McShane up with Carlsen

Luke McShane

There were three black wins in round four. Luke McShane won his second game of the campaign, and this has given him the chance to share the lead with Magnus Carlsen. Behind this pair is Hikaru Nakamura who beat World Champion Viswanathan Anand, and finally Nigel Short opened his account with a victory over Michael Adams.

David Howell had the bishop pair, but Luke McShane held firm. Later, towards the time control, Howell badly miscalculated and McShane was able to grab a pawn. Howell's queen sacrifice in order to mix matters didn't impress the cool McShane.

Although Viswanathan Anand seemed to be making great progress on the queenside, Hikaru Nakamura managed to keep his position afloat and eventually create kingside counterplay. An exchange sacrifice by the American gave him dangerous threats, which Anand couldn't cope with, despite returning material.

Magnus Carlsen opted for a small pull with opposite bishops. Despite later winning a pawn due to his active king, Carlsen was unable to win with Kramnik defending well.

For much of the game Nigel Short had a positional advantage due to his bishop against Adams's knight. Short also had the sounder pawn structure, and this helped him take the initiative. Towards the end an exchange sacrifice enabled him to break through and fatally weaken White's king.

The 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

Levon Aronian (Armenia, 2802) sat out the fourth round whilst helping out with the live commentary.

Here is the tournament situation so far:

Position	Name	Country	Rating (1/11/2011)	World Ranking (1/11/2011)	Age	Games played	Points
1-2	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1	21	4	8
1-2	Luke McShane	ENG	2671	74	27	4	8
3	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	10	24	4	7
4	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	4	36	3	5
5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	3	29	3	4
6	Nigel Short	ENG	2698	48	46	3	3
7	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	2	41*	3	2
8-9	Michael Adams	ENG	2734	17	40	4	2
8-9	David Howell	ENG	2633	139	21	4	2

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

(*Anand will be 42 on the 11th of December).

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

The 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

The playing schedule (local time):

Rounds 1 to 3, the 3rd to 5th of December at 2pm.

Round 4 on the 6th of December at 4pm.

(Rest day on the 7th of December)

Rounds 5-8, the 8th to the 11th of December at 2pm.

Round 9 will be on the 12th of December at 12 noon.

For Los Angeles subtract eight hours.

For New York subtract five hours.

For Paris and Madrid, add one hour.

For Moscow add three hours.

For Mumbai add five-and-a-half hours.

For Sydney add eleven hours.

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