London 2011, Round 8: Kramnik Defeats McShane, Leads With One Round To Play (Updated)
It has been a horse race at the London Chess Classic, and entering the round it looked like we might be in for a photo finish. We still might, but going into tomorrow's last round there's a clear leader: Vladimir Kramnik. It was the last game to finish, but he finally pulled out a crazy win against Luke McShane, who entered the day tied with Kramnik and Magnus Carlsen for first. It seemed like anything was possible near the end of the first time control, but after 41.c5 f5+ the game was Kramnik's to win, and he did.
Carlsen got a very easy draw with Black against Viswanathan Anand, who seems content to play out the string with draws, and the other games were drawn as well. Hikaru Nakamura could have hopped into clear second with a win over a struggling Nigel Short, but despite trying for 90 moves the game probably could have been abandoned 60 moves earlier. Still, you've got to tip your hat to his fighting spirit!
Finally, it seemed like Levon Aronian had some chances to win with Black against David Howell, but these were either illusory or he let him slip out of danger. Either way, it was a topsy-turvy day for the natives, as none of the tail-ending Englishmen lost while the one who was leading finally did.
Standings After Round 8 (based on 3-1-0 scoring; all players but Howell have had their byes):
1. Kramnik 15
2. Carlsen 13
3-4. McShane, Nakamura 12
5-6. Anand, Aronian 8
7. Short 5
8. Howell 4
9. Adams 3
Final round pairings:
- McShane - Anand
- Nakamura - Adams
- Short - Carlsen
- Kramnik - Aronian
- Howell - bye
Note that tomorrow's games start two hours earlier than usual, at noon local time/7 a.m. ET.
Games later.
UPDATE: the round 8 games are here, with annotations.