Final Results for the London Chess Classic

GM Magnus Carlsen 13 points

GM Viswanathan Anand 11 points

GM Luke McShane 11 points

GM Hikaru Nakamura 10 points

GM Vladimir Kramnik 10 points

GM Michael Adams 8 points

GM David Howell 4 points

GM Nigel Short 2 points

Considering the strength of this tournament it doesn't really matter that GM Luke McShane didn't win it. His performance over the tournament considering his rating was extremely impressive. 

London Chess Classic round 7

In the last round GM Magnus Carlsen won against GM Nigel Short in the French Defence winning the tournament. GM Viswanathan Anand drew his game against GM Vladimir Kramnik in the Ruy Lopez Berlin Defence. GM Luke McShane drew his final game against GM David Howell in the Sicilian Defence Dragon variation. The game seemed to be losing for black however GM David Howell was in serious time trouble again and accepted the draw by three fold repetition. After a long game GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Michael Adams drew their game. In order to win the tournament GM Luke McShane or GM Viswanathan Anand would have needed to win their game and GM Nigel Short would have needed to draw against GM Magnus Carlsen. Since this did not happen even if Anand or McShane had won their game, Carlsen would have won the tournament because he has played black more often. It was a great tournament congratulations to GM Magnus Carlsen on winning the tournament.

Vishy Anand	½-½	Vladimir Kramnik
Hikaru Nakamura	½-½	Michael Adams
David Howell	½-½	Luke McShane
Magnus Carlsen	1-0	Nigel Short

The standings after round 6 at the London Chess Classic

GM Magnus Carlsen 10 points
GM Viswanathan Anand 10 points
GM Luke McShane 10 points
GM Hikaru Nakamura 9 points
GM Vladimir Kramnik 9 points
GM Michael Adams 7 points
GM David Howell 3 points
GM Nigel Short 2 points

London Chess Classic round 6

GM Michael Adams and GM Viswanathan Anands game began with the Sicilian Najdorf, Opovcensky Variation and ended in a draw. GM Nigel Short and GM David Howells game began with the Kings Gambit Accepted and was one of the more exciting games but also ended in a draw. GM Luke McShane began his game against GM Nakamura with the move 1. g3 a move he has used before in this competition going into the English opening the game also ended in a draw. GM Vladimir Kramnik and GM Magnus Carlsens game began in the Queens Gambit Declined, Chigorin Defence and Kramnik looked to have the win in hand  but Carlsen managed to draw the end game. The positions of the players  haven't changed in the table. So its still too close to call. I wouldn't be able to predict who's going to win it. I would like to wish all the players good luck in the next round.

	Vladimir Kramnik	½-½	Magnus Carlsen
	Nigel Short	½-½	David Howell
	Luke McShane	½-½	Hikaru Nakamura
	Michael Adams	½-½	Vishy Anand

London Chess Classic round 5

GM Daniel King was back today in the commentary box with GM Chris Ward. The other three commentators GM Jonathan Rowson, GM Stephen Gordon and IM Lawrence Trent were also in attendance at various points of the day.  Some more exciting chess today. Many of the games headed into the Ruy Lopez. The only game that didn't was GM Magnus Carlsen's game against GM David Howell. That game started with the Sicilian Defence Najdorf variation. GM Magnus Carlsen won his game which ended with him being a piece up. GM Nigel Short lost his game against GM Hikaru Nakamura in a risky line of the Closed Ruy Lopez Marshall Attack. He entertained the audience during the interview after the game with a little chess related song. GM Michael Adams and GM Vladimir Kramnik drew their game and so did GM Viswanathan Anand and GM Luke McShane. This leaves the top scorer's in the tournament so far very close to each other. GM Magnus Carlsen now joins GM Viswanathan Anand and GM Luke McShane at the top of the table with 9 points. GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Vladimir Kramnik are tied at 8 points. GM Michael Adams is not far behind with 6 points. Leaving GM David Howell with 2 points and GM Nigel Short with 1 point quite far behind the rest. However considering a win gives 3 points the players at the bottom of the table could still make a recovery in the next two rounds. Neither of them however can win the tournament. Its hard to say who will win since the top players are so close together. Its all down to how they perform in the next two rounds. It would seem that winning the next two games rather than drawing either of them might be the only way to be certain of victory. I'm not certain however considering who each player is facing in the final two rounds that any of them could win two in a row. The end of the tournament might be very close. It might be more than one player sharing the top spot at the end of the tournament.

