London Chess Classic 2013

[Jonathan Rogers]

Er, Kramnik in pool 2?!

[Jonathan Rogers]

at this time limit, I'd have put McShane in pool 2 ahead of Short as well. As it is, the potential "group of death" would seem to be Naka - Kramnik - McShane; and the pool which the qualifiers would hope for would probably have both Caruana and Short

[Mick Norris]

Er, Kramnik in pool 2?!

Based on latest FIDE Rapidplay Ratings

[Kevin Thurlow]

"My experience of these things in football is that there's usually a lavish ceremony for the draw, presented by a male and a female with tenuous connections to the game and speaking English with a thick foreign accent."

I'm hoping for a Real Madrid footballer to be mis-identifed by the media scrum.

[David Sedgwick]

My experience of these things in football is that there's usually a lavish ceremony for the draw, presented by a male and a female with tenuous connections to the game and speaking English with a thick foreign accent. The draw itself then takes several hours, as the show is padded with a series of musical performances from some of the leading national artists of the day. There is then further padding by interviewers asking players and managers sitting in the crowd about the draw, who they hope to avoid, and alleging that the managers are nervous when really they're just fed up of waiting for the draw to be made. When the draw does commence, it takes a long time, because an unnecessarily complicated drawing formula is used, and the celebrities brought in to do the draw usually struggle to open the plastic balls containing the name of the team inside. Three hours later, we have the obligatory "Hopefully this is <team>, or else we'll have to start the whole draw again!" joke, and finally the teams are divided into groups and at last Gary Lineker can apologise for the overrunning, and complain about how long the whole ceremony was.

I trust the draw for the Classic will be far more efficient at its draw today in Newham.

I understand that for the football World Cup on Friday there will be four rehearsals before the real draw.

We didn't have that luxury at Ravenscroft, but everything went very smoothly.

[Mick Norris]

I understand that for the football World Cup on Friday there will be four rehearsals before the real draw.

We didn't have that luxury at Ravenscroft, but everything went very smoothly.

Glad to hear it

When will the draw be published?

[David Sedgwick]

When will the draw be published?

Not my call, but I would expect it to be no later than Friday.

[David Sedgwick]

When will the draw be published?

Not my call, but I would expect it to be no later than Friday.

Malcolm Pein has just tweeted that the draw will be published at 0900 tomorrow (Thursday).

[Alex Holowczak]

I understand that for the football World Cup on Friday there will be four rehearsals before the real draw.

Seriously?

To quote that great thinker and philosopher of modern times ... um, Jeremy Clarkson, "How hard can it be?"

[Mick Norris]

What happens when draws go wrong?
Anyone yawning their way through Fifa's long winded and complicated explanation of their draw procedure would do well to have a look back to the 1982 World Cup.
In Spain, Chile and Peru were supposed to be kept apart from fellow South Americans Argentina and Brazil but the officials forgot to leave their balls out.
Scotland were wrongly put in Argentina's group after Belgium were put into Brazil's group by mistake, causing the draw to be partially done again. England striker Kevin Keegan was pictured laughing during the confusion.
There was also anger that England were one of the top six seeds despite struggling to finish second in their qualifying group. To cap it all, the metal cage jammed, breaking one of the balls being used for the draw.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25153780

[Mick Norris]

Anyway, back on topic
http://www.londonchessclassic.com/super16_draw.htm

[David Sedgwick]

... the pool which the qualifiers would hope for would probably have both Caruana and Short

Very prescient, Jonathan.

All you have to do now is enter the Open and make sure that you qualify second rather than first.

[John Brewitt]

Does anyone know who the last two players are who will take part in this event? This major event starts on Wednesday. Is there any reason why their names have not been announced?

[Sean Hewitt]

Does anyone know who the last two players are who will take part in this event? This major event starts on Wednesday. Is there any reason why their names have not been announced?

There is a very good reason why their names have not yet been announced. They haven't actually qualified yet.

This year the LCC FIDE Open will qualify the two highest-scoring players after four rounds into the ‘Super Sixteen’ Rapidplay that features an all-star cast ...

[Keith Arkell]

Presumably if a qualifier for the rapidplay prefers to stay on and complete the International Open ( eg if he is an IM on line for a GM norm who doesn't need the money) then he will be allowed to play on and the 3rd highest rated on 4/4 will take the place instead?