London Chess Classic: who will win? UPDATE: Pairings added

Already next Wednesday is the first round of the second London Chess Classic. Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik, Hikaru Nakamura, Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane and David Howell play a single round-robin. Who do you think will win? Update: pairings added.

After a very succesful first London Chess Classic, this week the big festival is all back at the Olympiad Conference Centre on Hammersmith Road in Kensington, London. Besides the Classic itself there's a big open, a women's invitational, rapid and blitz events, simuls by Viktor Kortchnoi, lectures by GMs Boris Avrukh and Jacob Aagaard, and more. This wonderful fresh tradition in the capital of the United Kingdom anticipates a FIDE World Championship in 2012 and supports chess in schools and communities at the same time.

Obviously we'll focus most attention on the Classic, where the field has been strengthened this year with the addition of the World Champ himself, Viswanathan Anand (2804). Returning are Magnus Carlsen (the world number one in the live ratings), former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, US number one Hikaru Nakamura and the top English players Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane and David Howell.

The format is an 8-player, single round-robin of seven rounds. The time control is 40 moves in 2 hours, then 20 moves in 1 hour and then 15 minutes to finish the game with 30 seconds increment from move 61. Draw offers are only allowed through the arbiter.

The prize fund is 145,000 Euros before tax, which means an increase of 25,000 Euros. There are 6 main prizes: 1st 50,000 Euros, 2nd 25,000 Euros, 3rd 15,000 Euros, 4th 10,000 Euros, 5th 10,000 Euros, 6th 8,000 Euros. Besides, there are 7 times Daily Best Game prizes of 1,000 Euros which will be voted on by the public.

Then there is a winners’ pool of 20,000 Euros for each game won. At the end of the tournament we will count the number of wins and establish the prize for each win. Each win will be of equal value. For example if there are twenty decisive games then the prize will be 1000 Euros per win. The tie breaks are, in order of priority: 1) Number of games with Black. 2) Number of wins with Black. 3) Number of wins. 4) Result of the individual game between the tied players. In the unlikely event that there is still a tie then: 4) 2 x 15 minute games + 2 seconds per move. 5) Armageddon game: 6 minutes+2 seconds v 5 minutes+ 2 seconds with draw odds for Black. If there is a tie involving more than two players then the rapid games will be conducted as a double round all play all.

The tournament will have live coverage produced by Macauley Peterson, with live commentary (by GM Stephen Gordon, IM Lawrence Trent, GM Chris Ward and GM Daniel King), videos and more. During the last three rounds ChessVibes will join the fun for even more on-the-spot coverage.

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Update: tweets from two participants Hikaru Nakamura, 3 December: "I've worked myself into the best shape of my life; hopefully it translates into results at the London Chess Classic!" Magnus Carlsen, 6 December: "Good to be back. London Chess Classic is a great event!"

Update2: pairings

London Chess Classic 2010 | Pairings

Link

• Official website