3rd London Chess Classic 2011 (Final Meal)
London Classic fun game from Closing Dinner
IM Malcolm Pein - Friday 16th December 2011
The closing dinner of the London Chess Classic at Simpson's in the Strand always features a simultaneous by the players. This year, the dinner was also a fundraiser for the charity Chess in Schools and Communities. Each table has eight places, seven filled by guests and one occupied by a chess board.
Simultaneous at closing dinner. Photo © Ray Morris-Hill. | http://www.rmhphoto.eu
I send each player round in turn to do a circuit of the room and make a move on all eighteen boards.
It always amuses me that the world's greatest players often don't appreciate what the others are trying to do and so the overall score has been pretty close. Each table has its own chess advisor, in some cases a GM, which also makes their task much tougher of course.
Here is one of the games where the guests; representatives from Merril Lynch, HSBC, Morgan Stanley plus Bermuda international Nick Faulks and England women's international Natasha Regan were mentored by former British champion Jonathan Rowson. Rowson commented: " The thing that made an impression on me is that Magnus's h3, Luke's a4 and Aronian's c5 were all good moves, but they didn't work together". Your correspondent made a few moves on this board as well but the position was fairly grim by then. My thanks to Jonathan for recording the game and the comments.
London Chess Classic GMs v Table Four
English Opening
1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 h6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.e4 Bxc3
Aronian: "Ah, you want to test my positional understanding?...Well I think we should recapture the bishop....with a pawn"
6.bxc3 d6 7.d3
Anand
7...a6 8.Ne2 0-0 9.a4
McShane
9...Nh7 10.h3
"And now I'm going to do something really subtle"- Carlsen. Too subtle for me - JR.
10...Nc6 11.0-0 f5 12.c5
(Aronian.12.exf5 Bxf5 13.g4 followed by f4 was probably Carlsen's idea - JR)
12...fxe4 13.dxe4 dxc5 14.Qd5+
Adams
14...Qxd5 15.exd5 Na5 16.Be3
Howell
16...Nb3 17.Rad1
McShane
17...Nf6 18.f4 Re8 19.f5
Kramnik
19...Rd8 20.g4 Rb8 21.Ng3 Bd7 22.d6 cxd6 23.Rxd6 Bxa4 24.Rxf6!?
Nakamura - but a blunder objectively - MP
24...gxf6 25.Bxh6
Pein.
25...Kf7 26.h4
McShane.
26...Rd3 27.Ne4 Bc6 28.g5 Rbd8 29.g6+
(McShane 29.Nxf6!? Rg3 wins-MP)
29...Ke7 30.Bg7 Bxe4 31.Bxe4 Rh3 32.Re1!?
Kramnik. Just after arriving he asked: "Who is the betrayer of this position?" (I plead not guilty - MP)
32...Rg8 33.Bg2
(Aronian. 33.Bh6 Rxh4 and the bishop has no safe squares -JR)
33...Rxh4 34.Rxe5+
Kramnik- with a flourish.
34...fxe5 35.f6+
"From the way Vladimir played Rxe5 I thought we were winning." - Anand
35...Ke6 36.f7 Rd8 37.f8Q
(37.Bxe5 Rg4! On seeing this, Aronian said "It's not fair")
37...Rxf8 38.Bxf8 Rg4 39.g7 Kf7 40.Kf2 Rxg2+ 0-1
The a-pawn queens so I resigned on behalf of the players.
Table 4
 | | | | |  | | |
|  | | | |  |  | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
|  | | | | | | |
| | | | |  |  | |
| | | | | | | |
LCC GMs
Final position after 40...Rxg2+
Today's puzzle is Magnus Carlsen's winning combination against Mickey Adams. Mickey was fine until he blundered in time trouble.
Michael Adams
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
|  | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | |  | |  | | |
Magnus Carlsen
White to play and win
36.Rxd5 Nxe5
(36...exd5 37.Bxd5+ Ke7 38.Bxc4)
37.Rxe5 Qc3 38.Kg2 1-0
