Carlsen Wins London Chess Classic 2009

The London Chess Classic ended today with very well-contested draws by Magnus Carlsen (against Nigel Short, in a game played "to the kings") and Vladimir Kramnik (against Hikaru Nakamura) that kept Carlsen's one-point margin in place.  Luke McShane was awarded the brilliancy prize for his innovative Round 5 victory over Nakamura using the King's Indian Defense with Na6. Carlsen's countryman, Norwegian GM Jon Ludvig Hammer, won the concurrent London FIDE Open a full point ahead of the field.  And WIM Arianne Caoili won the London FIDE Women's Invitational by a point and a half over the rest of the field.  You can find games from all of the events in the Downloads / PGN Games section of the official website, and you can easily find and play over main event games at Chessgames.com.  I have found some of the games in the lower tournaments to be of great interest and may return to them in future posts.


I have put together a round-by-round webliography of articles analyzing the games from the main event.  Long ago I got in the habit of looking at GM games using multiple sets of notes, finding that every commentator focuses on different questions in the game that are worth considering, and that opinions often diverge even where the same issues are considered.  Edward Winter once very nicely explored the case of "Analytical Disaccord" surrounding the game Capablanca - Bogoljubow, Moscow 1925 which was only an extreme example of just how differently various annotators can see things.  I hope readers find this collection of notes useful.  I will add more as they become available and welcome links from readers.



With his performance in this tournament, Carlsen guarantees that he will keep his world  number one ranking on the official FIDE ratings list, making him the youngest official number one player in history.  Next up for the champ will be the Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee (January 15 - 31).


Round 7

• ChessBase Express Report
  
• Video Interview with Magnus Carlsen by Peter Doggers at ChessVibes
• Round 7 Games Annotated,  Mark Crowther at TWIC
• Carlsen Wins; Nakamura Mid-Field by Ian Rogers at USCF
  
• Short - Carlsen, Jason Juett at Chessdom
• Round 7 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  

Round 6

• Kramnik and Ni Hua Win, Carlsen Escapes by John Saunders at ChessBase
  
• Kramnik and Ni Hua Win in Round 6 by Peter Doggers at ChessVibes
  Includes video of Short and Ni Hua analyzing their game.
• Carlsen - Adams, Raymond Keene at Times Online
  
• Carlsen - Adams, Pete Karagianis at Chessdom
  
• London Classic Final Round by Mig Greengard
  In a post looking toward the final round of play, Greengard nicely sums up the penultimate round action.
• Round 6 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  

Round 5

• Carlsen and McShane Win by John Saunders at ChessBase
• Ni Hua - Carlsen, John Saunders
• Nakamura - McShane, John Saunders
• Round 5 Games Annotated, Dennis Monokroussos
• Round 5 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  
• Ni Hua - Carlsen, Jason Juett at Chessdom
  
• London Classic: Kramnik Comeback; Carlsen Human (Maybe) by Mig Greengard
  A good summary of the action through round 5.
  

Round 4

• All Games Drawn but Fighting Chess by John Saunders at ChessBase
• Round 4 Games Annotated, Dennis Monokroussos
• Round 4 Games Annotated, Mark Crowther at TWIC
• Round 4 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  
• Carlsen - Nakamura, John Saunders
• Short - Ni Hua, John Saunders
• Carlsen - Nakamura, Ian Rogers at USCF
• Carlsen - Nakamura, Jason Juett at Chessdom
  
• Carlsen - Nakamura, Malcolm Pein in the London Telegraph
  

Round 3

• Kramnik Wins Again, Carlsen Leads by John Saunders at ChessBase
• McShane - Kramnik, John Saunders
• Howell - Carlsen, John Saunders
• Howell - Carlsen, Malcolm Pein (also at TWIC)
  
• McShane - Kramnik, Malcolm Pein (also at TWIC)
• Howell - Carlsen, Jason Juett and Peter Karagianis at Chessdom
• Round 3 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  

Round 2

• Kramnik and Carlsen Analyzed by John Saunders at ChessBase
• Kramnik - Ni Hua, John Saunders
• Carlsen - McShane, John Saunders
• Round 2 Games Annotated, Vallejo Pons at the official site
  
• Round 2 Games Annotated, Mark Crowther at TWIC
• Round 2 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  
• Thirty Love, Carlsen Beats McShane photos by Frederic Friedel at ChessBase
• London Classic: Carlsen Starts Hot by Mig Greengard
• Kramnik - Ni Hua, Malcolm Pein at TWIC
• Carlsen - McShane, Christian Bauer and Peter Karagianis at Chessdom
  
• Adams - Nakamura, Christian Bauer and Peter Karagianis at Chessdom
  

Round 1

• C is for Carlsen by John Saunders at ChessBase
  Carlsen explains his win over Kramnik in the first round.
• Round 1 Games Annotated, Dennis Monokroussos 
• Round 1 Games Annotated, Mark Crowther
• Round 1 Games Annotated, Vallejo Pons at the official site
• Round 1 Games Annotated, Rybka at ChessOK
  
• Carlsen - Kramnik, John Saunders
  
• Carlsen - Kramnik, Lubomir Kavalek, Washington Post
• Carlsen - Kramnik, Malcolm Pein
• Carlsen - Kramnik,  Hector Leyva at InforChess
  
• Carlsen - Kramnik at Chessdom
• Nakamura - Ni Hua at Chessdom
  

Additional Coverage

• People and Personalities at the London Chess Classic, photos by Frederic Friedel
  
• London Chess Classic Photographs at The Streatham & Brixton Chess Blog