First thread on LCC 2012 ?

[Jonathan Rogers]

Apparently so. Are we going to have a predictions contest? (Better still, will the YCA run it and give me another prize? ) If we do, I think there should be bonus points for guessing the position after move three on each game.

Anyway, first round pairings on saturday are

Luke McShane v Magnus Carlsen
Levon Aronian v Hikaru Nakamura
Vladimir Kramnik v Judit Polgar
Gawain Jones v Michael Adams

seemingly a good pairing for Gawain - surely White v Adams is the most reliable bet of the lot for a solid half-point start. I am guessing that Kramnik's score v Polgar with White is huge, actually I wonder if it's rather good with Black too - and remember he won this event last year just by beating all the weaker (er, English) players, and so will be looking at Polgar with the same sort of eye. McShane has an early White v Carlsen for the third consecutive year ! We will get a good early indication whether Naka is likely to repeat his excellent result of last year.

[Jonathan Bryant]

... seemingly a good pairing for Gawain - surely White v Adams is the most reliable bet of the lot for a solid half-point start.

Maybe, but this could be The Corporal's best chance of a win at the LCC so perhaps he'll try to play for a win?

[James Byrne]

...

[Jonathan Rogers]

I think Carlsen will win the LCC and break Kasparov's rating record. However, I'd love to see McShane or Jones win it.

Fair enough but Jones winning it - or coming close - would in my view be to surpass even Glenn Flear's London result in 1986

To the other Jonathan - I would think that if Jones wins a game, it will be as White v someone who plays a Sicilian or French.

[Carl Hibbard]

I just hope Anand turns up and actually attempts to play this year

[Matthew Turner]

My prediction is for Carlsen to win and to be the only winner in round 1

[Ray Sayers]

My prediction:

Luke McShane v Magnus Carlsen 0 - 1
Levon Aronian v Hikaru Nakamura Draw
Vladimir Kramnik v Judit Polgar 1 - 0
Gawain Jones v Michael Adams Draw

But hey what do I know?

[Mick Norris]

Doesn't Magnus normally start slowly in tournaments?

How about 4 white wins?

[Graham Borrowdale]

Four white wins sounds like a long shot, but maybe a couple, something like this:

Luke McShane v Magnus Carlsen Draw
Levon Aronian v Hikaru Nakamura 1 - 0
Vladimir Kramnik v Judit Polgar 1 - 0
Gawain Jones v Michael Adams Draw

Difficult to see any black wins, unless McShane overpresses.

[PeterTurland]

If I recall correctly, Luke played Magnus in the first round last year and won. So one would expect defensive play from Magnus, but the lad is unpredictable, which is why I enjoy watching his matches.

[Jonathan Rogers]

Predicting the position after 3 moves does not seem to have caught on, but I'll try it anyway -

Luke McShane v Magnus Carlsen (1 c4 e6 2 g3 Nf6 3 Bg2 d5) draw
Levon Aronian v Hikaru Nakamura (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7) 1-0
Vladimir Kramnik v Judit Polgar (1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 d4 d5) 1-0
Gawain Jones v Michael Adams (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4) draw

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Predicting the position after 3 moves does not seem to have caught on, but I'll try it anyway -

Luke McShane v Magnus Carlsen (1 c4 e6 2 g3 Nf6 3 Bg2 d5) draw
Levon Aronian v Hikaru Nakamura (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7) 1-0
Vladimir Kramnik v Judit Polgar (1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 d4 d5) 1-0
Gawain Jones v Michael Adams (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4) draw

I think most people would be quite happy to predict the first move from each player and leave it at that!

[Jonathan Rogers]

It can be easier to guess the first three or four moves, if one wishes to predict a certain opening. Eg, the Catalan might be reached by almost any move order by either side, so you have a much better chance of predicting the position after move three or four than after move one.

[Tristan Clayton]

R1 pairings for the FIDE Open up at: http://www.classic.livechess.co.uk/2012 ... index.html

[Leonard Barden]

Predicting the position after 3 moves does not seem to have caught on, but I'll try it anyway -

Luke McShane v Magnus Carlsen (1 c4 e6 2 g3 Nf6 3 Bg2 d5) draw
Levon Aronian v Hikaru Nakamura (1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7) 1-0
Vladimir Kramnik v Judit Polgar (1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 d4 d5) 1-0
Gawain Jones v Michael Adams (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4) draw

0/4 for White's first move.....