Carlsen Escapes In London
In the penultimate round of the London Chess Classic, Magnus Carlsen pulled off an escape worthy of Houdini in his game against Kramnik to rescue a draw.
Kramnik simplified to a seemingly winning endgame, but somehow hit a brick wall when trying to convert his advantage.
In the other games, Anand managed to hold Adams to a draw, McShane clung on against Nakamura, and Short drew an entertaining King's Gambit with Howell.
The start of the Kramnik-Carlsen game
The standings going into the final round:
| Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2802 | 10 |
| Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2804 | 10 |
| McShane, Luke | ENG | 2645 | 10 |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2791 | 9 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2741 | 9 |
| Adams, Michael | ENG | 2723 | 7 |
| Howell, David | ENG | 2611 | 3 |
| Short, Nigel | ENG | 2680 | 2 |
The final round starts on Wednesday 15 December two hours earlier than usual, at 12:00 GMT (07:00 EST in the US). The draw is Anand v Kramnik, Nakamura v Adams, Howell v McShane, and Carlsen v Short.
Chess.com will be covering the final round LIVE at Chess.com TV, starting around 08:00 to 08:30 EST with David Pruess.
Picture courtesy of Ray Morris-Hill.
