Kramnik wins the third London Classic

A draw was enough to ensure first place for Vladimir Kramnik. The only winner in the final round was Hikaru Nakamura who beat the out-of-sorts Michael Adams in the most complicated struggle of the day. The American thus moves up to second place ahead of Magnus Carlsen. The leading English player, and the only one to gain rating points, was Luke McShane in fourth.

Showing his intention to complicate, Hikaru Nakamura played the King's Gambit! Michael Adams accepted the offer, but gave back a central pawn in order to complete his development in peace. There then followed a complex middlegame in which both players had chances. The assymetric pawns, where White had a central majority and Black extra pawns on both wings, created many interesting options for both players. The breath-taking middlegame pawn race was won by a whisker by the American, thus enabling him to make it to second place.

Nigel Short decided to play very conservatively against Magnus Carlsen. The symmetric Giuoco Piano (Quiet Italian) can be very dry indeed, although both players sought winning chances. A positional pawn sacrifice by Short to break up Black's pawns paid off as he won a pawn. However the rook endgame with all the pawns on one wing was drawn.

Luke McShane handled Anand's Caro-Kann in an equally solid way and although the Englishman had the bishop pair, he was unable to make any progress against Anand's well installed defence.

The game between Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian left White with a nominal edge (Black had an isolated queen's pawn for a while and arguably the worst bishop). However at this level this wasn't enough to cause Black any difficulties.

The ninth round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	0.5-0.5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	32	Queen's Gambit Declined (5.Bf4)
Nigel Short	ENG	2698	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	77	Giuoco Piano
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	1-0	Michael Adams	ENG	2734	41	King's Gambit Accepted
Luke McShane	ENG	2671	0.5-0.5	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	25	Caro-Kann (Two Knights)

David Howell (England, 2633) sat out the final round whilst helping out with the live commentary.

Here is the final table:

Rank	Name	Country	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total (3, 1, 0)	Total (standard)
1	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	*	½	½	1	½	½	1	1	1	16	6
2	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	½	*	0	½	1	1	½	1	1	15	5½
3	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	½	1	*	½	½	½	½	1	1	14	5½
4	Luke McShane	ENG	2671	0	½	½	*	½	½	1	1	1	13	5
5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	½	0	½	½	*	½	1	½	½	9	4
6	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	½	0	½	½	½	*	1	½	½	9	4
7	Nigel Short	ENG	2698	0	½	½	0	0	0	*	½	1	6	2½
8	David Howell	ENG	2633	0	0	0	0	½	½	½	*	½	4	2
9	Michael Adams	ENG	2734	0	0	0	0	½	½	0	½	*	3	1½

Further statistics:

Position	Name	Country	Rating (1/11/2011)	World Ranking (1/11/2011)	Age	Games played	London Points	Standard points	Elo +/-
1	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	4	36	7	16	6	+13.6
2	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	10	24	7	15	5½	+13.4
3	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1	21	7	14	5½	+5.4
4	Luke McShane	ENG	2671	74	27	7	13	5	+19.6
5-6	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	3	29	7	9	4	-6.4
5-6	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	2	42	7	9	4	-8
7	Nigel Short	ENG	2698	48	46	7	6	2½	-8.6
8	David Howell	ENG	2633	139	21	8	4	2	-5.6
9	Michael Adams	ENG	2734	17	40	7	3	1½	-23.4

There were 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw in London.

Big ELO gains for Kramnik and Nakamura and of course McShane.

Five of the nine players lost rating points, the most significant deficit being that of being Michael Adams.

The details of the earlier rounds follow on below.

First round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	45	Catalan with ...dxc4
Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	0.5-0.5	Luke McShane	ENG	2671	42	Chebanenko Slav
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1-0	David Howell	ENG	2633	40	Spanish with d3
Michael Adams	ENG	2734	0.5-0.5	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	49	Sicilian Najdorf

Second round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Nigel Short	ENG	2698	0-1	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	43	Four Knights Rubinstein
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	1-0	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	54	Queen's Gambit 3...Be7
Luke McShane	ENG	2671	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	79	Spanish Neo-Archangel
David Howell	ENG	2633	0.5-0.5	Michael Adams	ENG	2734	35	Spanish Anti-Marshall

Third round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	1-0	Nigel Short	ENG	2698	60	Queen's Indian Defence
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1-0	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	41	Quiet Italian
Michael Adams	ENG	2734	0-1	Luke McShane	ENG	2671	61	Spanish with d3
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	0.5-0.5	David Howell	ENG	2633	65	Slav Defence

Fourth round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Michael Adams	ENG	2734	0-1	Nigel Short	ENG	2698	71	French Tarrasch
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	0.5-0.5	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	55	Nimzoindian with g3.
David Howell	ENG	2633	0-1	Luke McShane	ENG	2671	37	Scotch Opening
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	0-1	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	49	King's Indian Classical Bayonnet

Fifth round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	1-0	Michael Adams	ENG	2734	55	Bogoljubov Defence
Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	55	Chebanenko Slav
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	1-0	David Howell	ENG	2633	38	English Opening
Nigel Short	ENG	2698	0-1	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	62	Sicilian Moscow Variation

Sixth round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	0.5-0.5	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	39	Queen's Gambit Declined 5.Bf4
Michael Adams	ENG	2734	0.5-0.5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	34	Spanish Berlin
Luke McShane	ENG	2671	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	31	Sicilian 3.g3
David Howell	ENG	2633	0.5-0.5	Nigel Short	ENG	2698	36	French Tarrasch

Seventh round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	0.5-0.5	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	25	Queen's Gambit Declined 5.Bf4
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1-0	Michael Adams	ENG	2734	34	Nimzoindian Defence
Nigel Short	ENG	2698	0-1	Luke McShane	ENG	2671	36	King's Gambit
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	1-0	David Howell	ENG	2633	36	Queen's Gambit Accepted

Eighth round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
David Howell	ENG	2633	0.5-0.5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	54	Pirc Defence (Austrian)
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	33	Queen's Gambit Declined (Tartakower)
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	0.5-0.5	Nigel Short	ENG	2698	90	English Opening
Luke McShane	ENG	2671	0-1	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	69	Spanish with d3

More information from the official site: http://www.londonchessclassic.com/classic.htm