News release
Saturday 3rd December 2011
LONDON CHESS CLASSIC 2011: ROUND 1
John Saunders reports:
Spassky or Johnson?
The title was inspired by Nigel Short’s quip in the commentary room. He happened to be speaking
with his brother on the phone and told him that he was due to be playing Boris at the London Classic.
His brother replied “Spassky or Johnson?”. Good guess – but in fact it was a third famous Boris that
Nigel was facing.
Readers of this report won’t need to be told who Boris Spassky is, but the non-Brits among you might
need to be told that Boris Johnson is our very colourful Mayor of London, who likes to waffle about
wiff-waff. No, he doesn’t have a speech impediment, that’s an antique term for table tennis that he
reintroduced to confuse people at an Olympic Games presentation some time ago. I’ve a feeling that
the world may get to know our Mayor quite well during the 2012 London Olympics.
This year there are nine players in the London Chess Classic line-up. Even people with the most
tenuous grasp of arithmetic will have worked out that “two into nine doesn’t go” and that one player
therefore has to sit out each round. Except that they don’t – they are obliged to join the commentary
team for the day. Nigel Short had the bye in the first and was the first to be co-opted onto the
commentary team. Not only that, he was required to play a game of chess against the special guest,
former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker. Of course, we are only a few miles up the road from the
place where Boris first hurled himself round the court as an unseeded 17-year-old in 1985 and
improbably won the title. I won’t dwell on the Short-Becker encounter - mainly because I couldn’t get
near it for the hordes of spectators ringing the board, but I think we can take it that Nigel won because
it wasn’t long before he was back in the VIP room looking quite happy, while Boris was nowhere to be
seen.
Let’s have a look at some play. Half the fun of chess is playing at being a pundit. Quite a few armchair
pundits on internet forums had predicted that three of the games - Kramnik-Nakamura, AronianMcShane, Adams-Anand - would be draws, and that the top seed Magnus Carlsen would beat the
bottom seed David Howell, based on Carlsen’s recent good form in the Tal Memorial tournament in
Moscow and David Howell’s poor form in the European Team Championship. If you had placed your
money that way... you would have won. Big-time chess doesn’t always go with the form book or rating
list, but today it most certainly did. So no Becker-style surprises so far.
Vlad Kramnik and Hikaru Nakamura had a long, theoretical game in the Catalan, which featured
known moves beyond move 20. Vlad complained that his opponent had surprised him with something
he (Hikaru) hadn’t played before, springing a line on him which he hadn’t studied for a year. Life is so
unfair sometimes. Still, the Russian did engineer an edge but a queenless middlegame ensued which
the American held solidly.
Mickey Adams had white against Vishy Anand, who drew nine straight games in Moscow (hence most
of the pundits going for that result). The players followed the line they played against each other last
year and again the theory went beyond move 20. Magnus Carlsen later commented that Anand might
have been better at some point thereafter. But soon the rooks came off and a drawn queen ending
ensued. Commentator Daniel King cheekily reminded the world champion that he had now drawn ten
games in a row and that a win counts for three points in London. Vishy was not at all put out and his
reply was self-deprecating: “even if they had been using a 9-1-0 scoring system in Moscow, I would
probably still have drawn all my games.”
Getting back to punditry, of course a few people thought that the in-form Aronian might well beat the
largely inactive McShane. However, the other thing to take into account is Luke McShane’s form at
Olympia. And he only lives down the road so he can enjoy the comforts of home, which must be a
psychological advantage. However, inactivity seemed to play a part as the Londoner took ages over
some fairly innocuous looking moves just out of the opening. The commentators didn’t give much for
his chances, particularly the gap in time between the players ballooned to something approaching an
hour, but Luke is one tough hombre...
Round 1
L.Aronian - L.McShane
Chebanenko Slav
1 Nf3 d5 2 d4 Nf6 3 c4 c6 4 Nc3 a6.
This line has been in vogue for the past few years.
5 Qb3
Aronian characterised this as “lousy” in his post-game comments but this is probably an exaggeration
(and/or designed to throw future opponents off course).
5...e6 6 Bg5 Be7 7 e3 0–0 8 Be2 h6 9 Bh4 dxc4 10 Qxc4 b5 11 Qd3 Nbd7
Both players later preferred 11...c5 immediately.
12 a4 b4 13 Bxf6
Here Black thought long and hard, though it is hard to see why.
13...Nxf6 14 Ne4 c5!?
Black doesn’t want to stay passive and wants to get the c8 bishop onto the long diagonal.
15 Nxc5 Bxc5 16 dxc5 Bb7 17 Rc1 Rc8 18 Nd4
Rather than opting for an endgame, Aronian decides to raise the pressure against his time-troubled
opponent. It’s quite a risky decision but he is a confident tactician. In the commentary room, Nigel
Short saw a similarity between Aronian and his great compatriot, Tigran Vartanovich Petrosian. The
former world champion also favoured “turgid, safety-first” openings, said Nigel, but he was lightning
fast at tactics when the occasion arose.
18...Bxg2 19 Rg1 Bd5 20 f3
The black bishop is good on d5 so White decides it needs to be evicted.
20...Qc7 21 Rg3 Rfd8 22 Qxa6 Ra8 23 Qb6 Qe5 24 Kf2 Nh5 25 c6!
White decides to pin his chances on the advanced, passed c-pawn.
25...Nxg3 26 hxg3 Qh5 27 Kg2
27 c7 Qh2+ 28 Ke1 Rdc8 29 a5 Qxg3+ 30 Kd2 h5 was a line the players looked at. “That’s very blunt,
I should have played like this” was Aronian’s comment. He may have been thinking in terms of a good
line for exploiting his opponent’s time trouble than strict objectivity.
