London Chess Classic 2017 - Round 9 Recap

At the end of the 8.5 hour chess day, two champions were crowned. In a dramatic finale, Fabiano Caruana defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in the second blitz game of the playoffs to win the 2017 London Chess Classic. After several misses both in the rapids and the first blitz game, he emerged victorious in the time scramble. The playoffs came half an hour after Caruana’s six-hour grind against Michael Adams. This is the first Grand Chess Tour victory for the American. The overall winner of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour was none other than World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who won a clutch game with black pieces against Levon Aronian. This is his second Grand Chess Tour win. Read More > Final London Chess Classic and Grand Chess Tour Standings Ian Nepomniachtchi – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave ½ - ½ Entering the round with a half point lead on the field, Nepomniachtchi felt that the most important thing is not to lose. He made a very easy with a threefold repetition, ending the game in 19 moves. This gave him the opportunity to relax and wait for the potential tiebreak in case Caruana won his game. Nepomniachtchi explained that it wasn’t his proudest decision, but it was a practical one. A win for Vachier-Lagrave would have meant tying for first in London with Nepomniachtchi and tying for first or even winning the entire tour outright. Unfortunately, he had the black pieces and his opponent gave him no chances to sharpen the position. As he explained, in every opening he plays there is a possibility for White to make an easy draw and he did not feel as though he needed to take unnecessary risks. Fabiano Caruana – Michael Adams 1-0 Caruana’s six hour effort paid off as his clutch victory allowed him to tie for first with Nepomniachtchi and go into the playoffs. After Adams placed his rook on an awkward square, Caruana temporarily sacrificed an exchanged to go into a winning queen and rook endgame. Once they players entered the fifth hour of play, Caruana’s technique became flawed which allowed his opponent to escape the potential mating net and enter a rook ending. A fatal mistake on move 57 allowed the American to enter a winning position, which he converted effortlessly. Levon Aronian – Magnus Carlsen 0-1 After Vachier-Lagrave drew his game quickly, Carlsen only needed to draw to win the Grand Chess Tour. Yesterday, before even looking at the standings, he was under the impression that he needed to win; learning the standings and the possible scenarios did not change his mindset. He missed Aronian’s opening idea and found himself in a very bad position. Carlsen thought that Aronian felt frustrated because he couldn’t find a win and overpressed instead of going for a draw. Aronian overlooked a defensive move by his opponent, giving the advantage to his opponent. Carlsen converted easily and went on to win the game, thus winning the overall championship of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour. Viswanathan Anand – Wesley So 0-1 After eight draws, the American finally scored a win to finish the tournament with a plus score and gave his opponent a very unpleasant gift for his 48th birthday. Anand was on the White side of Giuoco Piano today but did not achieve anything out of the opening. After spending significant time working out the details of a tactic, So saw his opponent’s reply that would lead to equality but decided to play it nonetheless. Anand erred, and his position collapsed immediately. Sergey Karjakin – Hikaru Nakamura ½ - ½ It is very unusual for a dynamic player like Nakamura to not have any decisive result. He played ambitiously trying to complicate the position only to realize at the last minute that there was an error in his calculation. He chose a different route, but his position was already unpleasant. Karjakin also felt that his position was better but did not see a way to improve except for shuffling his pieces around. Draw was agreed on move 31. Watch the games of the London Chess Classic 2017  with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

Further Information: Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTour #GrandChessTour Venue:  Olympia Conference Center December 1-11, 2017 GCT Contact: Graham Jurgensen graham@grandchesstour.org Press Contact: John Saunders press@londonchessclassic.com Livestream: GrandChessTour.org Photos: Lennart Ootes Grand Chess Tour 325 N. Euclid Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108 USA info@grandchesstour.org Copyright © 2017 Grand Chess Tour. All rights reserved. It is the mission of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, an educational organization, to maintain a formal program of instruction to teach the game of chess and to promote and support its educational program through community outreach and local and national partnerships to increase the awareness of the educational value of chess.

