London Chess Classic Round-up

[LozCooper]

London Chess Classic Round-up

The Classic:
http://www.londonchessclassic.com/classic/standings.htm

A 2838 performance by Luke McShane enabled him to finish 2nd= alongside world champion and world number one Viswanathan Anand behind world number two Magnus Carlsen. In fact, under the conventional scoring of 1 point for a win and ½ for a draw Luke would have been 1st=. However, 3 points for a win allowed Magnus to finish first with 13 points (=4=1-2) despite losing to both players who finished 2nd= with 11 (+2=5).

Fourth place went to Hikaru Nakamura ahead of Vladimir Kramnik by virtue of their individual game, both scoring 10 points (+2=4-1). Michael Adams finished 6th with 8 points (+1=5-1), David Howell finished 7th with 4 points (=4-3) and Nigel Short was 8th with (=2-5).

From an English perspective the performance of Luke McShane stood out. He beat Magnus Carlsen in round 1 and then Nigel Short in round 2. This was followed by draws with Kramnik, Adams, Anand, Nakamura and Howell. Barring confirmation from FIDE, this result could also see him become England’s number two on the January 2011 rating list. A magnificent performance full of fighting chess and great technique.

FIDE Rated Open:
http://www.londonchessclassic.com/festi ... d_open.htm

Congratulations to both Gawain Jones and Simon Williams who shared first place with 7.5/9. Gawain was undefeated throughout whilst Simon lost just once, to Gawain, before drawing an epic struggle against Mark Hebden in round 9 who also remained undefeated but a tough run of pairings saw him finish with 5 draws in a row from rounds 5-9. Third place was shared between five players; England’s Neil McDonald (who drew with Gawain in round 9) Danny Gormally and Craig Hanley who made a welcome return to international tournaments after a long gap due to work commitments. Boris Avrukh from Israel and Throstur Thorhallsson completed the list who shared third, all on 7 points.

Congratulations also to Alex Astaneh Lopez from Ireland who secured his final IM norm and therefore the IM title.

Women’s Invitational:
http://www.londonchessclassic.com/festi ... tional.htm

This event was a ten player all-play-all aimed at giving young English women experience of playing an all-play-all alongside the Classic and was also transmitted live this year. Whilst Arlette van Weersel was a deserved winner on 8/9, English interest focused on England’s first female IM Susan Lalic, 22 year old Sarah Hegarty, 18 year old Lateefah Messam-Sparks and 14 year old Amy Hoare. Sarah continued her great form from the Olympiad (she scored 7.5/9 on her England debut) and a win against Susan in round 8 left her needing a win for a WIM norm. Sadly she lost the last round but she continues to improve and make progress and can look back on 2010 with a lot of pride. Amy continues to impress and scored 4/9 with a performance over 2000 and she her best result came in round 9 when she drew with Susan with black after a long struggle. She will now be England’s leading under 21 girl on the January 2011 rating list. She too can be very happy with her progress in 2010. Susan played a solid tournament which was marred by a round 1 defeat, after which she scored 5/6 drawing only with the two WIMs with black but a defeat to Sarah and a draw with Amy in rounds 8 and 9 kept her out of the prizes. Lateefah was unable to reproduce the form she showed at the Uxbridge Junior International and Brighton and will be disappointed to finish with 1.5, albeit this score could easily have been considerably higher.

In closing I would like to thank Malcolm Pein and his excellent support staff which included Sabrina Chevannes and Tao Bhokanandh as well as the team of arbiters. I would also like to thank Friends of Chess for helping to fund the women’s event.

[David Shepherd]

She will now be England’s leading under 21 girl on the January 2011 rating list.

Excluding Anya ? Also will Selina/Chantal S be higher? But even so Amy and Sarah both had a great performance.

[LozCooper]

She will now be England’s leading under 21 girl on the January 2011 rating list.

Excluding Anya ? Also will Selina/Chantal S be higher? But even so Amy and Sarah both had a great performance.

David,

Good point, I meant to say Under 20, which is relevant in terms of the World Junior. You are also right that Selina is under 20, albeit largely inactive (but she does appear on the FIDE list as she has played in 2010). Amisha Parmar is also higher, albeit she has sadly been inactive since the 2008 World Youth.