Michael Adams	½-½	Vladimir Kramnik
Vishy Anand	½-½	Luke McShane
Hikaru Nakamura	1-0	Nigel Short
David Howell	0-1	Magnus Carlsen

London Chess Classic round 4

A slight change to the commentators today. Instead of GM Daniel King we had Scottish number one GM Jonathan Rowson paired up with GM Chris Ward. GM David Howell had a little time trouble again in his game and lost to GM Vladimir Kramnik. GM Magnus Carlsen won his game against GM Hikaru Nakamura in a bishop and pawn ending. GM Nigel Short lost to world champion GM Visawathan Anand after a risky knight sacrifice. GM Luke McShane managed a draw against GM Michael Adams. That leaves Anand and Shane tied at the top with 8 points. The rest of the GM's are still close so almost anyone can still win the tournament.

Vladimir Kramnik	1-0	David Howell
Magnus Carlsen	1-0	Hikaru Nakamura
Nigel Short	0-1	Vishy Anand
Luke McShane	½-½	Michael Adams

The standings after round 3 at the London Classic

GM Luke McShane 7 points
GM Anand Viswanathan 5 points
GM Hikaru Nakamura 5 points
GM Vladimir Kramnik 4 points
GM Michael Adams 4 points
GM Magnus Carlsen 3 points
GM David Howell 2 points
GM Nigel Short 1 point

London Chess Classic round 3

Another interesting round of chess at the London Chess Classic. The world champion GM Viswanathan Anand  won his game against GM Magnus Carlsen. Despite getting into serious time trouble GM David Howell managed a draw against GM Hikaru Nakamura. GM Nigel Short drew his game against GM Michael Adams. After a long struggle lasting 139 moves GM Luke McShane drew against GM Vladimir Kramnik.

Luke McShane	½-½	Vladimir Kramnik
Michael Adams	½-½	Nigel Short
Vishy Anand	1-0	Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura	½-½	David Howell

London Chess Classic round 2

There was a change to the commentators today. Instead of just two there were four being rotated as the day progressed. IM Lawrence Trent was paired up with GM Stephen Gordon. GM Daniel King was paired up with one of my favourite GM's Chris Ward. What made the day even better for me was GM Luke McShane's choice of opening. He decided to choose the Sicilian Dragon variation which he won in the end against GM Nigel Short. GM Magnus Carlsen managed to recover from yesterday's surprise defeat by beating GM Michael Adams in the English opening.  GM Hikaru Nakamura impressively managed to defeat GM Vladimir Kramnik in his game. GM Viswanathan Anand managed only a draw against GM David Howell. This round has been just as interesting as the first. Lets hope the next round continues the trend.

Vladimir Kramnik	0-1	Hikaru Nakamura
David Howell	½-½	Vishy Anand
Magnus Carlsen	1-0	Michael Adams
Nigel Short	0-1	Luke McShane

London Chess Classic round 1

The classics first round had one very surprising result. GM Luke J, McShane won his game against world number one Magnus Carlsen. This is the second time that an English GM has managed an unexpected victory against him this year. The opening played was the English symmetrical. An opening that McShane doesn't generally use but decided to play for this event. If you want to follow the event for the next few days follow the link here. You can follow the games either with or without commentary. I would suggest choosing the commentary since the players are interviewed after the match. The games are also explained live so its useful if you want to understand the reason the players chose a particular move. The commentators are IM Lawrence Trent and GM Daniel King. Lets hope tomorrows round will be as interesting as today's. 

Nigel Short	0-1	Vladimir Kramnik
Luke McShane	1-0	Magnus Carlsen
Michael Adams	1-0	David Howell
Vishy Anand	½-½	Hikaru Nakamura

London Chess Classic starts today

The London chess classic features the Grandmasters Anand, Carlsen, Nakamura, Kramnik and the four English Grandmasters Adams, Short, McShane and Howell. It sounds like its going to be an interesting competition. I wonder if Michael Adams can repeat his Olympiad victory against Magnus Carlsen.

http://www.londonchessclassic.com/

How to reassess your chess 4th edition available now

The book has been available for a little while now. You can get it from Amazon USA although it does go out of stock now and again. You can also get it from chess4less. Unfortunately for those of us in Britain there is no sign of the book at Amazon UK. I emailed the publisher and they kindly pointed out a couple of places I could get it. Its available at New in Chess if your from the UK or Europe. It costs £23.99 or €29.95. They are apparently getting copies of the book soon they may already have them. You can also get it from the London chess centre website.

