The London Chess Classic ended with quite a bang. Though it started with lots of draws, the last few rounds were full of drama, as the world champ nearly lost twice, then really did lose.
Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi (Nepo), in one of his very best performances, tied for 1st. Along the way, he managed to beat Magnus Carlsen when Carlsen blundered a pawn and then another piece within just a few moves. We can’t remember a World Champion playing this badly.
American Fabiano Caruana played very solid chess to finish +2 (two wins, no loses) and tie Nepomniachtchi for first, and with this performance moved into the World’s #2 spot, behind Carlsen. Caruana and Nepo played a tie-breaker of rapid and blitz games for sole first, which Fabiano won. Hikaru Nakamura drew all his games, but he will regret that he let Magnus Carlsen escape with a draw from a lost endgame.
At the bottom of the table, with 3/9, were the two oldest players, Englishman Michael Adams, 46, and Vishy Anand, who celebrated his 48th birthday during the event. Talk will once again start on whether Anand should retire.
Other results found Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finishing in third place on tie-break over Wesley So with 5/9; Carlsen was fifth, 5/9; Nakamura was sixth, with 4.5/9; Aronian finished with 4/9; and Sergey Karjakin a disappointing 3.5/9.
Caruana won the $75,000 event’s first place prize and Carlsen won the extra $100,000 for winning the overall Grand Chess Tour (GCT) title.
During the event, the GCT announced a change in the format for the 2018 Tour. In what strikes us as a cost-saving measure; the London Chess Classic is gone, replaced with a series of matches (blitz, rapid and classical) between the four top point-winners from other GCT events. It was also announced that the St. Louis, Paris, and Leuven events will be back in 2018.
The USCF’s K-12 National Grade Championships have ended in Orlando Fla. The tournament drew some 1,800 players, only five from Massachusetts. But we do have two results of note: Brookline’s Maya Figelman tied for first in the 2nd grade, and Boston’s Anton Barash was a fifth-place finisher in the 11th grade.
Coming events:Dec. 23, Boylston Winter G/80, Boylston CC, Cambridge, www.BoylstonChess.org; Jan. 3-5, sixth annual Boston Chess Congress, Hyatt Harborside Hotel at Logan Airport, Boston, www.chesstour.com/bcc18.htm
Recent results: Pillsbury Open, Open, 1st: A. Ivanov, 4/4; U1910, 1st: Gaetano Bompastore, 4/4; U1710, first and second, Cameron Buchholz, David W. Martin, 3.5/4; U1310, first: Nikolas Sylvester Praschma, 3.5/4.
Answer to today’s problem: 1...Re6+!! 2.Kxe6 [2.Kf5 Re8 3.b8Q+Rxb8 4.Bxb8 is a draw] 2...Kc6 3.b8B [or 3.b8Q, 3.b8R are stalemates, or 3.b8N+ when 3…Kb7 wins one of the pieces, leading to a draw] 3...Kb7 is a draw as you can’t mate with two bishops of the same color here.
