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Magnus Carlsen secured first place with an easy win against Nigel Short. Short played a passive variation of the French which Carlsen hadn't really studied, really on the grounds he should never ever meet this opening. As it was Short never looked like freeing his passive position and was quickly dispatched. The corrosive effect of bad openings and a couple of missed chances early in the tournament had spread to the rest of Short's game. His confidence was totally shot way before this game. He has some thinking to do before playing in Reggio in late December. His current strategy isn't working.

See Magnus' post win press conference.

Carlsen, Magnus - Short, Nigel
2nd London Chess Classic London ENG (7), 15.12.2010

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3 Be7 6.Bc4 Ngf6 7.Nxf6+ Nxf6 8.0-0 0-0 9.Ne5 c5 10.dxc5 Qxd1 11.Rxd1 Bxc5 12.Be2

[12.c3 Ne4 13.Nd3 Be7 14.Be3 Nd6 15.Bb3 b6 16.a4 Nf5 17.Bf4 1/2-1/2 Mestrovic,Z (2387)-Jovanic,O (2432)/Zadar 2002/CBM 091 ext]

12...Ne4 13.Nd3 Be7

[13...Bb6 14.a4 a6 15.Bf3]

14.Be3 h6 15.a4 a5 16.g3 Rd8 17.Ne5 Nf6 18.Nc4 Rxd1+ 19.Rxd1 Nd5 20.Nb6 Nxe3 21.fxe3 Rb8 22.Kf2 e5 23.Rd5 Be6 24.Rxa5 Rd8 25.Bd3 Bf6 26.e4 Rd4

Kasparov looked at this position and said Rb5 and a5 is a technical win, time to move on to another game.

27.Rb5 g6 28.a5

And we're here.

28...Kg7 29.Ke2 Bg4+ 30.Kf2 Be6 31.Kf3 h5 32.Nd5 Bd8 33.b4 Bc8 34.Ke2 Bg4+ 35.Ke1 f5 36.Rxb7+ Kh6 37.Ne3 Bf3 38.a6 fxe4 39.Be2 Bg5 40.a7 1-0

I don't think anyone had particularly high hopes for Viswanathan Anand against Vladimir Kramnik and the game didn't disappoint. Kramnik played the Berlin, Anand got nothing and they drew as soon as they could engineer it.

Anand,Viswanathan - Kramnik,Vladimir [C67]
2nd London Chess Classic London ENG (7), 15.12.2010

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.0-0 Nxe4 5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5 Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Nc3 Ke8 10.h3 h5 11.Bg5 Be6 12.Rfd1 Be7 13.g3 f6

[13...Rd8 14.Rxd8+ Bxd8 15.Rd1 Be7 16.b3 f6 17.exf6 gxf6 18.Bf4 Nd6 19.Kg2 Kf7 20.Ne2 a5 21.c4 1/2-1/2 Grischuk,A (2719)-Hracek,Z (2593)/Turin 2006/CBM 113]

14.exf6 gxf6 15.Bf4 Rc8 16.Kh2 Kf7 17.Rd2 Rcd8 18.Rxd8 Bxd8 19.Rd1 Re8 20.Nd4 Nxd4 21.Rxd4 Bf5 22.Rd2 Be7 23.Nd1 Rd8 24.Rxd8 Bxd8 25.Ne3 Be4 26.g4 hxg4 27.hxg4 Be7 28.Bxc7 Bc5 29.c3 Bxe3 30.fxe3

and now they're just trying to find their way to agree a draw.

30...Ke6 31.Kg3 a6 32.Kf4 Bc2 33.e4 Bd1 34.a3 Be2 35.Bb6 Bd1 36.Bd4 Be2 37.Be3 Bd1 38.Bd4 Be2 39.Be3 Bd1 1/2-1/2

"If I wanted to be unbeaten I probably wouldn't have played the Dragon in the last round." - McShane.

Luke McShane emerged from this game and the whole event undefeated. But David Howell missed several chances in his now customary desperate time-trouble.