http://www.chess4less.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_Code=chess4less&AFFIL=JEREMY

http://www.newinchess.com/Shop/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=794&Currency=British%20Pound

http://www.ukgamesshop.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=chsoon100801&Category_Code=

Pearl Spring Chess Tournament

An interesting defeat for Anand in the fourth round of the competition. Completely unexpected considering how much stronger he is than his opponent. I have to say congratulations to Etienne Bacrot for a well played game. You can find detailed coverage of the fourth round on chess vibes here.

Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman

Jeremy Silman is one of my favourite authors. This book has its material broken down into class and rating so you know how much of the books material to study. There is also a test at the end of each class to make sure you've learned the material. The final part of the book is not for teaching its for everyone to go over and enjoy, endgame's played by the great masters of the past. If you want only one book on endgame's I'd recommend this one.

How to choose a chess move by Andrew Soltis

An interesting book on the thought processes involved in choosing chess moves. If you've ever read Think like a grandmaster by A. A. Kotov you should also read this book. If you haven't you should consider reading this book first. It has lots of examples of games in which certain techniques were used to choose a move. Intuition is one of the techniques that are mentioned that of course can only be a good idea when you have enough experience to make use of it. If you don't have much chess experience your intuition will probably give you a bad move which is why you'll have to resort to correct analysis and evaluation. I highly recommend this book I don't however make claims of rating improvement from any book I review.

Medals awarded at the Olympiad

Congratulations to the Ukraine for winning gold, Russia1 for getting silver and Israel for getting the bronze in the open. Congratulations to Russia1 for winning gold, China for getting silver and Georgia for getting bronze in the women's event.

Round 11 Final Round of the Chess Olympiad

Round 11

Cuba                             1.5 United States of America  2.5
England                         2   Czech Republic                  2
Canada                         2   Montenegro                       2
Australia                       4   Nigeria                               0
Ireland                          1.5 Singapore                         2.5
United Arab Emirates   2.5 New Zealand                    1.5
Iraq                              1.5 Scotland                          2.5
Luxembourg                 3   Wales                               1
Jersey                          0.5 Thailand                           3.5
Ghana                         1.5 Guernsey                          2.5

Rounds 8 to 10 of the Chess Olympiad

An unexpected loss to Israel in the tenth round for America. Canada did well to draw against Kazakhstan in the tenth round. Wales also did well in the tenth round drawing against Malaysia. Jersey lost to Nigeria which might suggest that Nigeria's ranking is lower than their true strength. Considering how many games they won in that round. None of the other games in the tenth round or rounds preceding it came as a surprise.

Round 8

United States of America  2    China                2
Australia                          1.5  Czech Republic 2.5
England                           3.5  Germany           0.5
Mongolia                         1.5  Canada             2.5
Ireland                             0.5  Columbia          3.5
Moldova                         3.5  Scotland            0.5
South Africa                    2    New Zealand     2
Bangladesh                      2    Wales                2
Jersey                             1.5  Jordan               2.5
Papua New Guinea         1.5  Guernsey           2.5

Round 9

Bulgaria              1.5 United States of America 2.5
Czech Republic  3    Canada                            1
Russia3              2    England                            2
Sweden             2.5  Australia                          1.5
Ireland              0.5  Denmark                          3.5
New Zealand    3.5  Kenya                             0.5
Costa Rica       0.5  Scotland                          3.5
Wales              0     ICSC                               4
Jersey              2.5  Mali                                 1.5
Guernsey         1.5  Burundi                            2.5

Round 10

United States of America 1   Israel                           3
England                           2   Netherlands                 2
Canada                           2   Kazakhstan                 2
New Zealand                  1   Belgium                       3
Scotland                         1   Bosnia & Herzegovina 3
Singapore                       2   Australia                      2
Mongolia                        2   Ireland                         2
Nigeria                           3   Jersey                          1
Malaysia                        2   Wales                           2
Guernsey                       2.5 Rwanda                       1.5

Olympiad Results for Round 7

A surprising loss by England to Belarus. Scotland lost to a slightly stronger Montenegro team which is a pity considering our draw against the Philippines in round three. Canada scored an impressive draw against Bulgaria, well done to GM Mark Bluvshtein for beating GM Veselin Topalov. No surprise results in any of the other matches mentioned.