London Chess Classic 2017 - Round 8 Recap

Round eight of the London Chess Classic started slowly with three early draws but then took a dramatic turn of events that changed the nature of the tournament. Tournament co-leader Fabiano Caruana felt comfortable with his draw believing that a plus two score is needed to at least tie for first. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who needs to score three more tour points than Carlsen, was not thrilled with his draw with the white pieces but still kept his chances open for taking the overall tour title. The standings were rattled when Magnus Carlsen shockingly blundered a piece then a pawn against Ian Nepomniachtchi who is now in clear first place. This result also gives Vachier-Lagrave excellent chances to score the necessary points to win the entire tour and even tie for first in London. The chips fell perfectly as tomorrowNepomniatchi and Vachier-Lagrave are facing off to decide everything. Read More > London Chess Classic standings after round 7 Magnus Carlsen – Ian Nepomniachtchi 0-1  Just as yesterday, Carlsen chose unorthodox opening moves which transposed into an exchange Slav. The game took a normal turn with White trying to build an attack in an isolated queen pawn position. Carlsen hasn’t been playing his best this entire tournament as it became evident when he missed a tactic which would have given him the advantage. After Nepomniachtchi reached equality, Carlsen blundered a pawn in a simple tactic. He seemed flustered by his oversight and tried to win the material back, but instead blundered a whole piece and resigned two moves later. Hikaru Nakamura – Fabiano Caruana ½ - ½ Caruana accepted Nakamura to play a more aggressive opening but instead a long theoretical line of the Nimzo Indian defense was played. The resulting position was a dull endgame but slightly worse for Black. Caruana thought that perhaps his compatriot wanted to surprise him. Fortunately for him, Caruana was well prepared and had looked at this line before the tournament. Once the bishops came off, there was nothing to play for in the equal rook endgame. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Viswanathan Anand ½ - ½  The Frenchman opted for the Guioco Piano, which has become the fashionable opening at the top level. He made the unusual decision of exchanging his light square bishop for a knight for what he thought would be a strong initiative for him. Unfortunately, in his ten-move variation he missed that Anand can force him to either repeat the position or retreat with the rook and accept a worse position. The game ended in a draw when he chose the former option. Wesley So – Sergey Karjakin ½ - ½ The five-hour game did not produce the result needed for Wesley So, who could have been tied for second place with Caruana had he won this game.  The American had a slight edge out of the opening but missed a dynamic possibility on move 23, which would have posed some real problems for his opponent. Optically, White had the advantage due to his strong knight in the endgame, but it was hard to create anything substantial with it. The 56-move battle ended when only a bishop and a pawn were left on the board. Michael Adams – Levon Aronian  ½ - ½ After two long battles and back to back losses, Adams just wanted to get back on the scoreboard and stop the bleeding. He chose the Re1 line in the Berlin leading to a symmetrical position. Aronian usually plays his favorite Marshall Attack line in the Ruy Lopez, but he felt that it could be just as dry as the Berlin. Neither player was able to put any pressure on their opponent and a draw was agreed by a threefold repetition.  Watch the games of the London Chess Classic 2017  with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

Further Information: Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTour #GrandChessTour Venue:  Olympia Conference Center December 1-11, 2017 GCT Contact: Graham Jurgensen graham@grandchesstour.org Press Contact: John Saunders press@londonchessclassic.com Livestream: GrandChessTour.org Photos: Lennart Ootes Grand Chess Tour 325 N. Euclid Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108 USA info@grandchesstour.org Copyright © 2017 Grand Chess Tour. All rights reserved. It is the mission of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, an educational organization, to maintain a formal program of instruction to teach the game of chess and to promote and support its educational program through community outreach and local and national partnerships to increase the awareness of the educational value of chess.

