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London Chess Classic Day 4 Round-Up |
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Tuesday, 08 December 2015 13:28 |
Despite today’s four draws, chess lovers from all over the world were treated to some thrilling chess and it was almost 11pm when the last two players called it a day. But before we get to the actual chess action, here’s a reminder that on Wednesday 9th December the CNN will be asking Magnus Carlsen your questions. You can read all about this unique opportunity in the following press release.
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The Auditorium seen from the balcony
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The first game to finish was a rather balanced draw between Giri and Aronian, but the remaining four games were all looking extremely promising - and they didn’t disappoint! The draw between Grischuk and Vachier-Lagrave also came from an even game, but here it was the Russian’s infamous time trouble issues that had the spectators on the edge of their seats. However, once move 40 was reached, the rook endgame was just a forced draw and the players repeated moves right away. Nakamura was next to finish, as he profited from an off-day by Anand to win his first game here in London. World Champion Magnus Carlsen looked like he was close to winning for the majority of his game, but Adams put up a magnificent defensive performance and a draw was agreed at 10.30pm. Surprisingly, this was not the last game of the day to finish, as Topalov was still trying to get the better of Caruana. However, the American produced a similarly impressive rear-guard effort to hold on to a draw, which was eventually agreed on move 83.
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Nakamura increasing his career score against Anand to 6 wins to 1
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And if today’s action wasn’t enough to satisfy your chess hunger, make sure you don’t miss out on this brilliant video where all LCC participants (try to) describe one another in just a single word.
Today’s 4th game of the British Knockout Championship Final was marked by both players getting extremely short on time right out of the opening, which led to Howell offering a draw on move 15 with the white pieces. In hindsight, 15.Be3 might have been Howell’s worst move of the game, but after a 25-minute think Pert decided to accept the draw offer, which means that with two games to go Howell is still leading by the smallest of margins.
In the FIDE Open, Benjamin Bok held the sole leader Evgeny Postny to a draw with the black pieces, which gave four players from the group on 3.5/4 the chance to catch up with an important win today: Alex Lenderman, Eric Hansen, Tamas Fodor and the man of the hour, 51st seed Crg Krishna.
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Evgeny Postny, top seed and joint leader of the FIDE Open
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The traditional Weekday Classic Tournaments - which give players the chance to play five FIDE-rated games in either the U2000 or U135 section - also kicked off Monday and will run daily until Friday.
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