Chessable Houska's Caro

6th London Chess Classic 2014 (1)

Adams leads London Chess Classic after Round 1

Michael Adams beat Fabiano Caruana. Photo © John Saunders

Michael Adams beat Fabiano Caruana. Photo © John Saunders | http://www.londonchessclassic.com

Michael Adams was the only winner in the first rounds of the London Chess Classic when he beat World Number 2 Fabiano Caruana.

Adams won a wild game in a Ruy Lopez against Fabiano Caruana where the assessment changed several times. Caruana's 19...d5 seemed to secure the advantage but he was already in time pressure and he didn't find the excellent 27...Kh8 which would have reduced Adams' attacking prospects. Adams then sacrificed a knight to open up black's king and 34.Re4 would have won for him. Now both players were in time trouble and Caruana had the better of the next few moves and he had the advantage at first time control according to the computer. The position remained very hard for both to play and after a long thought Caruana played the bad 42...Rb4 instead of covering d7 which was a fantastic square for Adams' Queen. Adams was happy with his counter play as Caruana fell into deep thought but didn't spot that the real problem was Caruana's intended 44... Qf8 fails to 45. Rxg7 Qxg7 46. Qxg7+ Kxg7 47. g4. After this Adams was winning but had to be careful and eventually found his way to the win only after 6 hours 10 minutes play.

Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand played a theoretical Botvinnik System Semi-Slav which ended in a draw in the same way as a game between two 1800 rated players in correspondence chess. Kramnik's 30.Qd3 looked as if it might force Anand to show something new but his 33.Qxc3 instead of the more critical 33.h4 (leading to a complex rook and pawn ending) led by force to a drawn endgame. Anand most likely knew almost everything in advance.

Hikaru Nakamura tried a sideline of the Berlin Defence against Anish Giri which was slightly tricky but there was too little in it for either side and the game ended in repetition.

Gawain Jones won an intricate English Opening in his challenge match against Romain Edouard. Edouard was playing on his increment for a long time before first time control and his 22...Bxa3 looked suicidal as was 26...Nxd4 but Jones couldn't land a winning blow and after missing a win with 29.Kf2! a complex ending resulted where Jones was a pawn up. He however kept up the pressure and won in 59 moves.

Round 1 Standings Adams 3pts, Anand, Giri, Kramnik, Nakamura 1pt, Caruana 0pts

Round 2 4pm Thursday 11th December: Anand-Caruana, Giri-Adams, Kramnik-Nakamura.

6th London Classic 2014 London (ENG), 10-14 xii 2014 cat. XXII (2780)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Adams, Michael g ENG 2745 * . . . . 1 1
2. Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2775 . * . . ½ . ½ 2768
3. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2793 . . * ½ . . ½ 2769
4. Kramnik, Vladimir g RUS 2769 . . ½ * . . ½ 2793
5. Giri, Anish g NED 2768 . ½ . . * . ½ 2775
6. Caruana, Fabiano g ITA 2829 0 . . . . * 0
Round 1 (December 10, 2014)
Adams, Michael - Caruana, Fabiano 1-0 73 C90 Ruy Lopez
Nakamura, Hikaru - Giri, Anish ½-½ 33 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Kramnik, Vladimir - Anand, Viswanathan ½-½ 45 D44 Anti-Meran Gambit

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