Shankland Escapes vs. Firouzja As London Chess Classic Takes Off

An exciting first round at the London Chess Classic's Elite Tournament saw all games ending in draws, but not without quite a bit of fighting chess on the boards. GM Sam Shankland was fortunate to get away with a draw against GM Alireza Firouzja, after an Exchange Grunfeld didn't go according to plan. 

The other matchups on the opening day were GM Gawain Maroroa Jones vs. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, GM Pavel Eljanov vs. GM Nikolas Theodorou, GM Abhimanyu Mishra vs. GM Nikita Vitiugov, and GM Luke McShane vs. GM Michael Adams.

The second round starts Thursday, November 27, at 11:00 a.m. ET / 17:00 CET / 9:30 p.m. IST.

Round 1 Standings

First held in 2009, the London Chess Classic continues to be the most prestigious tournament on the UK chess calendar. Although the festival's round-robin tournament is not on the level of a "super tournament" anymore, it is definitely very strong. This year, with the participation of Abdusattorov and Firouzja but also World Cup quarterfinalist Shankland, it will be exciting to follow.

The first round—certainly exciting too, despite the final result of five peaceful outcomes—was not yet held at the Emirates Stadium but at an undisclosed location (this author did not attend and the organizers kept him in the dark!). The stadium itself will welcome hundreds of chess players starting from Thursday, so some cleaning up needs to be done after Arsenal's 3-1 victory over Bayern Munich Wednesday night.

Maroroa Jones-Abdusattorov

The quickest draw was in a sense the most spectacular, as it involved a long-term queen sacrifice that Abdusattorov could have continued playing against. Instead, he chose the safer option of a move repetition.

Maroroa Jones said he did not expect to face a Caro-Kann, but looked at this line anyway in the morning: “I know 6...a6 is a trendy move, but I knew this 9.Ng5 existed.”

Jones knew it was “a safe option.” As for the reason why he didn't play the main move 9.Bb3, he said: “I thought it would be naive to just play this with no knowledge.”

To Abdusattorov, 9.Ng5 came as a surprise; he didn’t know this line existed. “If I would know, I would have played something else,” he said. Continuing in the final position with Kc7 looked very dangerous, so Abdusattorov accepted the repetition.

On the broadcast, Abdusattorov commented on GM Javokhir Sindarov's World Cup victory: “I’m incredibly happy for him. It’s a big success for Uzbek chess. He truly showed good quality, I mean, he was incredibly brave in every game, he was looking forward to fight in every game even with the black pieces and in the end it paid off.”

Firouzja-Shankland

Only a week after his tough elimination at the Candidates, Shankland was at the board again, and his first opponent was higher rated than anyone he had faced in Goa. Firouzja, however, seemed rusty and didn't make the most of his chances.

The opening phase determined the course of the game as Shankland played a double-pawn sacrifice in the Grunfeld, but in a position where giving away one pawn seemed normal, not two.

Tournament director IM Malcolm Pein briefly joined the broadcast, as he knows a thing or two about these positions. “I analyzed this position for my book that I wrote in 1979,” he noted. “It is really cutting-edge stuff, The Grunfeld Defence, Exchange Variation, available from any second-hand book shop probably.”

Afterward, Shankland admitted that he had miscalculated something and that 12...cxd4 13.cxd4 Bb7 would have been more normal. “Black should be fine there, but at the same time it’s always a bit uncomfortable," he said, adding: “I miscalculated something, which was kind of stupid.”

I miscalculated something, which was kind of stupid.
—Sam Shankland

Firouzja surprisingly revealed that he was out of book after 11…b6, adding: “I didn’t play classical in a long time. [His last classical game was at the Grand Swiss - PD] I am not seeing anything! I should go open a laptop soon!”

I should go open a laptop soon!
—Alireza Firouzja

Mishra-Vitiugov

16-year-old Mishra, still the player who reached the GM title younger than anyone else, came to the board very well prepared. He had spent no less than six hours preparing, double the time the game lasted!

In the Nimzo-Indian that came on the board, Mishra knew everything until 11…h5. Vitiugov said he had some experience with this line from the white side and had looked at some lines, but not all. His move 11….h5 was a way of getting his opponent out of book, but Vitiugov knew it wasn’t good.

Vitiugov knew he was worse, but he was hoping his opponent wouldn’t always find the best move in the complications, and that was indeed the case. Mishra initially reacted well, but his 17th move was inaccurate, after which Black could reach an endgame that was not too problematic.

Eljanov-Theodorou

Ukraine's Eljanov is a very experienced player, but somehow he had never played the Alapin in his life. There's a bit of a surge in popularity of this line, and so he thought he'd give it a try.

It's always tough to remember all the lines at the first attempt. Eljanov said he didn’t remember how White should play after 6…exd6 but still was quite happy with his position after the trade of queens.

But Theodorou played quite well and basically showed that Black is in no serious danger. “The endgame was slightly unpleasant but should be very close to equality, of course,” he said. 

McShane-Adams

The all-English clash between McShane and Adams was the calmest encounter of the day. “The game was I would say a fairly typical, slightly cautious first-round game on both sides actually,” was how McShane described it.

The youngest of the two Englishmen likes the structures that arise from what is called the Steenwijker variation of the Ruy Lopez. Former world champion Max Euwe called it that way after using it himself in 1940 in the city of Steenwijk against Haije Kramer (and since Euwe was such an authority on opening theory, nobody objected).

White trades on c6 two moves later than in the Exchange Variation, arguing that Black's bishop on e7 and knight on f6 are not ideally placed. It's not a very venomous line, but McShane did miss an interesting and potentially dangerous option on move 13. As it went, it was Adams who might have missed out on a small advantage later on.

Note that on Thursday, a strong open takes off as part of the festival in London. The top seed is none other than GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, six years after he won the Open at 14 years old.

The Indian GM is virtually certain of qualifying for the 2026 Candidates Tournament via the FIDE Circuit, but he needs to play at least one tournament with 50 or more participants for his Circuit points to be valid.

The 2025 XTX Markets London Chess Classic is a 10-player round-robin taking place November 26-December 5, 2025, at the Emirates Stadium. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting on move one.