Tuesday
Dec062016
London Chess Classic Starts on Friday
Tuesday, December 6, 2016 at 12:28PM
No blitz event for this one: they just show up and start playing, and the pairings are already out for the 2016 London Chess Classic. Here is what round 1 looks like, coming this Friday and starting at 4 p.m. local time (= 5 p.m. CET, noon ET):
- Levon Aronian (2785) - Michael Adams (2748)
- Hikaru Nakamura (2779) - Wesley So (2794)
- Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2804) - Anish Giri (2771)
- Fabiano Caruana (2823) - Viswanathan Anand (2779)
- Vladimir Kramnik (2809) - Veselin Topalov (2760)
That last pairing looks like trouble, but maybe having them get their game out of the way will help them both have a normal tournament, especially if it's a draw. Anyway, it should be a great tournament, and hopefully there will be very few Ruys and Giuocos after the 1.e4 e5 overdose at the Carlsen-Karjakin match.
Predictions?
Reader Comments (5)
Caruana wins on tie break over Kramnik.
The pairings are just the reverse of the near-identical Sinquefield Cup (now Adams replaces Ding Liren, and Kramnik replaces Svidler who had been a last-minute replacement for Kramnik).
Sorry, I expect 1.e4 e5 in at least three games of the first round - could be more if Aronian and/or Kramnik choose 1.e4. Only MVL playing black will be different (Najdorf Sicilian) in forthcoming rounds.
Predictions? Let's say Caruana approaches his result from 2015 and will be world #1 after the event - apparently 7/9 is needed. Or did you want a prediction for last place? Topalov going crazy after losing round 1 against Kramnik.
A top three of Kramnik, MVL and Adams, in that order. :)
Anand FTW!
Has anyone done a fashion-root analysis of openings? (e.g. Kramnik's revival of the Berlin, Catalan)? I wonder who the most prominent influencer is for the last 10 or so years.
[DM: At least as of several years ago, Kramnik was universally considered to be THE leading mover and shaker. I'm not sure if that's still true, not that anyone has necessarily taken his place.]
I expect MVL, Caruana, and So in some order....I would favor MVL on top. Almost anyone could win this one, though, just depends on individual form. I am rooting for Kramnik.