London Chess Classic 2017

[David Robertson]

Caruana - Adams

Eighteen moves in. Is this the earliest creation, between GMs, of a full Irish Pawn Centre

[Christopher Kreuzer]

The tripled (Irish) pawns are still there, and Mickey has just played a bad move (35.Bd5), though a loss will only see him finish bottom with Anand (who lost and has had a disastrous tournament). Nakamura has drawn to achieve the full set of nine draws. Aronian may lose to Carlsen, and fail to join Nakamura. Bit of a strange tournament all round, really.

If that rook on g3 gets entombed there, it will be a pretty sight!

PS. Congrats to Luke McShane on winning the 2017 British Knockout Championships. What happened in the Super Blitz? I can't find the full results anywhere - only partial results at chess-results.com.

[LawrenceCooper]

What happened in the Super Blitz? I can't find the full results anywhere - only partial results at chess-results.com.

http://bracketcloud.com/tournament/109468

David lost the armageddon game as white in the final.

[PeterFarr]

Caruana - Adams

Eighteen moves in. Is this the earliest creation, between GMs, of a full Irish Pawn Centre

And now after moves 36 & 38, the same pawns have become a real pawn centre. That must be another rarity?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

What happened in the Super Blitz? I can't find the full results anywhere - only partial results at chess-results.com.

http://bracketcloud.com/tournament/109468

David lost the armageddon game as white in the final.

Thanks. The link to that site from chess-results.com is incorrect (though now I see it is typed out in the header).

Bit agonising for David, coming second again. Good result for Iturrizaga, who knocked out McShane.

[Alex Holowczak]

Thanks. The link to that site from chess-results.com is incorrect (though now I see it is typed out in the header)

The link was too long, sadly...

[Kevin Thurlow]

I can't seem to find a final cross-table for the top event...

[LawrenceCooper]

I can't seem to find a final cross-table for the top event...

http://theweekinchess.com/chessnews/eve ... assic-2017

[Matt Mackenzie]

Well done to Caruana for winning the "main" event.

It has emerged that Carlsen hasn't been totally well, which may explain his uneven play here as much as any boredom issues.

[Kevin Thurlow]

"http://theweekinchess.com/chessnews/eve ... assic-2017"

Thanks! I had hoped to find it on the "Classic" website. I do visit TWIC a lot though...

[MJMcCready]

A load of old garbage from Magnus but I do feel sorry for him. He must be more under the weather than we thought.

My view? And my view for the past couple of years or more: Carlsen is bored.

He's bored with chess, with playing it, with playing the same guys down the same lines. He's bored with the effort of endless prep to meet players engaged in endless prep. The game rewards him well; makes him famous; and comes easily to him. He can't explain why he became so good so young. But that's then; passed. And now it's boring, boring. And by the standards set by obsessives, he is lazy.

Evidence? I thought it first when he punted the Ponziani (v. Harikrishna, Tata 2013). Since then, there have been several occasions when I felt his choice of opening had displayed, not arrogance, but frivolity - a search for something 'fresh'; that is, fresh to the jaded palate, not fresh to outwit an opponent's prep (though that could feature too).

Frankly, it would come as small surprise to me if Carlsen announced he was jacking it in. That's my gut reading. I think it's unlikely, rationally, because the rewards remain large. But if he loses No. 1 status (if not yet WC status ), why carry on as No. 2 or worse?

As I say, he looks and plays 'bored'. So good so young. Now bored

You certainly aren't alone there. He tends to look bored in some of his games. If he plays in closed tournaments, often against the same players that will become overly familiar. I noticed last year he entered an open tournament or two and in one - I think it was Gibraltar- he drew with a female IM in the first round.

He probably needs to lose his title to Aronian and be knocked off his number one spot to rediscover the passion he once had.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Don't think it will be Levon who dethrones him, genuinely nice guy that he is.

(or maybe that is at least partly *because* he is a nice guy?)

Even the great Alekhine - one of the most single minded WC's - admitted after losing his title in 1935 that it was partly because he had become bored with chess. It took the shock of Euwe beating him to rekindle his love for the game.

[MJMcCready]

So perhaps, then, Carlsen's feathers won't be ruffled until he is knocked off his perch, hopefully by Aronian.

[David Sedgwick]

I can't seem to find a final cross-table for the top event...

"http://theweekinchess.com/chessnews/eve ... assic-2017"

Thanks! I had hoped to find it on the "Classic" website.

The omission has now been rectified.

http://www.londonchessclassic.com/gct/gct_standings.htm

[Alex Holowczak]

I can't seem to find a final cross-table for the top event...

"http://theweekinchess.com/chessnews/eve ... assic-2017"

Thanks! I had hoped to find it on the "Classic" website.

The omission has now been rectified.

http://www.londonchessclassic.com/gct/gct_standings.htm

Is it deliberate that Adams is playing as ENG but has a Union Flag graphic, rather than a St. George's Flag graphic?

Is it also a deliberate styling choice that 0.5 is used rather than ½?