London Chess Classic Twitter Game

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3rd London Chess Classic 2011 (4)

London Chess Classic Twitter Game

IM Malcolm Pein - Friday 9th December 2011

IM Malcolm Pein looks at the Twitter game that started the London Chess Classic. Also he looks at a win by Jovanka Houska in the open held alongside the Classic.

Jovanka Houska. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill.

Jovanka Houska. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill. | http://www.rmhphoto.eu

The 3^rd London Chess Classic started on Friday 2^nd September with a game played on Twitter between the nine grandmasters and the Twittersphere . After the press conference, I gathered the grandmasters around a garden chess set. Boris Becker tweeted the first move for the world which was 1.e4 then the GMs took turns making a move as the moves arrived via tweets to @londonchessclassic.

Once the GM move was decided it was tweeted. The game was a lot of fun and lasted about 40 minutes. With 27732 elo points playing black, it was certainly the highest level game ever played on Twitter.

The Twittersphere - 3^rd LCC GMs

North Sea Defence

1.e4 g6

Anand's choice

2.d4 Nf6 3.e5 Nh5

Magnus couldn't resist this. It's a move once played by Tony Miles that Magnus took up but he lost to Michael Adams with it at the Olympiad

4.Be2 d6 5.Bxh5 gxh5 6.Qxh5 dxe5 7.Qxe5 Rg8

Black has good play for the pawn with Nc6 coming

8.Nf3 Nc6 9.Qh5 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Qxd4 11.0-0 Qe4 12.g3 Bg7

Kramnik's idea. Black has the edge with better development and weak white squares to aim at. Some of the GMs wanted to take on c2 which is also good of course.

13.Nc3 Bxc3 14.bxc3 Bd7 15.Ba3?! Bc6 16.f3 Qe3+ 17.Kg2 0-0-0 18.Rae1?

London Classic GMs

Twittersphere

Position after 18.Rae1? Can you see a brilliant win for Black

18...Qxc3 19.Bxe7 Rd2+ 20.Kh1

(20.Kg1 Qd4+ 21.Kh1 Re8 22.Qxf7 fights on)

20...Rf2! 21.Rxf2 Qxe1+ 22.Kg2 Qxe7 0-1

Answer: A hidden tactical possibility lurked 18...Rxg3+!! 19.hxg3 Rd2+ 20.Kh1 Bxf3+ 21.Qxf3 Qh6+!; 18...Rd2+ 19.Kh1 Bxf3+ 20.Qxf3 And there is no Qh6+; 18...Rxg3+ 19.Kxg3 Rg8+ 20.Kh3 Bd7+ 21.Kh4 Qf4+ mates

IM Jovanka Houska is one of seven players in the joint lead of the FIDE Open at Olympia. There are ten GMs in the field. This was a hair raising game. Jovanka actually overlooked Ne6 but then desperation was the mother of invention.

F Perez - J Houska

Caro Kann

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.f3 Qb6 4.Nc3 dxe4 5.fxe4 e5 6.Nf3 exd4 7.Nxd4 Bc5 8.Na4 Qa5+ 9.c3 Be7 10.b4 Qc7 11.Bd3 Bd6 12.Qh5 Nd7?! 13.Ne6!

Jovanka Houska