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Round 2
Report
by John Saunders |
England’s
Luke McShane is the sole leader of the 2010 London Chess
Classic after beating Nigel Short in a complicated tactical
struggle. Two points behind him is America’s Hikaru Nakamura
who scored a great win against former world champion
Vladimir Kramnik.
The Sicilian Dragon is one of the
sharpest openings on a chess board and that was the chosen
line for Luke McShane against Nigel Short - unusually so,
because Luke is not a regular Dragon player. As always with
this opening, it soon became highly tactical and
mind-bendingly complicated. At one point Nigel appeared to
be a couple of moves away from a big kingside mating attack
but, when he came to calculate variations, he found Luke had
counterstrokes against his major ideas. Looking at the game
later with computers, it seemed that the obvious 22 Rxh5
might have succeeded had it been followed up correctly but,
in time pressure, he tried 22 g5 and suddenly the tactics
didn’t work. Luke found a way to exchange queens after which
his extra pawn and superior position told. It was still an
exciting spectacle as the two players raced passed pawns
down the board, but there could only be one winner as Luke
had more pawns. The win takes him into sole lead in the
tournament with a maximum six out of six.
Short, Nigel (2680) - McShane, Luke (2645)
London Chess Classic 2nd London (2), 09.12.2010
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3
Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.g4 Be6 10.Nxe6
White
usually disdains this capture and plays 10.0-0-0 , thinking
to get on with the traditional kingside offensive, but it is
interesting to see what happens if he does play the obvious
move. 10...fxe6 11.0-0-0 Rc8. Rather unusual. Most
Black players prefer to stop White's next move with 11...Ne5
first. 12.Bc4. Completely logical. White seeks to
exploit the weakness on the a2-g8 diagonal. 12...Qd7
13.Bb3 Na5 14.h4 Nc4. Superficially, 14...Nxb3+ to knock
out the light-squared bishop in one, is tempting, but it is
not clear then where Black's queenside counterplay is coming
from. If he cannot conjure up something, he might simply get
mated on the kingside. This is an occupational hazard of
playing the Dragon, of course. As Nigel Short put it in the
commentary room: "Dragon players don't really mind getting
mated", though one could hear Dragon expert GM Chris Ward in
the background saying "oh yes, they do!". 15.Qd3
15...Qc6. You might find your computer gets
excited at the prospect of 15...Nxb2!? here, with the idea
of 16.Kxb2 Nd5 17.exd5 Rxc3 18.Qxc3 Bxc3+ 19.Kxc3 Rxf3
20.dxe6 Qc6+ 21.Kd2 a5 , etc, but the two players were
dismissive of this line, feeling that White's rook and two
bishops were more than adequate compensation for the queen.
16.Ne2 Nd7 17.Nd4 Qa6 18.f4. 18.Nxe6? Bxb2+ 19.Kb1
Rxf3 20.Ng5 Rxe3! 21.Qxe3 Bf6 gives Black a very useful
attack for the small material investment. Besides which,
White doesn't want pawns, he wants to give mate. 18...e5
19.fxe5 Ndxe5 20.Qe2 Kh8. It would all too easy to fill
up the page with analysis here but let's look at just one
alternative: 20...d5!? 21.exd5 Nxg4 is another try if Black
is afraid of being mated. However, White could continue with
22.Bg5!? , e.g. 22...Nf2 23.d6! Nxd1 24.Qe6+ Kh8 25.d7! and
White seems to emerge with an advantage. 21.h5 gxh5
22.g5? Both players were in severe time trouble by
now. Here Nigel Short thought he must be winning on the
kingside but found that his likeliest tries were flawed,
e.g. 22.Rxh5!? Nxe3 23.Qxe3 (But perhaps 23.Qh2!
would have won after all.) 23...Rf1! 24.Rh1 and
now the implausible (24.Rxh7+ Kxh7 25.Qh3+ Bh6+ -
check! - 26.g5 Nd3+!! is another stunning (lucky?)
resource for Black) 24...Qd3!! comes to Black's
rescue. 22...Ng4! 23.Bg1. An annoying necessity.
23.Rxh5 Ncxe3! 24.Rxh7+ Kxh7 25.Rh1+ comes close but
25...Kg6 and the black king is perfectly safe. 23...Nce3!
Forcing the exchange of queens more or less guarantees
that Black will not be mated on the kingside. 24.Qxa6
bxa6 25.Bxe3 Nxe3 26.Rd3 Bxd4 27.Rxd4 Rc5! The endgame
is a very different story. Black is already a pawn up and
has further white pawn weaknesses to target. 28.Rd3 Ng2!
Indirectly defending the h-pawn with a fork on f4. Nigel
had hoped for 28...Rf1+?? 29.Rxf1 Nxf1 30.Rf3 Nh2 31.Rf8+
Kg7 32.Rg8#. 29.Rg3 Nf4 30.Kd2 Re5 31.Re1 Kg7 32.Ke3 Kg6
33.c3 Rxg5 34.Rxg5+ Kxg5 35.Rg1+ Kh6 36.e5 dxe5 37.Ke4.