Howell,David - McShane,Luke [B76]
2nd London Chess Classic London ENG (7), 15.12.2010

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Qb6 14.Na4 Qa5 15.b3 Qc7 16.h4 Bf5 17.g4 Be6

[17...e5 18.Qd2 Be6 19.h5 Rad8 20.hxg6 fxg6 21.Nc5 Nf4 22.Nxe6 Nxe6 23.Bd3 Nd4 24.Qh6 Qg7 25.Qe3 e4 26.fxe4 Rf3 27.Qh6 Nxb3+ 28.axb3 Qa1+ 29.Kd2 Rdxd3+ 30.Ke2 Rfe3+ 31.Qxe3 Rxe3+ 32.Kxe3 Qc3+ 33.Kf4 Qf6+ 34.Ke3 Qc3+ 35.Kf4 Qf6+ 36.Ke3 Qc3+ 1/2-1/2 Blehm,P (2511)-Charbonneau,P (2501)/ICC INT 2006/CBM 114 ext]

18.Nc5 Rad8 19.Bc4 Bc8 20.h5 e5 21.Qf2 Qe7 22.Ne4 g5 23.h6 Kh8 24.Qc5 Qxc5 25.Nxc5 f5 26.gxf5 Rxf5 27.Rhe1 Rxf3 28.Rxe5 g4 29.Ne4 Rdf8 30.Bxd5 cxd5 31.Ng5 R3f6 32.Re7 Rg6

[32...Rxh6 33.Nf7+ Rxf7 34.Rxf7]

33.Rxd5 g3 34.Rf7

[34.Rxh7+ Kg8 35.Rf7 Rxh6 36.Rxf8+ Kxf8 37.Rd8+ Kg7 38.Rxc8 g2 39.Nf3 Rh3 40.Rc5 Rxf3 41.Rg5+ Kf7 42.Rxg2]

34...Re8 35.Re5 Rd8 36.Rd5 Re8 37.Re5 Rd8

Is Howell a member of amnesty international asked Garry Kasparov.

38.Rd5

18 seconds vs 44 seconds at the end here.

[38.Rf3 wins. But the players didn't see this at the press conference. ]

1/2-1/2

The final game to finish was the game Michael Adams against Hikaru Nakamura which was drawn in 63 moves when they ran out of pieces. Nakamura supposed that he had an advantage against Adams' Marshall but Adams never thought it got out of bounds.

Notes on the final table. Luke McShane and Viswanathan Anand tied for second place as they had the exact same tie-break. Hikaru Nakamura finished above Vladimir Kramnik because although they had exactly the same tie-break Nakamura won their individual game.

If three points for a win had not been used and the standard Sonneborn-Berger tie-break had been then Anand would have tied with McShane for first with Carlsen 3rd. However if they had used number of wins as the first tie-break (as is the modern trend) then Carlsen would have won anyhow.

2nd London Chess Classic London ENG Mon 6th Dec 2010 - Wed 15th Dec 2010. Category: 19. Ave: (2725)
Rk	Name	Title	FED	Elo	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Pts	GmBl	WiBl	Wins	TPR
1	Carlsen, Magnus	GM	NOR	2802	#	0	0	1	=	1	1	1	13	4	1	4	2816
2	McShane, Luke J	GM	ENG	2645	1	#	=	=	=	=	=	1	11	3	1	2	2838
3	Anand, Viswanathan	GM	IND	2804	1	=	#	=	=	=	=	1	11	3	1	2	2815
4	Nakamura, Hikaru	GM	USA	2741	0	=	=	#	1	=	=	1	10	4	1	2	2772
5	Kramnik, Vladimir	GM	RUS	2791	=	=	=	0	#	=	1	1	10	4	1	2	2765
6	Adams, Michael	GM	ENG	2723	0	=	=	=	=	#	1	=	8	3	0	1	2725
7	Howell, David W L	GM	ENG	2611	0	=	=	=	0	0	#	=	4	4	0	0	2583
8	Short, Nigel D	GM	ENG	2680	0	0	0	0	0	=	=	#	2	3	0	0	2422

Round 7. Wed 15th Dec 2010
Nakamura, Hikaru	1/2-1/2	Adams, Michael	63	C89	Ruy Lopez
Carlsen, Magnus	1-0	Short, Nigel D	40	C10	French
Howell, David W L	1/2-1/2	McShane, Luke J	38	B76	Sicilian
Anand, Viswanathan	1/2-1/2	Kramnik, Vladimir	39	C67	Ruy Lopez

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