27...e5 28 e4 exd4 29 exd5 Re8!
Black is now counting down to the time control at move 40, with only as many minutes as moves left,
but he plays bravely in the face of those menacing passed pawns.
30 Qb5
One important here point is that after 30 Bc4 Black had 30...d3 , renewing the threats of taking on d5
and a rook invasion on e2. Levon Aronian had thought he could play 31 Rf1 Re2+ 32 Rf2 but then
noticed to his horror the move 32...Re1!! and Black wins.
30...Ra5!
And here’s a second point: a clever deflection. Now White has to be careful.
31 c7! Rxb5 32 Bxb5 Qg5! 33 c8Q Rxc8 34 Rxc8+ Kh7 35 d6
We’ve seen some tactical exchanges which would frighten the life out of most club players, but the
elite grandmasters probably worked it all out quite easily. The d-pawn has a sure-fire path to the
queening square so Black’s only option is to go for perpetual check.
35...Qd2+ 36 Kh3 Qd1 37 d7 f5 38 Kg2 Qd2+ 39 Kg1 Qe1+ 40 Kg2 Qd2+ 41 Kg1 Qe1+ 42 Kg2
½-½
A very good fightback from the brink by Luke McShane. Levon Aronian would probably feel he could
have done better.
David Howell told himself he wouldn’t get into time trouble but sadly he broke his promise to himself.
Magnus Carlsen outplayed him from a Berlin Defence, though he expressed disappointment with his
failure to find the most precise finish. In fact, right at the end, Howell could have played on while, but
resigned three seconds away from his time running out with one move to make.
Round 1
M.Carlsen - D.Howell
Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6
Eleven years have wandered by since Vlad Kramnik popularised the Berlin variation of the Ruy Lopez
for Black players who are prepared to suffer for their half point. The fact that he did it against Garry
Kasparov in a world title match helped.
4 d3 Bc5 5 c3 0–0 6 0–0 Re8 7 Bg5 h6 8 Bh4 Bf8
Earlier visitors to this position have kicked the bishop with 8...a6
9 Nbd2 d6 10 d4 exd4 11 Nxd4 Bd7 12 Nxc6 bxc6 13 Bd3 Be7 14 f4
Carlsen raises the stakes ever so slightly with this thrust.
14...Qb8 15 Bxf6 Bxf6 16 e5!?
David Howell admitted he had missed this idea, putting it down to lack of confidence and bad form.
16...dxe5 17 Ne4
White loosens the position up for his pieces with the pawn sacrifice. The computer is not entirely
convinced but Carlsen probably had an eye to Black’s quite appalling clock situation.
17...Qxb2 18 f5
The commentators were all for the head-on approach with 18 Qh5 but Carlsen decides to keep it
positional. Although, in fact, he’s still thinking about Qh5.
18...Red8 19 Bc4 Be8 20 Qh5 Rd6 21 Rab1
White decides against giving up the annoying knight for the static rook on d6. But the main point is
that he doesn’t want to give Black a recapture since they tend to use up too little time on the clock.
Objectively, the position is imbalanced and nobody can claim an advantage.
21...Qc2 22 Qg4 Kf8 23 h3
One of those sadistic little moves that can be played to taunt the opponent. “There - I do nothing.
What’s your plan?”
23...Rad8 24 Kh2
Actually, it’s not true to say that White is doing nothing - he’s trying not to afford his opponent any
checking opportunities, since they tend to be played fast and alleviate time pressure.
24...Qa4 25 Rb4 Qa3 26 Rb7 R6d7 27 Qf3 Qa4 28 Qe2 Re7?!
Inexorably, Black’s time pressure is beginning to tell. This move proves ineffective and the loss of
time in returning it to activity proves very unpleasant.
29 Nxf6 gxf6 30 Qe3 Red7
The bishop isn’t en prise: 30...Qxc4?? 31 Qxh6+ Kg8 32 Rb4 and the black queen must surrender
herself to stop the rook coming to g4.
31 Qc5+ Rd6
Going to the g-file is no better: 31...Kg8 32 Rf3 and now 32...Rd6 (to prevent a queen invasion on f8
after Rg3+) 33 Rxc7 and White is well on the way to winning.
32 Rxc7 Qc2
Black is close to being lost but White now has a winning deflection.
33 Rc8! R8d7
33...Rxc8 34 Qxd6+ Kg7 35 Rf3 , followed by 36 Rf3+, is the winning plan.
34 Be6!
This hefty spanner in the works comes close to concluding the game.
34...Ke7
34...fxe6 35 fxe6 wins one of the rooks, and more.
35 Bxd7 Bxd7 36 Rh8 Qd3 37 Rf3
Peter Svidler, watching online, had found the more accurate 37 Rf2 which seems to win.
37...Qd5 38 Qxa7 e4!
Black defends tenaciously. This attack on the f3 rook is the reason why 37 Rf2 would have been more
accurate.
39 Qb8 Qe5+ 40 Rg3 1–0
Howell assumed it was mate and resigned, but it isn’t, though Black is probably still lost in the long
run. 40...Qxf5 and there is no bone-crusher. White would have to win all over again with 41 a4 and
play to promote the pawn.
Round 2 games start on Sunday 4 December 2010 at 2pm British time, after the ceremonial opening
moves are made at 1.45pm. Vishy Anand has the bye and will be joining the commentary team for the
day.
For more information and to buy tickets to the London Chess Classic, please go to
www.londonchessclassic.com
ENDS
For further information please call:
John Saunders
Press Chief, London Chess Classic
Mobile: 07777 664111
E : [email protected]