At the conclusion of the sixth round of the elite London Chess Classic tournament (on Thursday), which opened on December 9 and ends today, US grandmaster Wesley So maintained the lead in a field which boasts eight of the world’s top ten chess players. He captured three vital wins against his countryman Hikaru Nakamura, England’s Michael Adams and Bulgaria’s Veselin Topalov, being the only participant to achieve such a feat. Such feats are unusual in high-level chess, even for the world champion, the world’s most gifted chess player.
In evenly matched tournaments, victories are scarce. Apart from So, Nakamura and Fabiano Caruana are the only other players to score the full point twice. Nakamura successfully outplayed former world champions Vishy Anand of India and Topalov, while Caruana got the better of Nakamura and Topalov.
In the game against Nakamura, Caruana, playing the white pieces against the enigmatic Najdorf system of the Sicilian defence, made a positional queen sacrifice. It was a courageous offer to make, especially when the benefits are not definitively apparent. It was an impressive game which likely propelled a ‘ wow ‘ to emanate from a conservative chess mind, and coming from perhaps two of the favourite challengers for the World Chess Championship title in 2018. The game is on the right.
The Netherlands’ Anish Giri who has drawn his six games, and Topalov are the only participants of the tournament to be unsuccessful in winning a game. Topalov is demonstrating poor form in that he has lost five of his six games. He drew with France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
2016 London Chess Classic
White: Fabiano Caruana
Black: Hikaru Nakamura
- e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 h6 8. Bh4 Qb6 9. a3 Be7 10. Bf2 Qc7 11. Qf3 Nbd7 12. O-O-O b5 13. g4 g5 14. h4 gxf4 15. Be2 b4 16. axb4 Ne5 17. Qxf4 Nexg4 18. Bxg4 e5 19. Qxf6 Bxf6 20. Nd5 Qd8 21. Nf5 Rb8 22. Nxf6+ Qxf6 23. Rxd6 Be6 24. Rhd1 O-O 25. h5 Qg5+ 26. Be3 Qf6 27. Nxh6+ Kh8 28. Bf5 Qe7 29. b5 Qe8 30. Nxf7+ Rxf7 31. Rxe6 Qxb5 32. Rh6+ 1-0.
Chess game
White: Levon Aronian
Black: Michael Adams
- e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. c3 d6 6. Bg5 h6 7. Bh4 a6 8. Nbd2 Ba7 9. Bb3 Qe7 10. Nc4 Be6 11. Ne3 g5 12. Bg3 O-O-O 13. Ba4 Nb8 14. Qc2 Bxe3 15. fxe3 Nh5 16. Bf2 f5 17. exf5 Bxf5 18. Qe2 Bxd3 19. Qxd3 e4 20. Qd4 c5 21. Qd1 exf3 22. Qxf3 Nf6 23. Bc2 Nbd7 24. O-O-O Ne5 25. Qe2 Qe6 26. Bg3 Qxa2 27. Rhf1 Nd5 28. Bxe5 dxe5 29. Bb1 Qb3 30. Bc2 Qa2 31. Qg4+ Kb8 32. Qe4 Nb6 33. Qxe5+ Ka8 34. Rxd8+ Rxd8 35. Qf6 Nc4 36. Qxd8+ Ka7 37. Qd3 Nxb2 38. Qf5 Qa1+ 39. Kd2 Nc4+ 40. Ke2 Qxc3 41. Qxc5+ 1-0.
White: Hikaru Nakamura
Black: Viswanathan Anand
- d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Nbd7 5. cxd5 exd5 6. Bg5 Bb4 7. e3 h6 8. Bh4 g5 9. Bg3 Ne4 10. Nd2 Nxg3 11. hxg3 c6 12. a3 Ba5 13. Bd3 Kf8 14. Qc2 Nf6 15. O-O-O Kg7 16. Kb1 Be6 17. Nb3 Bb6 18. f4 Bg4 19. Rde1 Qd6 20. Rhf1 Rae8 21. Nc5 Re7 22. Qd2 Rhe8 23. fxg5 hxg5 24. e4 Nxe4 25. N5xe4 dxe4 26. Rxe4 Rxe4 27. Nxe4 Qg6 28. Nf6 Qxf6 29. Rxf6 Kxf6 30. Qc3 Bd7 31. d5+ Re5 32. Be4 g4 33. dxc6 bxc6 34. Bxc6 Bxc6 35. Qxc6+ Kg5 36. Qd7 Re3 37. Qxf7 Rxg3 38. Qd5+ Kh4 39. a4 Bf2 40. Qd8+ Kh5 41. Qe8+ Kg5 42. Qe5+ Kg6 43. Qf4 1-0.
White: Hikaru Nakamura
Black: Wesley So
- d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Be3 c5 8. Rc1 O-O 9. Qd2 e5 10. d5 Nd7 11. c4 f5 12. Bg5 Nf6 13. Ne2 Nxe4 14. Bxd8 Nxd2 15. Be7 Rf7 16. Bxc5 Nxf1 17. Rxf1 b6 18. Bb4 Ba6 19. f4 Rc8 20. fxe5 Bxe5 21. Rf3 Bxc4 22. Re3 Bg7 23. Nf4 Rd7 24. a4 Bh6 25. g3 Bxf4 26. gxf4 Rxd5 27. Re7 Rd4 28. Bd2 Kf8 29. Bb4 Re8 0-1.
White: Hikaru Nakamura
Black: Vladimir Kramnik
- d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 Nh5 8. Bd3 Nxf4 9. exf4 b6 10. b4 a5 11. a3 c6 12. O-O Ba6 13. Re1 Bf6 14. Ne5 Bxe5 15. fxe5 Bxd3 16. Qxd3 Ra7 17. g3 Qa8 18. Rab1 axb4 19. axb4 Ra3 20. Qc2 Rb8 21. h4 h6 22. Kg2 Qa6 23. Rec1 bxc5 24. bxc5 Rxb1 25. Qxb1 Qc4 26. Qb2 Rb3 27. Qd2 Qb4 28. Rc2 f6 29. f4 fxe5 30. fxe5 Nf8 31. Ne2 Qb7 32. Nf4 Qf7 33. Rb2 Rxb2 34. Qxb2 g5 35. hxg5 hxg5 36. Nd3 Ng6 37. Nf2 Ne7 38. Qd2 Qg6 39. g4 Kg7 40. Nh3 Kh6 41. Kg3 Nc8 42. Qf2 Kg7 43. Qe3 Kh6 44. Qf3 Kg7 45. Qa3 Qe4 46. Nxg5 Qe1+ 47. Kf4 Qf2+ 48. Nf3 Ne7 49. Qa7 Kf8 50. Qb8+ Kf7 51. Qb7 Kf8 52. Qd7 Ng6+ 53. Kg5 Qxf3 54. Qxe6 Nh8 55. Qf5+ Nf7+ 56. Kf6 Qxf5+ 57. gxf5 Nd8 58. e6 Nf7 59. Kg6 Nd8 60. Kf6 Nf7 61. exf7 1/2-1/2.
