Magnus Carlsen
wins the London
Chess Classic
and Grand Chess
Tour
16.12.15 -
To adapt Gary
Lineker’s famous
football quote
(and not for the
first time):
chess is a
simple game. The
players play
longplay,
rapidplay and
blitz and in the
end Magnus
Carlsen wins.
The final
day of the London Classic had the lot –
a mind-numbing, eight-hour extravaganza
of chess in three different formats,
brilliant moves, crazy strategies,
outrageous slices of luck – and somehow
you just knew that Magnus Carlsen would
come through it all to snatch first
place in the tournament and in the
inaugural Grand Chess Tour. He did so
and deserves the plaudits.
But let’s also hear it for his co-stars
in the last-day drama – Alexander
Grischuk, Anish Giri and Maxime Vachier-
Lagrave – who deserve to share some of
the winner’s stardust.
London Classic, final scores: 1.
Magnus Carlsen 5½, 2. Maxime
Vachier-Lagrave 5½, 3. Anish Giri 5½, 4.
Levon Aronian 5, 5-7. Alexander Grischuk,
Fabiano Caruana, Michael Adams 4½, 8.
Hikaru Nakamura 4, 9. Viswanathan Anand
3½, 10. Veselin Topalov 2½.
Chess prodigy
Magnus Carlsen:
'Bobby Fischer
is my dream
opponent'
By Sheena
McKenzie, for
CNN, December
16, 2015
Magnus
Carlsen:
Evolution
of
the
Greatest
ever
Chess
Player
(CNN)
Magnus
Carlsen
is used to
breaking
records. At
13 he became
the world's
youngest
chess
grandmaster.
Six years
later, at
the age of
19, the
baby-faced
Norwegian
was named
the World
No. 1 --
again, the
youngest
player to
hold the
title.
Now
25-years-old,
the
international
poster boy
of chess
might have
been one of
the youngest
players at
the
prestigious
2015 London
Chess
Classic --
but that
clearly
wasn't going
to stop him
taking home
the trophy
on Sunday.
We sat down
with the
chess
genius,
asking him
questions
posed by YOU
using the
hashtag #AskMagnus.
And we were
inundated
with
questions
from the
public --
everything
from Carlsen's
eating
habits to
his ultimate
opponent.
15.12.15 - Yesterday’s round-up predicted it could be a late night at the Olympia
Conference Centre on the last day of the London Chess Classic, but
little did the fans know they were in for a high intensity 10-hour chess
marathon.
The final and decisive round had started at the usual 2 pm weekend kick-off time
and, for the seventh time in the tournament, there were four draws and one
decisive result. Adams-Caruana, Aronian-Vachier Lagrave, Anand-Giri and
Nakamura-Topalov were all balanced draws. The one decisive result (which was
incidentally also the last game to finish) was crucial as Magnus Carlsen
ultimately got the better of Alexander Grischuk.
14.12.15 -
As part of
the London Chess Classic,
the Pro-Biz Cup brings
leading business minds and
the world’s leading
Grandmasters together in a
fun knock-out tournament to
raise money for the UK
charity, Chess in Schools
and Communities (CSC). Games
were broadcast LIVE.
Pro Biz Cup in action with
GM's Caruana and Nakamura helping
Winner Josip Asik
Classic Round 8 Report
13.12.15 -
Round eight and we were back
to the standard 1:4 ratio of decisive games to draws. But very good
quality draws, let it be said. The one winner was Anish Giri, who
inflicted a second successive defeat on the unlucky Hikaru Nakamura.
Scores with one round to go are: 1-2 Anish Giri (NED), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
(FRA) 5/8, 3-5 Levon Aronian (ARM), Magnus Carlsen (NOR), Alexander Grischuk (RUS)
4½, 6-7 Mickey Adams (ENG), Fabiano Caruana (USA) 4, 8 Hikaru Nakamura (USA) 3½,
9 Vishy Anand (IND) 3, 10 Veselin Topalov (BUL) 2. As regards the Grand Chess
Tour standings: the estimates going into the final round are Giri 24,
Vachier-Lagrave 23, Aronian 22, Carlsen 21, etc. These can of course change
quite drastically depending on results.
Aronian, MVL and
Carlsen enjoy
some pre-game
banter
Super Rapidplay
13.12.15 -
In the Super Rapidplay, Luke McShane carried his superb form into day
two, as he rushed to a perfect 9/9, securing tournament victory with a
round to go.
In the last round, he was held to a draw by Alex Lenderman, but he nevertheless
left second-place finisher Hrant Melkumyan a whole point behind him.
A total of nine players shared third place with 8/10, including British Knockout
Championship runner-up Nicholas Pert and IM David Eggleston, who was perhaps the
biggest surprise of the tournament.
10.12.15 -
While the London Chess Classic players got to enjoy a rest day, there
was still a lot of chess action going on elsewhere at Olympia Conference
Centre, most notably with the conclusion of the inaugural British
Knockout Championship.
In the 6th and final game of this novel and exciting event, David Howell
outplayed Nicholas Pert to take the final by a score of 4-2 and the winner’s
cheque of £20,000. Congratulations! Pert picked up £10,000 for his efforts.
In the FIDE Open, three of the ten leaders - Evgeny Postny, Benjamin Bok
and Eric Hansen - won their games and are in the joint lead with 2
rounds to go.