Though Black has three sets of doubled pawns, his endgame
advantage is secure. 37...Ng6 38.Bc4 a5 39.Kd5 Rf2 40.b4
axb4 41.cxb4 h4 42.a4 h3 43.a5 h2 44.Rh1 Kg5. I suspect
Nigel might have resigned around here ordinarily but he
sportingly plays on to a more clear-cut conclusion for the
benefit of the big crowd watching. 45.b5 Kg4 46.b6 axb6
47.a6 Kg3 48.a7 Rf8 49.Kc6. Both advanced pawns can
queen and 'buy' a rook but Black has a back-up supply of
potential new queens, of course. 49...Nf4 50.Ra1 e4
51.Ba6 Nh3 52.Bb7 Ng1 0-1
Let’s try to think of presents we
wouldn’t want for our birthday. In my case it would be a
ticket to a Barry Manilow concert or the memoirs of some
tedious politician. Hikaru Nakamura celebrated his 23rd
birthday today and his ‘gift’ from the tournament was a
Black pairing with Vladimir Kramnik. And his gift from Vlad?
A Catalan Opening. Not unexpected, but I’m guessing that
Hikaru’s thought when he saw the ex-world champion prod his
pawn to g3 was not so much “Ooh, a Catalan - just what I
always wanted!” than “what have I done to deserve this?”
Vlad’s Catalan is so good that he ‘lent’ it to Vishy Anand
to help him defeat Veselin Topalov in their world
championship match earlier this year (now that really was a
gift you’d want to have).
Chief Arbiter Albert Vasse starts the
clock in the game Kramnik v Nakamura
But that is not at all the story of the
game. Vlad soon transposed into a Nimzo-Indian and seemed to
getting a spatial advantage, but on move 12 he unexpectedly
gave up a piece for some play. Blunder or sacrifice? If the
latter, how much play did he expect to get from it? It did
require Hikaru to compromise his king safety but still
looked a pretty good deal for him. So maybe this was Vlad’s
real gift to his youthful opponent. There were a few tactics
as the players reached the time trouble and Nakamura’s king
had to flee up the board. But it all held together somehow
and Hikaru had the perfect birthday gift after all - a win
with Black against Kramnik. Add that to his rugged draw with
Black against Vishy Anand in the first round and he has made
a remarkable start to the tournament.
Magnus Carlsen bounced back from his
first round defeat with a win against England number one
Mickey Adams. It was deep, positional game, emerging from an
English opening. For much of the game it seemed that Mickey
stood well and Magnus’s play didn’t really impress but,
short of time, Mickey embroiled his pieces in a kingside
escapade that didn’t achieve much, whilst the Norwegian
pieces took advantage on the opposite side of the board and
won material. Faced with an enemy pawn about to queen,
Mickey resigned.
Carlsen,Magnus (2802) - Adams,Michael (2723)
London Chess Classic 2nd London (2), 09.12.2010
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e5 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bc5. 4...Bb4 and
4...d5 are more frequently seen but this is respectable.
5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0 0-0 7.d3 a6. 7...h6 , to prevent the pin
of the f6 knight, is by far the commonest move here.
8.a3 Ba7 9.b4 Be6. Yasser Seirawan, in his video
commentary on the Internet Chess Club, thought 9...Bf5 was a
useful alternative, with a view to getting in e5-e4 for
Black and, if 10.e4 to prevent it, then 10...Bg4 and Black
will have a good home for his c6 knight on d4. 10.Nd2
Rb8. Yasser Seirawan preferred the more direct 10...d5
here, but the choice is not critical. This line of the
English is quiet and strategic, contrasting with the
ultra-sharp Short-McShane game going on alongside. 11.Rb1
Ne7 12.a4 Qd7 13.b5 Bh3 14.Ba3 h6 15.e3 Bxg2 16.Kxg2
16...Bc5. Very committal, but still not really
classifiable as an error. 16...axb5 17.axb5 Bc5 would ensure
that the resultant doubled pawn on c5 could be defended by
the move b7-b6. 17.Bxc5 dxc5 18.Nf3 Qe6 Black
threatens to undermine White's pawns with e5-e4 so Magnus
decides he has to stop that happening with... 19.e4 c6
20.Qb3 Rbd8. Superficially, 20...cxb5 looks attractive,
to undouble the pawns, but 21.cxb5 Qxb3 22.Rxb3 Ng6 23.Rc1
would leave Black's queenside pawns a little vulnerable to
White's rooks. A player of Magnus's stratospheric ability
would be quite capable of capitalising on such a small edge
in the long run. 21.bxa6 bxa6 22.Qc2. Black's c5 pawn
is now a long-term weakness but White's backward d3 pawn is
a compensatory factor from Black's point of view.
