The UK’s premier event of the year is under way this weekend as the London Classic, final event in the $1m Grand Tour, is in progress at Kensington Olympia. Ten elite grandmasters, headed by the world champion, Magnus Carlsen, and including the England No1, Michael Adams, as the home wild card, are taking part.
The Classic will be a critical moment for Carlsen, whose reputation as an all-time legend alongside Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov has been dented by his individual defeats and uneven overall form in 2015. He remains clear at No1 in the rankings despite dropping 50 points from his rating peak and largely because his rivals, too, have been inconsistent. But the 25-year-old Norwegian really needs to win well at Olympia and capture the overall Grand Tour award to subdue his critics. He is a cult figure in his homeland and Norwegian state television will cover the Classic with daily live commentary.
Side events at the Classic include a Fide-rated open, a two-day rapid open next weekend where ordinary amateurs will play alongside GMs and, a novelty, the £50,000 British knock-out championship of eight invited GMs and masters. Its quarter- and semi-finals were staged earlier this week, leading to a six-game final match between David Howell, the England No2, and Nicholas Pert, who came into the event only as a late substitute.
Spectator tickets, free to women and under-25s, are available every day and allow you not only to watch Carlsen and his opponents in action but also to attend interactive master classes and play your own friendly games. There will also be a huge global online audience, spectating free and live and able to follow the action knowledgeably with the aid of GM and computer move-by-move analysis.
Carlsen’s final-round game in the recent European team championship in Reykjavik was also his last warm-up before the Classic. Needing a win to avoid the ignominy of scoring below 50% in the tournament, he reverted to his trusted formula of aiming for a small edge from a simple and offbeat opening, then increased the pressure until his Polish opponent cracked.
After 15 moves the champion had more space, plus an active bishop against a board edge knight. Carlsen’s key moves 18 Qd1! 19 Bf1! and 23 Ne1! delayed exchanges and prepared the invasion 32 Qd7! when 34 Qa5! threatened the trick 35 Qxc5 and 36 Nd7+ winning a piece. At the end 38 Ne8! threatens 39 Qc7 mate, which Black can only stop by Qf7 39 Qd6+ Nc6 40 dxc6 when White’s extra piece wins.
Magnus Carlsen v Radoslaw Wojtaszek
1 d4 Nf6 2 Bf4 d5 3 e3 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nd2 cxd4 6 exd4 Bf5 7 Qb3 Qc8 8 Ngf3 e6 9 Nh4 Be4 10 Nxe4 Nxe4 11 Nf3 Bd6 12 Bxd6 Nxd6 13 Bd3 Qc7 14 Qc2 O-O-O 15 O-O h6 16 a4 Kb8 17 Rfe1 Rc8 18 Qd1! Rhe8 19 Bf1! Re7 20 Rc1 Rd8 21 Re2 Ne4 22 b4 Ng5 23 Ne1! e5 24 b5 Na5 25 Rxe5 Rxe5 26 dxe5 Qxe5 27 c4 Ne6 28 Nf3 Qf4 29 cxd5 Rxd5 30 Qxd5 Qxc1 31 g3 Qc5 32 Qd7! Qf8 33 Ne5 Nc5 34 Qd5 Kc7 35 Nxf7 Nxa4 36 Qe5+ Kb6 37 Nd6 Nc5 38 Ne8! 1-0
3419 1 Kc6!! g1Q 2 Nxh4! (so that if Kxh5 3 Nf3+ and 4 Nxg1) creates an impregnable fortress where the black king is entombed at h5 while the queen cannot win on her own. The paradoxical 1 Kc6!! deproves the BQ of any constructive check at move 3. If 1 Kc6 g1N 2 Kd5 Ne2 3 Kxc4 draws. If 1 Kc6 h3 2 Ng3+ Kh4 3 Ne2 h2 4 Nf3+ and 5 Nxh2 draws. If 1 Kc6 Kg5 2 Nf3+ Kxf5 3 Nxh4+ and 4 Nxg2 draws.
