An Exciting Finale Expected In London
The penultimate round of the London Chess Classic produced four more excellent games, and set-up the final round for a thrilling conclusion.
Vladimir Kramnik kept the contest for first place alive by beating Gawain Jones in their encounter. That leaves him just 2 points behind leader Magnus Carlsen before the final round tomorrow (3-1-0 scoring).
Judit Polgar scored her first win of the tournament with the black pieces against Luke McShane. At last some reward for the efforts of the #1 rated women's player!
There have been many candidates for game of the tournament so far, but Vishy Anand's clash with Hikaru Nakamura must be a contender. Both sides missed winning opportunities in a complicated game. "Basically, I screwed up!" said Anand in the press conference, sparing Nakamura from losing on his 25th birthday!
Finally, Mickey Adams had a good position against an out-of-sorts Lev Aronian, but a draw was the end result.
Vladimir Kramnik could still beat Magnus Carlsen for first place
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Luke McShane succumbed to Judit Polgar
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Vishy Anand and Hikaru Nakamura provided great excitement in their game
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Lev Aronian and Mickey Adams drew their game
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The standings after 8 rounds (3-1-0 scoring)
| Name | Fed | Elo | Gms | Pts |
| Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2848 | 7 | 17 |
| Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2795 | 7 | 15 |
| Adams, Michael | ENG | 2710 | 7 | 12 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2760 | 7 | 10 |
| Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2775 | 7 | 8 |
| Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2815 | 7 | 7 |
| Polgar, Judit | HUN | 2705 | 7 | 5 |
| McShane, Luke | ENG | 2713 | 7 | 5 |
| Jones, Gawain C B | ENG | 2644 | 8 | 3 |
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The final round of the London Chess Classic starts 2 hours earlier than usual, at 12:00 GMT. The time control is 2 hours for 40 moves, then 1 hour for 20 moves, then 30 minutes to finish. The 'Bilbao' style 3-1-0 scoring system is in operation.
In the event of tied scores at the end of the competition, tie breaks are:
1) # of wins
2) # of wins with black
3) head-to-head result
If these mathematical tiebreakers are not enough, then there will be rapid tie-break games and if needed, a final sudden death game.
More information on all the London Chess Classic events is at the official website, including live games and video commentary.
Photos by Ray Morris-Hill. Games via TWIC.