United States of America  2    Poland     2
Belarus                             3    England    1
Canada                            2    Bulgaria   2
Australia                          2.5  Finland    1.5
Scotland                          0.5  Montenegro 3.5
United Arab Emirates      1    Ireland    3
Peru                                3.5  Jersey     0.5
New Zealand                  3    Panama     1
Wales                            2.5  Bahrain    1.5
Macau                           3.5  Guernsey   0.5

Olympiad Results for Round 4, 5 and 6

I've placed every ones results together this time. No major surprises except one. Well done to GM Michael Adams of England on beating GM Magnus Carlsen in the team open match between England and Denmark completely unexpected. Scotland got a couple more victories after losing to Khazakhstan.

Round 4

Russia1     3           United States of America 1
England     3           Turkey                            1
Australia   1.5         Peru                               2.5
New Zealand 0.5    Austria                          3.5
Scotland    1           Khazakhstan                 3
Canada      3.5       Thailand                        0.5
Ireland     4            Jamaica                         0
Wales       3          Jersey                            1
Guernsey    1.5     Bermuda                        2.5

Round 5

United States of America 3   Argentina   1
France                   2             England     2
Canada                   2.5        Denmark     1.5
Moldova                  1.5       Australia   2.5
Wales                    1.5         Venezuela   2.5
Ireland                  4             Hong Kong   0
Iraq                     2            New Zealand 2
Sri Lanka                1         Scotland    3
Jersey                   2.5       Kenya       1.5
Angola                   3.5       Guernsey    0.5
              
Round 6

Vietnam                  1.5   United States of America 2.5
Croatia                  2     Canada                            2
England                  2.5   Norway                         1.5
Kyrgyzstan               2     Ireland                          2
Scotland                 2.5   New Zealand                1.5
Mongolia                 2     Australia                       2
Jersey                   2.5   Barbados                      1.5
Jamaica                  3     Wales                          1
Guernsey                 2.5   Seychelles                   1.5

Chess Olympiad 2010 Results for Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.

Impressive draw by IM Sam E. Collins in the first round for Ireland against a 2700+ GM. Unlucky getting Russia1 in round 1 although perhaps Ireland are glad to have played that game first. Australia had Armenia in round 2 a very strong side. America doesn't seem to have been tested yet. Canada had a strong side to play in round 2. Well done to IM Thomas Roussel-Roozmon beating a GM rated 2609. Not a very fair first round for New Zealand they had no chance against Cuba. A close game for New Zealand in round 3 against Ireland that might have gone either way if you judged the game by player ratings. Well done New Zealand.


Round 1
Russia1                              3.5    Ireland           0.5
United States of America   4      Faroe Islands   0
New Zealand                     0      Cuba              4
Australia                           4      Bahrain            0
Canada                            4      Mozambique    0


Round 2
Mongolia                 0.5    United States of America 3.5
Armenia                  3.5    Australia                          0.5
Uzbekistan               2.5    Canada                          1.5
Mauritania               1      New Zealand                   3
Ireland                  4      Papua New Guinea            0


Round 3
United States of America 3        Chile             1
Uruguay                          2        Canada          2
Australia                         4         Puerto Rico   0
New Zealand                  2.5      Ireland          1.5

Other results in the Olympiad for the British Isles

I was surprised to see England lost one of their matches but they still seem to be doing well. Good luck to everyone in their next games.


Round 1
Malaysia  0.5 England  3.5
Belarus    4   Jersey     0
India        4   Wales     0
Guernsey 0   Estonia   4

Round 2
Bosnia & Herzegovina    2.5  England                1.5
Libya                             4    Jersey                    0
United Arab Emirates    4    Guernsey                0
Wales              4    U.S Virgin Islands  0

Round 3
England   3     South Africa    1
Finland   3.5   Wales              0.5
Jersey    3     Chinese Taipei  1
Palestine 3.5   Guernsey        0.5

Scotland at the Chess Olympiad

No surprises in the first two rounds we beat Burundi and lost to the Ukraine. I am pleased to say that we got a draw against the Philippines.