London Chess Classic 2017 - Round 7 Recap

Round seven of the London Chess Classic was the most eventful one with three decisive results, which affected both the standings for this event and the entire tour. Ian Nepomniachtchi won his second consecutive game and is now tied with Caruana who only drew today. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Magnus Carlsen are neck and neck battling it out for the Grand Chess Tour overall title and both scored a much-needed point today. They are now half a point behind the leaders. Ian Nepomniachtchi has the fate of the London Chess Classic and the entire tour in his hands as he plays Carlsen and Vachier-Lagrave in the next two games. Read More > London Chess Classic standings after round 7 Ian Nepomniachtchi – Viswanathan Anand 1-0 Anand repeated the line Karjakin played against him yesterday which gave the Russian equality out of the opening. Nepomniachtchi decided not to repeat the same line and played a pawn sacrifice opening a file on his opponent’s king but leaving his own king in the center. Anand sacrificed the pawn back for dynamic play making the position very complicated. Nepomniachtchi found a repetition in a position but decided to play for a win since there have been so many draws via threefold repetition in the tournament already. His efforts paid off when the former World Champion played a few imprecise moves then blundered in an already difficult position. Sergey Karjakin – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 0-1 Karjakin decided to enter a theoretical battle by challenging the Frenchman’s beloved Najdorf in one of the sharpest variations. Karjakin felt that he was well prepared but in fact had underestimated his opponent’s position as Vachier-Lagrave had outposts for all his pieces. The middlegame was extremely complicated, which was simply better handled by Vachier-Lagrave who has a great understanding of these structures. After exchanging the queens, the Frenchman was able to utilize his superior pawn structure to win a pawn. Feeling that his opponent has played well the entire game and won’t blunder, Karjakin decided to end the suffering and resigned. Magnus Carlsen – Michael Adams 1-0 The World Champion surprised everyone by starting the game with the rare 1.f4, known as the Bird’s Opening. Today, he was on the receiving end of a positional sacrifice and was in a bad position after 14 moves. Instead of playing for the long-term compensation, Adams was too impatient in simplifying the position to get the material back. The resulting endgame was still unclear, but Adams started to slowly lose the thread of the game and allowed Carlsen to mobilize his pieces. After an accumulation of several small mistakes, Adams blundered in an already bad position. Even though Carlsen felt like he hasn’t been playing well and has been miscalculating, he still has been fighting for every point in this tournament. Fabiano Caruana – Wesley So ½ - ½ Caruana was surprised by his compatriot’s opening of choice of playing a6 on the third move instead of the Berlin in the Spanish Opening. Having the white pieces, he wanted to get a game and press for the win, thus his choice to avoid the main lines. After the central pawns were exchanged, the resulting position was too equal for White to create any real chances. Draw was agreed when the 30-move requirement was reached. Levon Aronian – Hikaru Nakamura ½ - ½ The four-time US Champion did not get the birthday gift he was hoping for today. After 20 moves of theory were blitzed out, Nakamura went into a deep think. Aronian had a slight edge with his more active pieces but was unable to put enough pressure on his opponent to achieve anything significant. Nakamura weakened his king’s position in order to exchange his opponent’s active knight, but due to reduced material on the board, his defense was not difficult.  Watch the games of the London Chess Classic 2017  with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.

Further Information: Web: GrandChessTour.org | Twitter: @GrandChessTour #GrandChessTour Venue:  Olympia Conference Center December 1-11, 2017 GCT Contact: Graham Jurgensen graham@grandchesstour.org Press Contact: John Saunders press@londonchessclassic.com Livestream: GrandChessTour.org Photos: Lennart Ootes Grand Chess Tour 325 N. Euclid Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108 USA info@grandchesstour.org Copyright © 2017 Grand Chess Tour. All rights reserved. It is the mission of the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, an educational organization, to maintain a formal program of instruction to teach the game of chess and to promote and support its educational program through community outreach and local and national partnerships to increase the awareness of the educational value of chess