3rd London Chess Classic 2011 (3)
Carlsen takes control after three rounds of London Classic
IM Malcolm Pein - Wednesday 7th December 2011
Malcolm Pein reports on Round 3 of the London Chess Classic where Magnus Carlsen's win against Hikaru Nakamura gave him a clear early lead.
Carlsen leads. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill. | http://www.rmhphoto.eu
Magnus Carlsen took control of the 3rd London Chess Classic at Olympia in the third round. The world number one outplayed Hikaru Nakamura from a quiet Ruy Lopez type position and was pressing, when the USA number one allowed an exchange sacrifice that produced overwhelming threats. This was Carlsen's fifth win over Nakamura in 12 months and he moved to 7 points from 3 games.
Luke McShane's superb form continued and he is in second place after Michael Adams played rather tentatively with white in the Ruy Lopez. Adams allowed a piece sacrifice but then did not accept it and was just a pawn down. English hopes were high after an hour of Anand vs Howell after the world champion played a dubious idea and was clearly worse. Howell missed his chance to score a notable victory although of course, he would have settled for a draw with black at start of play. Nigel Short was positionally outplayed by Levon Aronian but nearly fought his way back into the game twice only to lose by a tempo in the ending.
It was notable that Vladimir Kramnik, who had a free day and was in the commentary room, always suggested moving the knight away from f6 when the sacrifice is threatened. Scores: Carlsen 7/3, McShane 5/3, Kramnik 4/2, Nakamura, Aronian 4/3, Anand 2/2, Adams 2/3 Howell 2/3 Short 0/2
M Carlsen - H Nakamura
Italian Game
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 d6 6.Bb3 a6 7.Nbd2 Ba7 8.Nf1 h6 9.Ng3 0-0 10.0-0 Be6 11.h3 Qd7
(11...d5 12.Qe2 Re8=)
12.Be3 Ne7
(12...Bxe3 13.fxe3 helps White so Black will lose a time with his rook later)
13.Nh4 Ng6
(13...Bxh3 14.gxh3 Qxh3 15.Bxa7 Rxa7 16.Ng2 Ng4 17.Re1 Qh2+ 18.Kf1)
14.Nhf5 Ne7
(14...d5 15.Bxa7 Rxa7 16.Qf3 Nf4=)
15.Nxe7+ Qxe7 16.Bxa7 Rxa7 17.f4
White has some initiative but Black creates queenside counerplay in the next few moves
17...c5 18.Bc2 b5 19.Qd2 Rb7 20.a3 a5 21.Rf2 b4 22.axb4 axb4 23.Raf1 bxc3 24.bxc3 exf4 25.Rxf4 Nh7 26.d4 cxd4 27.cxd4 Qg5 28.Kh2 Nf6
(28...Rc8 29.h4 Qe7)
29.Bd1 Rfb8?
(29...Rb1 30.h4 Rxd1 Kramnik)
30.h4 Qg6
Hikaru Nakamura
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Magnus Carlsen
Position after 30...Qg6
31.Rxf6! gxf6 32.Qf4 Rb2 33.Bh5 Qg7 34.Bf3 Ra8 35.d5 Bc8 36.Nh5 Qf8 37.Nxf6+ Kh8 38.Rc1 Kg7 39.e5 dxe5 40.Nh5+ Kh7 41.Be4+ 1-0
Hikaru Nakamura
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Magnus Carlsen
Final position after 41.Be4+
L Aronian - N Short
Queen's Indian
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bxd2+ 6.Qxd2 Ba6 7.b3 0-0 8.Bg2 d5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.0-0 Qd6 11.Nc3 Nc6 12.Rac1 Rfe8 13.Qf4 Rad8 14.Rfe1 g6 15.a3 Kg7 16.Bf1 Na5 17.Qxd6 Rxd6 18.Nd2 Ne4 19.Ncxe4 dxe4 20.b4 Nc6 21.e3 Bxf1 22.Kxf1 Re7 23.Nc4 Rd8 24.Re2 f6 25.Rec2 Nb8 26.a4 Na6 27.Nd2 c5 28.bxc5 bxc5 29.Nb3 cxd4 30.Nxd4 Nb4 31.Rc7 Rdd7 32.Rxd7 Rxd7 33.a5 Kf7 34.g4 Nd5 35.Rc8 Ke7 36.h4 Rb7 37.h5 f5 38.hxg6 hxg6 39.gxf5 gxf5 40.Nxf5+ Kd7 41.Rc5 Nb4 42.Ng3 Nc6 43.Nxe4 Rb1+ 44.Ke2 Ra1 45.f4 Rxa5 46.Rc2 Nb4 47.Rd2+ Ke7 48.Kf3 Rh5 49.Ng5 a5 50.e4 Rh1 51.e5 Rf1+ 52.Kg4 a4 53.e6 a3 54.Rd7+ Ke8 55.Ne4 Nd5 56.Rxd5 a2 57.Rd7 a1Q 58.Nd6+ Kf8 59.e7+ Kg8 60.e8Q# 1-0
