London Chess Classic

[TimWall]

Hi everyone, just a quick note to say there are announcements up on the London Chess Classic website:

London Chess Classic (lineup, schedule and pairings): https://www.londonchessclassic.com/press/lcc18_pr4.htm

British Knockout Championship (lineup, schedule and pairings): https://www.londonchessclassic.com/pres ... ko_pr1.htm

If anyone has any media enquiries for the Classic, British KO, FIDE Open and all other LCC events, please feel free to drop me a line and I will try to answer your questions. I will be working at the press office at Olympia and the other venues throughout the London Classic and festival.

My contacts: timpeterwall [at] gmail [dot] com
Tel/WhatsApp: +44 (0) 750 372 2366

[Jonathan Rogers]

Nice to see the KO line up at long last!

I see three Cheddleton players, two Barbican players, and two Wood Green players.

Just the one from Guildford!!

[LawrenceCooper]

Nice to see the KO line up at long last!

I see three Cheddleton players, two Barbican players, and two Wood Green players.

Just the one from Guildford!!

That just leaves one from Blackthorne and three potential wildcards in January then

[Richard Bates]

Expect Guildford have signed them all up as part of their Brexit contingency planning.

[Roger de Coverly]

Hi everyone, just a quick note to say there are announcements up on the London Chess Classic website:

Entries for the Open and the Weekend tournaments the second weekend have been closed.

FIDE Open 243
Weekend Open 51
Weekend U2050 64
Weekend U1825 80
Weekend U1600 108

So that's 546 in total playing at once. The Weekend U1600 in particular seems to have attracted a reasonable turn out of players new to rated or graded chess. That's something that's been absent in recent years as even "minor" sections have been packed with players experienced as competitive chess.

[Jonathan Bryant]

I’ve worked every year at Olympia for the past five years. Won’t be there this year.

I was never involved in the main event or the tournaments for experienced chessers but I can tell you this: However much time and effort you think goes in to running the event, the reality is it’s more than that. Malcolm Pein - quite rightly - is the man whose name is publicly associated with the Classic but there’s a whole team of people you’ll never hear about who work long hard hours to make it all happen.

Tip a glass* to them at some point over the next ten days.




* edit: or raise a hat. Whatever. I’m tired.

[Nick Grey]

It is a great event. The combination of all the excitement for the Children, Teachers & then a great chess festival.
I appreciate all of the team & the work. They are brilliant.

Is there a festival like it with the best players in the world to those that are just starting?

That they attract players & youngsters from all over the world is fantastic. As well as visitors from overseas & regulars at these events.

Jinwoo Song (ex Kingston) & more than a dozen young players from Korea & a lively journey home each evening was a highlight last year.
Looking forward to meeting friends & playing chess. And also having a bite to eat at some time in Jinwoo's mum's café where I live.

[Roger de Coverly]

Round 1 pairings now available.

http://chess-results.com/tnr397648.aspx ... =1&flag=30

On boards 15 and 16 Flear v Flear was narrowly avoided. Instead, Christine faces Keith.

[Richard Bates]

Round 1 pairings now available.

http://chess-results.com/tnr397648.aspx ... =1&flag=30

On boards 15 and 16 Flear v Flear was narrowly avoided. Instead, Christine faces Keith.

Happy with my own narrow escape

[LawrenceCooper]

Round 1 pairings now available.

http://chess-results.com/tnr397648.aspx ... =1&flag=30

On boards 15 and 16 Flear v Flear was narrowly avoided. Instead, Christine faces Keith.

It remains to be seen if the tournament scores will allow the pairing Mueller-Rice to occur later in the tournament

[LawrenceCooper]

Nice to see the KO line up at long last!

I see three Cheddleton players, two Barbican players, and two Wood Green players.

Just the one from Guildford!!

Still three from Cheddleton but down to one from Barbican & Wood Green wth the Guildford one yet to play.

[IM Jack Rudd]

And the international open has started. White's 20th move here is a relatively simple tactic once you see it, but quite nice nevertheless.

[Event "10th CSC London Chess Classic"] [Site "Olympia Conference Centre, Lon"] [Date "2018.12.09"] [Round "1.46"] [White "Derakhshani, Borna"] [Black "Mugalu, Hassan"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A00"] [WhiteElo "2325"] [BlackElo "1910"] [PlyCount "57"] [EventDate "2018.12.09"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 b6 3. Nc3 Bb7 4. d5 d6 5. e4 c6 6. Qd2 g6 7. O-O-O Bg7 8. Bh6 Bxh6 9. Qxh6 Nbd7 10. Nf3 Qc7 11. dxc6 Bxc6 12. Nd5 Qb7 13. Nxf6+ Nxf6 14. e5 Ng4 15. Qh4 Nxe5 16. Nd4 Bxg2 17. Bb5+ Kf8 18. Rhg1 a6 19. Qh6+ Kg8 20. Bc6 Ng4 21. Bxb7 Nxh6 22. Bxg2 Ra7 23. Nc6 Rc7 24. Nb4 Ra7 25. Rge1 Kf8 26. Rd3 b5 27. Ra3 a5 28. Nc6 b4 29. Rh3 1-0

[NickFaulks]

How did you delete that post without leaving a trace?

[Martin Benjamin]

Although he lost in the end, a terrific effort by my Richmond team mate Caspar Bates on Board 1, who came within a whisker of beating his 2670 GM opponent, before going wrong in time trouble. Commiserations and compliments to Caspar - I think the same thing happened to him last year against a very highly rated opponent.

[Brian Towers]

How did you delete that post without leaving a trace?

When you make a post you have a short period of time during which the delete function is available.