tag: London Chess Classic 2009 - Page 1

London: Arianne wins Women's Invitational by two points

12/19/2009 – A number of subsidiary events took place during the Chess Classic in London, one of the most attractive of which was the Women's Invitational. It was won by a "chess tourist", Arianne Caoili of Australia, who had planned to visit London with her boyfriend Levon Aronian to see the sights. When he did not obtain his visa Arienne decided to play in the Invitational. Big pictorial report.

London: Hammer wins the Festival FIDE Open

12/17/2009 – The London Chess Classic was not just about super-grandmasters. The congress was remarkably inclusive and catered for chessplayers of all abilities, from children who had just mastered how the "horsey" moved, right up to the world rated number one. The nine-round Swiss Open was won by a Norwegian prodigy (yes, there are more than one of those), GM Jon Ludvig Hammer. Big pictorial report.

London R7: Carlsen wins Chess Classic

12/16/2009 – With a nail-biting draw against Nigel Short, the top seed Magnus Carlsen finished the London Chess Classic a point clear of his nearest rival, Vladimir Kramnik. The 19-year-old Norwegian GM will appear on the next FIDE list at number one in the world, with a 2810 rating. Michael Adams and David Howell won their final round games. Full illustrated report with analysis.

London R6: Kramnik and Ni Hua win, Carlsen escapes

12/15/2009 – For a while it looked as though Magnus Carlsen was going to lose with the white pieces against Michael Adams, but the latter did not play the best continuation and let the Norwegian off the hook. Vladimir Kramnik won a scrappy game against Nigel Short to move within a point of Carlsen. Ni Hua won his first game, against Luke McShane. Illustrated report with analysis.

London R5: Carlsen and McShane win

12/14/2009 – Round four of the London Chess Classic saw two decisive games today: Luke McShane defeated Hikaru Nakamura, and Magnus Carlsen stretched his lead to three points after beating Ni Hua with black. In the post-game press conference Magnus charmed everyone to the degree that John Saunders wishes that Britain’s over-zealous passport authorities will not let him out of the country.

London R4: All games drawn, but fighting chess

12/13/2009 – Draws like those in round four of the London Chess Classic are exciting and instructive. We know this from following the games live with GM commentary at the venue and on the Playchess server. And after the games chess fans all over the world could listen to all eight players annotating their games. At least two had people holding their breath. Full illustrated report with analysis.

People and personalities at the London Chess Classic

12/12/2009 – Tournaments like the current one in London give us great chess and allow us to see some of the world's finest players up close. But they are also social occasions that bring together a multitude of interesting personalities. Too many to present all in one report. So here is a selection, ranging from players to authors, editors and successful traders. Photo impressions by Frederic Friedel.

London R2: Kramnik and Carlsen analysed

12/11/2009 – After their games in round two of the London Chess Classic most of the players once again congregated to the commentary room to explain what had just transpired to the audience in London and visitors of the Playchess server. This time it was Nigel Short, David Howell, Vladimir Kramnik, Magnus Carlsen and Luke McShane who shared their impressions. Report by John Saunders.

London R3: Kramnik wins again, Carlsen leads

12/11/2009 – After his first-round loss Vladimir Kramnik is on a winning streak: today he beat Luke McShane with the black pieces. With two wins and one loss he has six points according the "football" scoring system used in London. Magnus Carlsen, who missed a clear win with black against David Howell, has seven points and is in the lead. Giant illustrated report with analysis by John Saunders.

London R2: Thirty love – Carlsen beats McShane

12/10/2009 – The rampage of the top seed Magnus Carlsen continues. The 19-year-old Norwegian scored another convincing victory, this time over Luke McShane, to take the lead. Vladimir Kramnik came back from his first-round loss (to Carlsen) with a win over Chinese GM Ni Hua. The other two games were drawn. A report on the game will follow, here for now is Magnus' blog entry and pictures from round two.

London R1 – Carlsen explains his win against Kramnik

12/9/2009 – The London Chess Classic is breaking new ground in a number of areas. The games are being annotated live by two very entertaining experts, who explain everything to the visitors at the Olympia Centre, and at the same time to visitors on the Playchess server. After round one Magnus Carlsen provided his thoughts on the game, for the local guests and for a world-wide audience.

London R1 – Carlsen beats Kramnik

12/8/2009 – The London Chess Classic began with a very convincing victory by top seed Magnus Carlsen over second seed and former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, who was subtly outplayed by his 19-year-old Norwegian opponent. Luke McShane ground down Nigel Short in a 163-move marathon that lasted seven hours. Game commentary to follow, here's our first picture report.

London Chess Classic 2009 – starts today

12/8/2009 – The tournament, the strongest in London in a quarter century, began with a press conference, the drawing of colours, and a first match – a sharp encounter between Magnus Carlsen and Pat Cash, the 1987 winner of Wimbledon. In tennis. Cash won. The chess games start on Tuesday, with Carlsen playing Kramnik in the first round. Watch it with audio commentary from London on Playchess.

London Chess Classic 2009 – Korchnoi guest of honour

11/20/2009 – Viktor Korchnoi is an all time great of chess. He fought two world title matches against Anatoly Karpov and generously replayed a match he had won by default against Garry Kasparov. In December you can hear Korchnoi comments at the Chess Classic or play him in a simultaneous display. To get you in the mood tournament director Malcolm Pein has annotated a recent Korchnoi brilliancy.

London Chess Classic 2009 – prepare for the best

10/12/2009 – Once a great world center of chess, London is once again playing host to a very high level tournament, the highest in the city for 25 years. Participants in the eight-player Category 19 include Carlsen, Kramnik, Nakamura, Short and Adams. The event will be staged in December at the Olympia Conference Centre in West London. There will be free live broadcast on the Internet. Tournament details.
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