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Dark Knight / Le Chevalier Noir
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I arrived at the venue yesterday about half way thru the round. The Round robin is held in a separate lecture hall on the 3rd floor of the Olympia Conference Centre. They have done a nice job with signage and staging in general. The hall was maybe 30% full. Nearby is the GM commentary room and I divided my time between the 2 places.
Carlsen was playing very quickly when I arrived, opening up the position as Howell's time ticked away. Then Magnus slowed down. He won the exchange and a pawn and was still playing slowly. Howell's Knight was central and ready to fork constantly. They eventually drew and Magnus was most disappointed.
Meanwhile Kramnik and McShane arrived to discuss their game, Kramnik using Fritz (to move the pieces - no analysis from Fritz) as he commented about his victory (the only one of the round). Next came Short and Nakamura to chat about their draw. All very convivial.
Today is a free day. I look forward to some rest. The trip was plenty long and tiring.
Round 4 featured 3 draws and one game was still going (Short - Hua) when I left. Adams held off Kramnik's white pieces despite being a pawn down. McShane looked promising for a while against Howell but they levelled off. Carlsen appeared to have the better opening against Nakamura but he misevaluated and it Nakamura who was disappointed with the draw as black. I grabbed dinner with Hikaru and his second Chris afterword. He will be gunning for McShane tomorrow. This tournament will be his first time playing Kramnik.
Is it possible Carlsen is human after all? First he missed the win against David Howell then "misevaluated" against Nakamura. It is quite a tribute that when he doesn't win it comes as a surprise!:)
Thanks for the great reports, Hal. Hope you are having a great time in the old city. Give Nigel my regards.
Will do Gordon. There is a Burger King around the corner from my hotel and they are promoting their sausage egg n' cheese butty for 99p. I grabbed 2 of them for the same price as a large Starbucks coffee, which turned out to be the better value.
Yesterday was sold out, so I'm glad I scooped a press pass (thanks Tony!) during the third round. After dropping a few more names yesterday I even scored a pass to the VIP room, where Julian Hodgson (Winnipeg Canadian Open, early 90's) was running the demo boards with comments from the legendary Victor Korchnoi. A fella could do worse. Frederic Friedel of Chessbase was also on hand. We bitched at each other about our knees and the lame corn season passed.
Hikaru picks Kramnik to win it, despite the fact that they must still play each other. Since he is playing more decisively, the scoring system could well favour the tall Russian.
Julian Hodgson requested a third demo board today since all four games started with great flare. In fact it was Carlsen's game with Ni Hua that was omitted in favour of the others. Spent most of the time sitting beside Korchnoi kibitzing and staring at the positions as he and Hodgson looked things over. John Nunn showed up and added considerable depth to the analysis. Speelman even stuck his head in on occasion to add his perspective.
Korchnoi really liked the way Nakamura handled his double edged game wih McShane until Hikaru played Rd5 instead of Re8, allowing McShane's Bishop to get a life. Kramnik played energetically against Howell, sac'ng 2 minors for a rook and a pawn or two but it eventually fizzled out. Short looked awfully good against Adams until Mickey found a shot at time control that forced a treaty.
Meanwhile Carlsen emerged from a delicate position and suddenly Hua was toast. It was a tough choice - sticking around listening to Nunn and Korchnoi debating the merits of Nakamura's Rook vs the B and Q side majority or going to the other analysis room for Carlsen's live post mortem. I went with the magus. He did not disappoint.
So Carlsen has a comforatble lead in the tournament with 3 wins and 2 draws for 11 points. If he holds at +3 he will be rated around 2810. At +2 he will tumble into a tie with Topalov but will still be #1 based on activity. What a great time to love chess!
Korchnoi delivered a simul last nite and was giving another this evening so he was absent from the VIP room and we had to settle for Hodgson, Nunn and Speilman.
Magnus was a bit lucky today, trying to play without his q side. Mickey Adams had a chance to win with dxe3 but he played Bc5 instead, allowing Carlsen to swap down to R plus opposite Bs. Adams' extra pawn didn't matter.
Nigel had an interesting game with black against Kramnik but Vlad reduced it to a pawn up technical thing and won. Nak was a bit lucky to draw against Howell by most accounts but maybe he just understood the risks. McShane was trying to hold against Hua when I left.
Tonite I had a great visit with Stewart Reubens. He appears to have fully recovered from his collapse at the FIDE Congress in October. Suffice it to say that he's been around the block a few times! FIDE treasurer Nigel Freeman also arrived today. He was invited by the organizers to wave the FIDE flag and be on hand at the prize giving ceremony.
Short was happy to hear from you Gordon! He struggles in this event but you wouldn't know it from his demeanor. This is a wonderful tournament. The sponsors are in fact a group of anonymous patrons and they are also the driving force behind London's bid for the 2012 World Championship. According to director Malcolm Pein they are also quite happy with the media coverage. I asked Malcolm about this today because I haven't picked up on much media attention apart from the chess world's own people. Apparently the media buzz happened prior to the event, and even if no more coverage happens, the sponsors are quite happy.
Round 7 was a real nail biter as Hikaru made his debut against Kramnik, trying to prove his prediction wrong about the outcome of the tournament. Nigel opened with 1.e4 and faced Carlsen's sicilian dragon in the other battle for first place. Carlsen and Kramnik were both keeping an eye on each other but it was Kramnik who had to make his decision first because he had too little time on his clock. He waited as long as he could before repeating against Nakamura. Carlsen and Short seemed to take turns squandering the advantage as they pressed for wins. The queen ending had everyone on the edge of their seats. Short seemed dead lost but he was able to exploit Carlsen's king position and then everyone was calling it in favour of the veteran. Somehow everything boiled off around move 70 and they drew. Howell stupified Hua’s light bishop and converted his first win of the tournament and likewise Adams prevailed against McShane in a crazy contest to end his string of draws.
So Carlsen took first place with 13 points (+3, 2839 perf) followed by Kramnik at 12 points (+2, 2787 perf). Howell and Adams were both undefeated, scoring 9 points or +1 and performing at 2760 and 2746 respectively. McShane, Nakamura and Hua all finished at -1 and Nigel Short managed 5 draws and 2 losses.
What a great experience - watching Korchnoi duke it out with Speelman, Nunn and Hodgson as the games progressed. I even got to point out a winning rook sac in a line that never happened. I’m ready to come home though. Enough cheap Burger King fare for this year.
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