McShane - Adams
The final all-English clash was an entertaining affair in which Michael Adams navigated his way through considerable complications to overcome Luke McShane. Meanwhile David Howell continued his excellent London form with a win against Ni Hua.
Kramnik must have fancied his chances against Nakamura but the American champion gave as good as he got. This exciting game was eventually drawn.
So Kramnik had gained a point and this brought him level at the top with Carlsen, who was still playing against Short. Indeed, Carlsen was almost magically outplaying his opponent with Queen and Knight aganst Queen and Bishop.
However, Short, a former challenger for the world title, is a tough competitor and after a mistake by Carlsen the Englishman even seemed to gain the advantage in a Queen ending. Having led from the start, was Carlsen's tournament victory slipping away? N0 - the game ended with nothing left on the board apart from the Kings and the point gained secured his first place.
Final Standings
13: Carlsen
12: Kramnik
9: Howell, Adams
7: McShane
6: Ni Hua, Nakamura
5: Short
Magnus Carlsen taking the trophy from Nigel Freeman (FIDE Treasurer)
(This photo and the next one are by kind permission of Mark Huba)
Luke McShane won the brilliancy prize for his game against Hikaru Nakamura
There is no doubt about it - the Chess Classic was a great success. More good news came at the end of the event when organiser Malcolm Pein announced that there would be another tournament in 2010 as part of a drive to bring the World Championship back to London for 2012.
Tune in to this blog again soon for more on my London experiences. There will be an update every day for the next eight days with photos, reports and memories from an extraordinary couple of weeks.
Tune in to this blog again soon for more on my London experiences. There will be an update every day for the next eight days with photos, reports and memories from an extraordinary couple of weeks.
2 comments:
Excellent coverage Sean.The London Classic has lived up to its name ! Kevin Winter, Bingley
Thank you, Kevin.
You really must try and get there next year (as long as your flu has cleared by then!).
Meanwhile, keep an eye on CHESS Magazine for some major reports on the Classic - and new interviews!
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