London Chess Classic FIDE Open (Concluded)
Hammer wins the Open
IM Malcolm Pein - Tuesday 22nd December 2009
The Russian Championship Superfinal is underway in Moscow with the ten player all boasting a $100,000 prize fund. Peter Svidler is back to defend his title, won after a tense play off against Dmitry Jakovenko who also competes this year. The tournament is being played in the Great Hall of the Central Moscow Chess Club.
Jon Ludvig Hammer. Photo © John Saunders. | http://www.londonchessclassic.com
The Russian Championship Superfinal is underway in Moscow with the ten player all boasting a $100,000 prize fund. Peter Svidler is back to defend his title, won after a tense play off against Dmitry Jakovenko who also competes this year. The tournament is being played in the Great Hall of the Central Moscow Chess Club.
Viktor Korchnoi was guest of honour at the London Chess Classic but was unable to make the closing dinner as he had to leave for Moscow en route to Elista where he is playing a match against Boris Spassky funded by FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. Korchnoi won the first game with the white pieces and the second game was drawn.
There was a Norwegian double at the London Chess Classic as nineteen year old GM Jon Ludvig Hammer dominated the Open tournament. However the English GMs did well and IM Jovanka Houska had a fine result.
1 GM Hammer (Norway 2588) 8/9
2-4 GM Williams (England 2550), GM
Hebden (England, 2522) and IM Houska
(England 2391) 7;
GM Wells (England 2489), GM
Cherniaev (Russia 2465), GM Arkell
(England 2464), GM McDonald (England
2412) and IM Pcola (Slovakia 2386) 6
JL Hammer - P Pcola
London Classic FIDE Open (3)
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.g3 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.e4 Ne8
(The Czech Benoni is a reasonable way of avoiding theory but White's next spooks Black into making a serious positional error)
8.h4!
(Preventing Bg5 exchanging the bad bishop and discouraging the standard of plan of g7-g6 Ng7 and f7-f5 because of the response h4-h5)
8...f5? 9.exf5 Bxf5 10.Bh3
(It's worth a tempo to exchange a bad bishop for a good one)
10...Bd7?! 11.Qe2 a6 12.Ne4 h6
(12...b5 13.Ng5)
13.g4! Bxh4 14.Nf3 b5
(14...Be7 15.g5 h5 16.Bxd7 Nxd7 17.Rxh5)
15.g5
(Attacking with six pieces. Black's Bf5-d7 prevented his knight from entering the game)
15...hxg5 16.Nexg5 Bxg5 17.Nxg5 Qf6 18.Bxd7 Nxd7 19.Rh8+!
Pavol Pcola
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Jon Ludvig Hammer
Position after 19.Rh8+!
19...Kxh8 20.Qh5+ Qh6 21.Nf7+ Rxf7 22.Bxh6 Kg8 23.Be3 bxc4 24.0-0-0 Nef6 25.Qh3 Re7 26.Bg5 Ree8 27.Qh4 e4 28.Rg1 Kf7 29.Qg3 Nxd5 30.Qxd6 N7b6 31.Be3 1-0
S Loeffler - JL Hammer
London Classic FIDE Open (6)
1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 e6 3.e4 h6 4.Bxf6 Qxf6 5.c3 d5 6.Nd2 c5 7.Bb5+ Bd7 8.Bxd7+ Nxd7 9.exd5 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qxd4! 11.dxe6 Nc5! 12.exf7+ Kxf7 13.Qf3+ Kg8 14.Ne2 Re8 15.Rd1 Qxb2 16.0-0 Qxa2 17.Nc3 Qf7 18.Qg3 h5! 19.Nf3 Rh6 20.Ng5 Qc4 21.Qf3 Be7 22.Rd4 Qb3 23.Rb1? Bxg5 24.h4
(24.Rxb3 Re1#)
24...Rf8 25.Qg3 Bxh4 26.Rxh4 Qf7 27.Rbb4 Rg6 28.Qe3 Nd3! 29.Rb5
(29.Qxd3 Qxf2+ 30.Kh1 Qxg2#)
29...Qxf2+ 30.Qxf2 Rxf2 0-1