Before the players return to the board on Thursday, now is a good time
to view the
GCT Estimated Standings, with an
additional 150,000$ at stake for the top-three finishers of the Tour
(75,000$ for the winner, 50,000$ for the runner-up and 25,000$ for third
place).
12.12.15 -
Today’s penultimate round saw a lone decisive result, but the players
treated us to plenty of fighting chess and set the stage perfectly for
tomorrow’s 9th and final round in which a huge amount is at stake. The
winners of the London Chess Classic and Grand Chess Tour will be decided
as well as who qualifies for next year’s tour.
The first game of the day to finish saw tournament leader Vachier-Lagrave draw
with Adams who defended the Ruy Lopez with ease. MVL decided to repeat moves and
a draw was agreed on move 37.
While this game was always balanced, the draw that soon followed between
Grischuk and Aronian was a much wilder affair.
12.12.15 -
Well, that round was a bit
more like it! The London Classic came to life in round seven at Olympia,
with three decisive results, some pulsating play on all the boards and a
tense, cliff-hanging endgame which went on long into the evening.
After seven of the nine
rounds the situation is now as follows: 1 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 4½, 2-5
Levon Aronian, Magnus Carlsen, Anish Giri, Alexander Grischuk 4, 6-8
Mickey Adams, Fabiano Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura 3½, 9 Vishy Anand 2½, 10
Veselin Topalov 1½.
The first game to finish (in just a little under three hours) was Aronian-Topalov,
with the Bulgarian going down to another disappointing defeat.
Carlsen and
Nakamura about
to create a game
to remember
Classic Round Up - Day
12.12.15 -
Chess fans were treated to three decisive results at the Classic today
as the openings and the atmosphere changed completely. The battle
between Carlsen and Nakamura had the spectators on the edge of their
seats until 11pm.
After pushing for most of the game, Carlsen broke down Nakamura’s defences in
the seventh hour and the American resigned on move 78 - making it an incredible
+12 =18 -0 lifetime score in favour of the World Champion in classical games.
The US number one defended robustly until very near the end, and was even 25
minutes to 8 minutes up on the clock but 62...f6? was possibly the decisive
error and Magnus uncorked the incredible 67.Kxf6!! which Nakamura had
understandably missed.
10.12.15 -
Today saw the return of the Grand Chess Tour, with the identity of this
year’s winner still very much in the balance. With 3 rounds to go,
almost anyone could still win both the London Classic and overall Grand
Chess Tour title.
The first result to come in today was yet another draw in a Berlin, this time in
the game between Vachier-Lagrave and Caruana. Next up drawing their encounter
were Anish Giri and Magnus Carlsen, meaning the former not only remains unbeaten
in all three tournaments of the Grand Chess Tour, but also undefeated by the
World Champion.
Nakamura and Aronian also split the point as soon as the time control was made,
as there was nothing left to play for in a level rook endgame.
Giri analyses
from the large
screen, Carlsen
from the board.
Classic Round 6 Report
10.12.15 -
Round six of the London
Chess Classic took place on Thursday 10 December at the Olympia
Conference Centre and saw just one decisive game. Alexander Grischuk
defeated Vishy Anand to join three other players in the lead with +1,
while the former world champion dropped back to ninth place.
Scores after six rounds: 1-4
Anish Giri (NED), Alexander Grischuk (RUS), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Maxime
Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) 3½/6, 5-8 Mickey Adams (ENG), Levon Aronian (ARM), Magnus
Carlsen (NOR), Fabiano Caruana (USA) 3, 9 Viswanathan Anand (IND) 2½, 10 Veselin
Topalov 1½. Three rounds remain.
The clash of two of the leaders, Vachier-Lagrave and Giri, was bloodless and the
first game to finish, around two hours into the round. It was a Berlin Defence
and drawn in 33 moves. The main point of interest was the move 19...Nd4, which
must have been computer analysis.
Giri is getting
so lazy he
employs a child
to move his
pieces.
Livestream Broadcasts
9.12.15 -
Round 5 - Watch the
post-game press conference, where Anish explained he’s going to spend
the next 36 hours straight preparing for his Round 6 game with Magnus
Carlsen
In other Round 5 news: Vishy
Anand shrugged off the previous day's defeat to outplay Veselin Topalov
in textbook style in Round 5 of the 2015 London Chess Classic.
That was, yet again, the
only decisive game, since Fabiano Caruana failed to find the killer blow
after crashing through in Alexander Grischuk’s time trouble. World
Champion Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian were among the other players
to draw, with neither star having notched a win in five attempts.
9.12.15 -
As usual we started with
some children making moves for the grandmasters. This time the children
in question had travelled all the way from Gloucestershire. That’s
around 200 kilometres due west of London for those readers unfamiliar
with our green and pleasant land, and our adherence to Imperial units of
measurement.
They brought with them some innovative opening ideas. The little boy from
Slimbridge Primary School deputed to make Levon Aronian’s move against Magnus
Carlsen unfurled 1.Nh3!? which was extremely welcome with us photographers as it
made the players smile for the camera.
The clash of two of the leaders, Vachier-Lagrave and Giri, was bloodless and the
first game to finish, around two hours into the round. It was a Berlin Defence
and drawn in 33 moves. The main point of interest was the move 19...Nd4, which
must have been computer analysis.