Round 1
Scotland 4 - Burundi 0
Round 2
Ukraine 4 - Scotland 0
Round 3
Philippines 2 - Scotland 2

A nice win by GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant against an opponent with a higher rating. GM Colin A. McNab managed a draw against a much stronger opponent.  FM Graham Morrison also managed a draw against a stronger opponent. IM Stephen R Burns-Mannion unfortunately lost in a rook, bishop vs rook, knight endgame that was advantageous to his GM opponent. I think that the team did really well against the Philippines who are a much stronger team. The Philippines in general is ranked 35 in the world since its average rating is higher than ours since their ten top ranked players are stronger. Scotland is rated at 60 in the world. Those are the current ratings from FIDE. The two countries ratings during the competition are lower being 37 and 63 respectively.
http://ratings.fide.com/topfed.phtml

The results can be found at http://www.chess-results.com/tnr36795.aspx?art=20&fed=SCO&lan=1&flag=30&m=-1&wi=1000

If you want to go to the official Olympiad site you can do so here.

Scotland's next opponent is Kazakhstan I wish them good luck in their next match.

Update on the 4th Edition of Reassess your Chess.

I sent an email to Jeremy to find out how the books progressing. This is a direct quote from the email he sent me.


"Doing the final proofing now. Once those are imputed, then off to the printer. They will then send me a blue-line, and after checking that out and giving the green light, BIRTH.

Expect it to hit stores early to mid-November. 670 pages (oversize pages at that). $29.95. This is a true, highly detailed, fun to read, course in positional chess and chess psychology."


I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a copy when November comes around. I'd highly recommend anyone looking to improve their chess to get one too.

Reassess your chess

Jeremy Silmans 4th Edition of his book How to Reassess your chess according to Amazon is out on the 21st and thats just three days away. Its going to be a complete rewrite of his old book. If you are going to get this book you don't need me to tell you to wait till this new edition is out. The 3rd Edition of this book isn't easy to come by and the price on Amazon is frankly ridiculous. I hope that it does appear quite close to the date on Amazon the book has been beset with problems that have caused its date of publication to vanish into the distance. I'll certainly get the new edition when its available I'm keen to see what has changed since I have the 3rd Edition of the book.

Kendo and Chess

When I was in my late teens I was inspired to join a kendo club after watching the National Geographic Documentary - Kendo's Gruelling Challenge The 120 second test of spirit. It was in fact a documentary originally in Japanese that had an American commentator dubbed over it. They also changed the original title of the documentary. I have to admit that I didn't join a club straight away. Unfortunately it took quite a few years before a club turned up in my area of Scotland. I was in my early twenties when I started Kendo.

My beginning chess isn't quite as inspirational. I just seemed to be drawn to the game when a club started up in my primary school. To tell you the truth I can't really say why I liked chess at the time. No one in my family played the game. I unfortunately quit after finding no real support in secondary school. When I was in primary school I went to a few tournaments but in secondary I didn't attend a single one. Its a pity I gave up and I have to admit I didn't really study the game at all. Since coming back to chess I certainly study the game a lot more. I didn't have a single book on chess when I was a kid I must have about ten or so now. I think when I was a kid I may have taken a chess book out once in a library but I can't really remember. Could I have been a Grandmaster? Probably not. It takes a lot to be one. Just like it takes a lot to be a 8th Dan in Kendo. But if it can take almost a lifetime to get to 8th Dan is it really unlikely that you can be a Grandmaster in your sixties?

In the modern world we hear about teenagers getting to Grandmaster level all the time. We want to be a Grandmaster yesterday. But all this hurry doesn't seem to help us. I know they say that the best years of a chess players career are around forty and then they start to decline. I think perhaps at least reaching master level isn't impossible. Kendo and Chess are a journey that lasts a lifetime. Perhaps it doesn't matter were the journey ends. In Kendo the four poisons are (ku) fear (gi) doubt (kyo) surprise (waku) confusion. They are also applicable to chess. Fear of losing for instance. Doubting your abilities. Surprise at an opponents move in reply to a sneaky trap. Confusion due to not understanding a chess position. They can all be mastered with practice and increasing your chess knowledge. I hope some of this is helpful and that you enjoy the documentary on Kendo.

Seeking the Endgame

I found an interesting radio documentary on chess mentioned on http://closetgrandmaster.blogspot.com/. Its called Seeking the Endgame. Its broadcast on the BBC's World Service and can be listened to on the internet here. Its broadcast in two parts. The first part was broadcast on September the 10th the second part will be broadcast on September the 17th. You can still listen to the first part. I hope you enjoy it.