22...Ng6. With the immediate threat of ...Nf4+! but
White can easily stop this. 23.Ng1. In a sharp,
tactical struggle this sort of retreat would be costly in
terms of time but in this quiet, manoeuvring game it does
not count as a concession. 23...Rb8 24.a5 Nd7 25.Na4 Qd6
26.Ne2 Qc7 27.Qc3. White has to defend a second pawn
weakness. 27...Rfd8 28.Rxb8 Rxb8 29.f4
29...exf4!? Yasser Seirawan considered this the critical
point of the whole game. He thought the text move was an
error of judgement, preferring the idea 29...Rb7!? with the
idea of Qb8 and an invasion along the b-file. But some
analysis engines favour Adams's plan. 30.gxf4 Qd6 31.Kh1
Rb4 32.Qc2 Nh4. Another turning point. Black could try
32...Qc7 here, with the simple threat of taking the a5 pawn,
but perhaps he was afraid of a white kingside attack should
he concentrate his major pieces on the queen's flank.
33.Nac3 Qg6 34.Ng3
34...Nf6? Perhaps this is the true turning point of
the game. The text move allows White to play e4-e5 with
tempo and establish a knight on e4. But it looks better to
leave the knight where it is, defending the c-pawn, and play
34...Qe6! instead. Black seems quite handily placed then,
with useful replies to pawn pushes, e.g. 35.f5? Qd6! when
White's progress stymied and Black is significantly better.
35.e5 Nh5?! Black could admit his previous mistake
and play 35...Nd7 when he is not worse. 36.Nxh5 Qxh5
37.Ne4 Kh8? This is probably the fatal error. Black
needs to play 37...Qf5 when 38.Qf2 Qh3 39.Re1 Rb3! seems to
hold things together, e.g. 40.Nxc5 Rb2! 41.Qxb2 Qf3+ 42.Kg1
Qg4+ 43.Kf1 Qh3+ with perpetual check. 38.Qf2 Nf5
39.Nxc5. Not 39.Qxc5?? Qh3! and White suddenly has
insoluble problems. 39...Qh3 40.Re1 Nh4 This makes
things relatively easy for White but Black was probably
losing anyway. 41.Qg3 Qxg3 42.hxg3 Nf3 43.Rf1.
Black's forlorn hope is 43.Ra1?? Rb2! - a sneaky mating
configuration beloved of all competition chessplayers.
43...Nd4 44.Kg2. Magnus's king is on its way to e4 where
it will be safe and ready to support pawn advances.
44...Ne6 45.Nxa6 Ra4 46.f5 Ng5. There is no time for
46...Rxa5 because of 47.fxe6 Rxa6 48.exf7 and the pawn
queens. 47.Nc7 Kg8. Black would like to play
47...Rxa5 but 48.e6! fxe6 49.fxe6 Re5 50.d4! and White will
soon have two united passed pawns on their way to promotion.
48.a6 Kf8 49.Kf2. 49.Kf2 Ke7 50.Rb1 Kd7 51.Rb7 Kc8
52.e6 soon decides. 1-0
49...Ke7 50 Rb1 Kd7 51
Rb7 Kc8 52 e6 soon decides.
World champion Vishy Anand is getting
good positions in London but can’t quite seem to put his
opponents away. At one point, near the time control, it
looked as though David Howell might succumb to a concerted
attack by Vishy’s queen and rook. David had to surrender a
pawn but gained just enough play to hold off the world
champion and eventually regained the pawn. It was a splendid
rearguard effort by the young Englishman and a psychological
boost after his unhappy first round. A second draw is bad
news for the world champion, however, as it only garners him
a total of two points compared to three other competitors
who have won one and lost one but score three points for
their win.
David Howell (left) playing World
Champion Vishy Anand
The highlight of the day for your
reporter was Nigel Short’s wonderful anecdote about a game
he played last week in Saint Louis, Missouri, against GM Ray
Robson (see the video, Round 2.4, around 52 minutes in).
Returning from the rest room, Nigel looked up at the demo
board as he returned to the board and thought his opponent
had played Kg8. He sat down and soon played Kf2 in reply.
His opponent’s reply was unexpected. Not a chess move but
the words “it’s my move!”. The young US GM hadn’t played Kg8
or indeed anything else. Nigel’s aberration was the result
of a demo board error (the king was actually on h8). Is
Nigel’s unwitting attempt to play two consecutive moves
unprecedented, I wonder? Later, Nigel teased Dragon expert
GM Chris Ward: “Chris is one of these guys who plays Rxc3 in
every position in which it is legal!” but the earlier
revelation provided Chris with the perfect riposte: “Yes,
but only when it is my turn!”. I know it is easy to spend
other people’s money but I do think there should be a
special prize for the best performance by a player in the
commentary room. At the moment Nigel is winning this hands
down.
Scores after round 2:
Luke McShane 6/6, Hikaru Nakamura 4,
Adams, Carlsen, Kramnik 3, Anand 2, Howell 1, Short 0. (Note,
games are scored 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and
0 points for a loss)
Note that we revert to
the normal time of 2pm GMT from Round 3 tomorrow.
For more information and
to buy tickets to The London Chess Classic, please go to
www.londonchessclassic.com
•
Games
in PGN •
Replay • Round 2 Express Report
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