London Chess Classic 2011

[Krishna Shiatis]

Other results aren't up on the website yet, so don't know how the other norm seekers did.

For the FIDE Open, the website has been commendably quick to publish the pairings for the next round. For the final round, it has fallen into the frequent problem of not publishing the final results.

“The regular uploader was busy doing quite a lot of close-tournament admin* tonight. Only on the last train back home to Brighton did he remember that he had forgotten to upload the final FIDE Open placings. They are now posted as of 01:25 along with a bonus: the full prize list is linked from the rankings list.

* The Women’s Invitational seems to have been completely overlooked by the ECForum in their Classic discussions. One of the bits of admin the uploader did was to prepare Gulishkan Nakhbayeva’s WGM norm paperwork. Well done indeed to her – she won her last six games on the trot to exceed the WGM norm requirement by half a point. Well done also to Dagne Ciuksyte, who shared first place with her two points clear of the field.”

Hi Adam,

From a personal perspective, I would have liked to have watched and commented more on the Women's matches as well as the Open section matches. However, there just was not enough time to watch it all. There was commentary provided by the Classic on the main event and so it was easier for me to watch that alongside the games as that did explain much of what was going on.

Perhaps, for next year, you might offer some kind of round-up or commentary on the Women's Invitational as well as the Open and then it helps people like myself to watch and understand a little more and then we would maybe be able to contribute a little on it?

Well done to Dagne and to all the participants and winners. Overall, I have enjoyed watching the Classic when time permitted. Many thanks to all who have helped, to Malcolm, yourself, Sabrina, John, Jack, Tim, Alex, Neville, David, Laurence, Laurence, Danny, Stuart, Stephen, Chris, all the many people I may have forgotton to mention who helped make it such a fantastic event!

Kind regards,

Krishna

[Jonathan Bryant]

So, that's almost certainly the LCC for Kramnik then - he only needs a draw tomorrow (with White) since even if Carlsen won, Kramnik would have the better tiebreak ....

There's a certain irony that this is due to the 3-1-0 scoring system [EDIT: that's cobblers, as I realised when I saw the crosstable again when I arrived at the venue. That will teach me to try to do mental arithmetic before breakfast] Hopefully the prospect of losing 13,000 euros in prize money should he end up tied with Carlsen will provide Kramnik sufficient motivation to give it a go today.

I'd like to see Vlad win in the end, regardless.

[Paul Dargan]

So in the end (and if I'm reading the tables right) had Luke been able to hold Kramnik in round 8 - then Nakamura would have won the event..


Paul Dargan

[Jonathan Rogers]

And Adams finished last. Not sure when that last happened. Hastings 1989!?

Do you want a LCC quiz? Yes? Here goes. In all three events,

1) who has a 3-0 score against whom?

2) Have we seen three draws between any two players?

3) Kramnik has played nine games v Luke, David and Nigel Short; how many points?

4) How many wins have there been by English players against non-English players?

5) Has Luke won

a) half of the number of games won by the other English players combined

b) the same number of games as the other English players combined

c) almost twice as many as the other English players combined?

6) Excluding Carlsen, how many wins have there been by foreign players against other foreign players?

[IM Jack Rudd]

Is 1) McShane v Short?

[Jonathan Rogers]

Is 1) McShane v Short?

It is half of the correct answer. The other half of the answer trespasses onto question 3.

[Mick Norris]

Kramnik is 3-0 against Short, he drew with McShane in 2010

In 2009, Howell beat Ni Hua and McShane beat Nakamura

In 2010, McShane beat Carlsen

[Mick Norris]

And Adams finished last. Not sure when that last happened. Hastings 1989!?

Do you want a LCC quiz? Yes? Here goes. In all three events,

1) who has a 3-0 score against whom?

2) Have we seen three draws between any two players?

3) Kramnik has played nine games v Luke, David and Nigel Short; how many points?

4) How many wins have there been by English players against non-English players?

5) Has Luke won

a) half of the number of games won by the other English players combined

b) the same number of games as the other English players combined

c) almost twice as many as the other English players combined?

6) Excluding Carlsen, how many wins have there been by foreign players against other foreign players?

Answers?

[Jonathan Rogers]

I had hoped for more entrants but here goes

1) who has a 3-0 score against whom?

McShane v Short
Kramnik v Short

2) Have we seen three draws between any two players?

Howell v Short (!)

but Nigel does have varied results against the others ...

3) Kramnik has played nine games v Luke, David and Nigel Short; how many points?

8/9 - he drew with Howell two years ago from a Petroff and with Luke last year from a Berlin. This monster score has also been made with six Blacks!

4) How many wins have there been by English players against non-English players?

Three: Nakamura v McShane, Ni Hua v Howell, both two years ago and McShane v Carlsen last year. No joy this year, though in at least three games English players came very close.

5) Has Luke won

a) half of the number of games won by the other English players combined

b) the same number of games as the other English players combined

c) almost twice as many as the other English players combined?

(c) he has won seven, whilst the other English players have won four

6) Excluding Carlsen, how many wins have there been by foreign players against other foreign players?

Only eight

Two years ago
Carlsen v Kramnik
Kramnik v Ni Hua
Ni Hua v Carlsen

Last year
Anand v Carlsen
Carlsen v Nakamura

This year
Nakamura v Aronian
Carlsen v Nakamura
Anand v Nakamura

To conclude, the foreigners have lost 11 games, mostly against other foreigners (and three of these losses by Ni Hua). The English have lost something like 28, around 20 of them against the foreign players. Or in other words, foreigners have won eight games against each other, and the English have also won eight games against each other, but otherwise the decisive results between the foreigners and the English split at about 20-3.