Showing posts with label London Chess Classic 2018. Show all posts
Showing posts with label London Chess Classic 2018. Show all posts

2018-12-17

10th London Chess Classic 2018

The London Chess Classic is the final stage of the Grand Chess Tour held in London from 11th to 17th of December 2018, with a rest day on December 14.

Official site

Players:
-  Fabiano Caruana (Classical #2, 2832; Rapid #10, 2789; Blitz #16, 2767)
-  Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Classical #6, 2778; Rapid #11, 2786; Blitz #2, 2937)
-  Levon Aronian (Classical #11, 2765; Rapid #7, 2802; Blitz #3, 2889)
-  Hikaru Nakamura (Classical #17, 2746; Rapid #2, 2844; Blitz #4, 2858)

After two Classical games on December 11-12, games of rapid and blitz will be played on Dec. 13. The winners then go through to the 3-day Final, held at the traditional Olympia London venue on December 15-16 (Classical) & 17 (Rapid & Blitz). There will also be a Third Place Playoff.

The 1st prize is $120,000,  $80,000 for 2nd, $60,000 for 3rd and $40,000 for 4th

Schedule in UTC:

Round 1 Classic                 Dec 11, 2018    14:00 
Round 2 Classic                 Dec 12, 2018    14:00 
Round 1 Rapid                   Dec 13, 2018    14:00 
Round 2 Rapid                   Dec 13, 2018    15:30 
Round 1 Blitz                     Dec 13, 2018    17:00
Round 2 Blitz                     Dec 13, 2018    17:30 
Round 3 Blitz                     Dec 13, 2018    18:00 
Round 4 Blitz                     Dec 13, 2018    18:30
Round 1 Classic                 Dec 15, 2018    14:00 
Round 2 Classic                 Dec 15, 2018    14:00 
Round 1 Rapid                  Dec 15, 2018    14:00
Round 2 Rapid                  Dec 16, 2018    15:30 
Round 1 Blitz                    Dec 17, 2018    17:00
Round 2 Blitz                    Dec 16, 2018    17:30 
Round 3 Blitz                    Dec 17, 2018    18:00 
Round 4 Blitz                    Dec 17, 2018    18:30

Watch the games of the London Chess Classic 2018 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb and
on https://www.chess.com/events/2018-london-chess-classic via Chess.com with commentary by GMs Yasser Seirawan, Cristian Chirila, Alejandro Ramirez and WGM Jennifer Shahade.

Read Mike Klein's comments at Chess.com
Caruana Back In Action For 4-Man London Chess Classic

Read PeterDoggers's comments at Chess.com
Nakamura Wins 2018 Grand Chess Tour
London Chess Classic: Jones Scores With Bishop Sac
Carlsen, Anand To Defend Rapid, Blitz Titles In St. Petersburg
MVL, Nakamura To Play London Grand Chess Tour Final
London Grand Chess Tour Semis To Be Decided Tomorrow
London Grand Chess Tour Takes Off With Fighting Draws

Read the Grand Chess Tour recaps
2018 London Chess Classic – Recap Day 5
2018 London Chess Classic – Recap Day 4
2018 London Chess Classic – Recap Day 3
2018 London Chess Classic – Recap Day 2
2018 London Chess Classic – Recap Day 1

Watch the Grand Chess Tour Video Recaps of the 2018 London Chess Classic
Video Recap Day 1Video Recap Day 2Recap Day 3Recap Day 4Recap Day 5;



2018-12-08

London Chess Classic 2018



Just days after the end of his World Championship match in London against Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana will be pitting his wits against Hikaru Nakamura, Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the Grand Chess Tour Finals at the 10-th London Chess Classic, which this year will be a four-player knockout from December 9 to 16, 2018 with $300,000 at stake.
Then the action is held in the London Chess Classic’s traditional venue, Olympia London
The 2018 London Chess Classic tournament is composed of a several events British Knockout (December 8 – 17); FIDE Open (December 9 – 16);  6th Pro-Biz Cup (December 10)GCT Finals (December 11 – 17).
The structure of the tournaments are identical 

1. British Knockout
Details of the tournament can be found at

2. FIDE Open
The FIDE Open is a 9 round open tournament featuring over 240 players including 18 Grandmasters. The top seed is GM Hrant Melkumyan (ARM) with an ELO of 2670. The players list for the FIDE Open can be accessed at https://tickets.londonchessclassic.com/entries.php.
The playing schedule can be accessed at https://www.londonchessclassic.com/festival/schedule_2018.htm.
Time Control is 90 minutes for 40 moves + 30 minutes for all remaining moves, with a 30 second increment starting at move 1. 

