out of form Nigel Short and Mickey Adams. The 3-1-0 system helps to keep the tournament alive to the final round - it should an exciting denouement, with four players still having very good chances of overall victory.

FIDE Open

In the showdown between the leaders and top seeds, Abhijeet Gupta of India defeated Gawain Jones to move into the sole lead with 7/8. Four players are on 6½: Keith Arkell, Peter Wells, Sahaj Grover and Jovanka Houska. The latter needs a draw with IM Arghyadip Das in the final round to secure a GM norm and she will enjoy a groundswell of home support. Tom Weber of Luxembourg needs a draw for an IM norm, while Nicolas Croad of New Zealand needs a win to do the same.

FIDE Women’s Invitational

Two players are dominating the Women‟s Invitational tournament. IM Dagne Ciuksyte of England and Guliskhan Nakhbayeva of Kazakhstan have 6½/8, two clear points ahead of the field. Both have TPRs above 2400.

Korchnoi Simul

Here‟s another game from the Korchnoi simul on 9 December. The great man shows how a seemingly impenetrable pawn wall can be breached - not once, but twice.

London Simul 2011 V.Korchnoi - N.Burriss King’s Indian Defence 1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 g6 3 e4 d6 4 d4 Bg7 5 f3 0–0 6 Nge2 e5 7 Bg5 h6 8 Be3 c6 9 Qd2 Kh7 10 0–0–0 Qa5 11 Kb1 Nbd7 12 d5 c5 13 g4 Ne8 14 Ng3 a6 15 h4 Rb8 16 h5! g5 Malcolm Pein said he fell into the same sort of position in a Korchnoi simul some decades ago, and also lost. 17 Nf5 Bf6 18 Qd3 b5 19 Qc2 b4 20 Ne2 Nb6 21 Nc1 Qa4 22 b3 Qd7 23 Nd3 Qc7

Is the barrier of pawns impenetrable? Viktor thinks not... 24 Nxd6!! Nxd6 25 Bxc5 Nd7 26 Bxd6! Qxd6 27 c5 Qc7 28 Be2 a5 29 c6 Nb6

Another impasse? Not according to Viktor... 30 f4!! exf4 31 e5 Bg7 32 d6 Qa7 33 c7 Rb7 34 Nc5+ Kg8 35 Qe4 Re8 36 Bd3 Nd7 37 Qh7+ Kf8 38 Nxd7+ Bxd7 39 Bf5 Bxf5+ 40 Qxf5 Rxc7 41 dxc7 Qxc7 42 Rd7 1–0

Name Rating Pnt/gms Perf 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1 McShane 2671 X 1 1 1 3 3 3 12 / 6 2935 2 Kramnik 2800 X 1 1 1 3 3 3 12 / 6 2936 3 Carlsen 2826 1 1 X 3 1 3 3 12 / 6 2926 4 Nakamura 2758 1 1 0 X 3 3 3 11 / 6 2882 5 Anand 2811 1 0 X 1 3 1 1 7 / 6 2738 6 Aronian 2802 1 1 0 1 X 3 1 7 / 6 2750 7 Short 2698 0 0 0 0 X 3 1 4 / 6 2549 8 Adams 2734 0 0 0 1 1 0 X 1 3 / 7 2519 9 Howell 2633 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 X 3 / 7 2527

No Name Win Draw Loss Score / games Tie break Rating TPR 1 McShane Luke J 3 3 0 12 / 6 3 black wins 2671 2935 2 Kramnik Vladimir 3 3 0 12 / 6 1 black win 2800 2936 3 Carlsen Magnus 3 3 0 12 / 6 0 black win 2826 2926 4 Nakamura Hikaru 3 2 1 11 / 6 2758 2882 5 Anand Viswanathan 1 4 1 7 / 6 black win 2811 2738 6 Aronian Levon 1 4 1 7 / 6 white win 2802 2750 7 Short Nigel D 1 1 4 4 / 6 2698 2549 8 Howell David W L 0 3 4 3 / 7 2633 2527 Adams Michael 0 3 4 3 / 7 2734 2519

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

Round 8 games start on Sunday 11 December at the usual 1400 UK time. Michael Adams will be joining the commentary team for a session.

For more information and to buy tickets to the , please go to www.londonchessclassic.com -

ENDS

For further information please call: John Saunders Press Chief, London Chess Classic E : [email protected]