3rd London Chess Classic 2011 (Announced)
3rd London Chess Classic back in December 2011
IM Malcolm Pein - Tuesday 29th March 2011
Malcolm Pein is the tournament director of the London Chess Classic and he announces the expanded 3rd edition in December.
3rd London Chess Classic | http://www.londonchessclassic.com
Your correspondent is delighted to announce that the dates for the London Chess Classic 2011 have been confirmed and the tournament will be held from December 3-12 at the Olympia Conference Centre in Kensington. There will be a change in format with the addition of one more player to make the tournament a nine player all play all.
There will be nine rounds with four games per day and on their day off, the ninth player will participate in the commentary at Olympia and in the internet broadcast.
There will also be five days of junior coaching, open to all schools and free of charge, a Grandmaster Open, and weekend tournaments for players of all levels. An innovation this year will be a chess festival with lectures, teaching and film screenings. The prize fund has been increased again and will be in excess of € 150,000. I will announce the lineup in May.
Peter Wells made a tremendous start to the European Individual at Aix Les Bains, defeating Ivan Sokolov and holding the title holder and Russian champion Ian Nepomniachtchi to a draw with black.
Luke Mcshane started with a win but then got bogged down with four straight draws before winning in round six. Gawain Jones defeated Viktor Bologan to reach 4.5/6.
G Jones - V Bologan
Sicilian Bb5+
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.d4 a6 5.Bxd7+ Bxd7 6.dxc5 dxc5 7.Nc3 e6 8.Bf4 Ne7 9.Ne5 Ng6 10.Qh5 Nxe5
(10...Bc6 11.Bg3 Nxe5 12.Bxe5 c4 13.0-0 Qa5 Ni-Hua Carlsen London Chess Classic 2009, Black won)
11.Bxe5 h6 12.h4 Bc6
(Black is a tempo down on Ni Hua - Carlsen and cannot get his king to safety)
13.Rd1 Qa5 14.0-0 c4 15.Nd5!
Viktor Bologan
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Gawain Jones
Position after 15.Nd5!
15...exd5 16.exd5 Bd7
(16...Bxd5 17.Bc3 Qc7 18.Rxd5 with a winning attack)
17.Bc3 Bb4 18.Bxg7 0-0-0
(18...Rg8 19.Qe5+ Kd8 20.Rd4! b5 21.d6 threatening c2-c3 trapping the bishop)
19.Bxh8 Rxh8 20.Qxf7 Rf8 21.Qg7 Qd8 22.Rd4 Bd6 23.Qxh6 Rf6 24.Qg5 b5 25.b3 Qh8 26.Re4 Rf5 27.Qe3 cxb3 28.Qb6! Qf6 29.Qxa6+ Kb8
Viktor Bologan
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Gawain Jones
Position after 29...Kb8. How did Jones continue?
Answer: The game ended 30.Re6! Bh2+
(30...Bxe6 31.Qxd6+)
31.Kxh2 Qxh4+ 32.Kg1 Bxe6 33.Qb6+ Ka8 34.axb3 1-0
Ra1+ follows.
V Potkin - T Sarbok
Queen's Gambit Accepted
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Bxc4 Nb6 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.Be3 Be6 8.Nc3 Qd7 9.Nf3 0-0-0 10.0-0 Bc4 11.Bxc4 Nxc4 12.d5 N6xe5 13.Nxe5 Nxe5 14.Qd4 Nc6 15.Qa4 Nb8 16.Qxa7 e6 17.Rac1 exd5 18.Na4 1-0
