Schacksnack

Today the main event of London Chess Classic started. The tournament will last from 10-14 Dec. The first round had the following meetings and results:

Vladimir Kramnik, Russia (2760) – Viswanathan Anand, India (2792) draw

Michael Adams, England (2745) – Fabiano Caruana, Italy (2839) 1-0

Hikaru Nakamura, U.S.A. (2767) – Anish Giri, Netherland (2776) draw

The most exciting and the longest game was that between Adams – Caruana where Caruana played Morphy’s move 3…a6 in a Ruy Lopez to secure a closed and dynamic game. At a later stage Adams made an interesting knight sacrifice on h6 which put the pressure on Caruana. Caruana didn’t play accurately and Adams got more than enough compensation for the lost piece. With his more active major pieces he could secure the win by combining advancing his passed pawns while threatening Black’s bad bishop on g7. Here is the exciting finish of the game.

Adams,Michael (2839) – Caruana,Fabiano (2757)
London Chess Classic (1), 10.12.2014

How should White continue to play for a win?

49.Rc3! f5 Of course 49…Rxb7? would lose immediately due to 50.cxb7 followed by 51.Rc8 queening the b-pawn. 50.Qd7 Rd4 51.Qe6 Rd6 Adams analysed 51…Rd8 52.c7 Rc8 53.a5 e4 54.Rc4 f4 55.Qxe4 Qd6 56.Qb7 f3+ 57.g3 Qd7 58.a6 Be5 59.a7 Bxg3+ 60.Kxg3 and wasn’t sure about all the details. After 60…Qd6+ 61.Kxf3 Qd1+ 62.Kg3 Qg1+ 63.Qg2 White is surely winning. 52.Qxd6 Qxd6 53.c7 e4+ 54.g3 Bxc3 55.c8Q+ Kh7 56.Qxc3 f4 57.gxf4 The simplest way to clarify the position. 57…Qxf4+ 58.Qg3 Qd2 59.Qc7+ Kg6 60.Qb6+ Kh7?! Here the king is less exposed for fewer checks but the problem is that Black now loses a pawn by force by a pretty queen manoeuvre by Adams. 61.Qb7+ Kh8 62.Qa8+ Kg7 63.Qxe4 Kf6 64.Qf3+ Kg6 65.Kg2 Qa2 66.Qe4+ Kf6 67.Qf4+ Kg6 68.Qd6+ Kg7 69.Qe5+ Kh7 70.a5 Qg8+ 71.Kh2 Qf7 72.Qe4+ Kg7 73.a6 1-0 A very well played and nice finish by Adams who seems to have a boost because of the win in the blitz tournament and the advantage of playing in London.

Round two has the following meetings:

Viswanathan Anand, India (2792) – Fabiano Caruana, Italy (2839)

Anish Giri, Netherland (2776) – Michael Adams, England (2745)

Vladimir Kramnik, Russia (2760) – Hikaru Nakamura, U.S.A. (2767)

Round 1-3 will be played 16.00 – 23.00 and round 4-5 14.00 – 21.00 and all the games can be followed live at chess24.com

with annotations by English grandmasters and masters.