London 2011, Round 7: Leapfrogging Leaders
Going into the round Hikaru Nakamura enjoyed a two-point lead over Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik and Luke McShane. Not a bad place to be, and although they had already had their byes and he was about to take his in round 7, you'd still expect him to be in good shape by round's end, right?
Nope! After yet another massacre of the British (McShane counts as an honorary foreigner in this tournament), Nakamura dropped to fourth place with just two rounds to go. Magnus Carlsen was engaged in a tough tussle with Michael Adams, and despite having Black it was Adams who had the initiative much of the way. At some moment, however, Adams' queenside initiative came to an end, and in the meantime he underestimated Carlsen's sneaky threats on the kingside. Ultimately, Adams blundered with 35...Nc4, when 36.Rxd5 basically put an end to the proceedings.
Vladimir Kramnik had his way with David Howell in a QGA sideline. Howell followed theory and made natural moves, but somehow - and even Kramnik wasn't really sure what went wrong - the former world champion had a nice edge. Howell's 19...Bc6 may have been the decisive error, costing him a pawn and eventually the game.
Finally, McShane also won, and unlike his co-leaders he did it with Black. Nigel Short essayed the good old King's Gambit, but at some point got a bit too conservative. The compensation dried up and McShane took his extra material to the bank, eventually winning.
Finally, Levon Aronian failed to get anything from the opening against Viswanathan Anand, and their game was soon drawn.
Standings After Round 7 (on 3-1-0 scoring; note that Adams and Howell have played 7 games; everyone else only 6):
1-3. Carlsen, Kramnik, McShane 12
4. Nakamura 11
5-6. Aronian, Anand 7
7. Short 4
8-9. Adams, Howell 3
Round 8 Pairings:
- Anand - Carlsen (already drawn)
- Howell - Aronian
- McShane - Kramnik
- Nakamura - Short
- Adams - bye
Here's the tournament site for the London Chess Classic, and here are the round 7 games (without notes). Let me recommend ChessBase's report on the round, as it includes videos of the post-game press conferences. (Kramnik's was especially entertaining, and should prove a real eye-opener to fans who think that a super-GM's solidity has anything to do with his ability to imagine and calculate tactics!)
Perhaps even more noteworthy in that report is the brief transcript (and audio clip) of Nakamura answering questions about his working relationship with Garry Kasparov. One doesn't suspect it's going in a fantastic direction - especially after this interview.
Nakamura's Hypocrisy?
So says Peter Zhdanov (HT: Brian Karen). The context was Hikaru Nakamura implicitly but obviously tweeting that Fabiano Caruana was cherry picking by playing in the Reyjkjavik Open, looking for easy rating points. So said Nakamura when Caruana passed him on the live rating list, although when in a subsequent open event Caruana fell back Nakamura didn't change his tune. Now, however, Nakamura himself has played in an open event and not just any open event, but a very weak one (by his exalted standards). Five rounds against players rated 1900+ to -2300+ netted him four rating points, extending his lead over Caruana and enabling him to pass Sergey Karjakin on the live list.
It's much ado about very little, but for me it makes me happy that a real sportsman like Viswanathan Anand holds the crown. A little smack talk among friends is one thing, but unless one's rivals are doing something unethical it's best, I think, to keep one's negative opinions to oneself.
As an aside, it's also wise, most of the time, as the talker runs the risk that one's opponents will be more motivated than before. Veselin Topalov tried it on Vladimir Kramnik, and it didn't work, and the normally classy Kramnik was taught a lesson in his match with Anand a couple of years later. I've experienced it at my own (considerably less exalted) level. Some years ago I had a match with an opponent who thought he would intimidate me with his bluster, but it didn't work. There were two results of this attempt: first, I decided I would never have anything to do with him again if I could help it. Life is too short to waste on people whose primary mode of interaction is belligerence. Second, I determined to do everything possible - ethically possible - to triumph, and I did.
I'm sure others have other opinions, but please, express them without bellicosity!