3. 6th Pro-Biz Cup            
Further details on the 10 teams that will be participating can be found in the press release available at https://www.londonchessclassic.com/probiz/probiz18.htm

Schedule of Play - Monday 10th December
11:30 – 12:30 Round 1
13.00 – 14.00 Round 2
14:30 – 15:30 Round 3
In the event of a tie after three rounds a blitz game will be played to determine the winners of the competition.

Event Format
The tournament will be played as a 10 team swiss tournament over three rounds. Scoring 2-1-0.
Rate of play will be 20 minutes for all moves + 5 seconds increment per move.
The pro will make the first move for each team and players will then alternate each move. No conferring is allowed other than per the time-out rules below.

Time Outs
Two one-minute time outs will be permitted for each team per game. The teams will need to signal to the arbiter if they wish to confer and time outs can only be called on a team’s move. Either player in the team can call for a time-out. The clocks will be stopped during the time out and after two time outs no further consultation is permitted. The team that calls for the time out remains at the board while the other team leaves.

4. GCT Finals
The exciting finale of the Grand Chess Tour is being fought out at the London Chess Classic, in a knockout format, for the first time. A total prize fund of $300,000 is at stake.
The semi-final battles will feature the 4 top players from the Grand Chess Tour after the qualifying events in Paris, Leuven and St. Louis.
The semi-finals will be hosted by DeepMind at Google’s London headquarters and the action will then move to the London Chess Classic’s traditional venue, Kensington Olympia, for the finals.

The playing schedule for the GCT Finals is as follows:

Semi Finals (11th – 13th December)
Day 1 Classical                   Tuesday 11th December at 1400
Day 2 Classical                   Wednesday 12th December at 1400
Day 3 Rapid & Blitz           Thursday 13th December at 1400
Rest Day                               Friday 14th December
Finals (15th – 17th December)
Day 1 Classical                   Saturday 15th December at 1400
Day 2 Classical                   Sunday 16th December at 1400
Day 3 Rapid & Blitz           Monday 17th December at 1400

3. Playing Schedule 
The classical games on days 1,2,4 and 5 will all commence at 14.00. 
The playing schedule for the Rapid & Blitz days (days 3 and 6) will be as follows:
14.00       Rapid Game 1
15.30       Rapid Game 2
17.00      Blitz Game 1
17.30      Blitz Game 2
18.00      Blitz Game 3
18.30      Blitz Game 4
19.15       Rapid Playoff Game 1 (If required)
20.00       Rapid Playoff Game 2 (If required)
20.45       Armageddon Playoff Game (If required)

Tournament Pairings 
  • Match 1: Hikaru Nakamura vs Fabiano Caruana
  • Match 2: Levon Aronian vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Drawing of lots for initial colours will take place during the players meeting on the 9th December. The player who has White in Classic Game 1 shall have in Rapid Game 1 and in Blitz Games 1 and 3.

Rate of Play
The rate of play for each format of the GCT Finals is as follows:
  • Classic Games: One Hundred (100) Minutes for 40 moves, followed by sixty (60) minutes
  • Rapid Games: Game in 25 minutes, with a 10-second delay from move 1.
  • Blitz Games: Game in 5 minutes, with a 3-second delay from move 1. 
Scoring
Points are allocated to each game within the respective matches as follows:
  • 6 points for a win, 3 points for a draw and 0 points for a loss in the 2 Classic games.
  • 4 points for a win, 2 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss in the 2 Rapid games; and
  • 2 point for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for a loss in the 4 Blitz games.
Each match is therefore be scored out of a total of (6 pts * 2 Classic games) + (4 pts * 2 rapid games) + (2 pts * 4 blitz games) = 28 possible points. A total of 15 points will be required to win each match.

Tiebreak Regulations
 In the event of a tie for any of the matches there shall be a playoff.
In any playoff, a Rapid mini-match consisting of two games shall first be played at a time limit of game in 10 minutes with a 5 second delay per move from move 1.
If this fails to break the tie, a single “Armageddon” game shall be played to split the tie:
  • White shall have 5 minutes and shall have 4 minutes, without any increment or delay.
  • In the event of a draw shall be declared the winner
Official information source



Watch the games of the London Chess Classic 2018 with computer analysis LIVE on ChessBomb.