London Classic Round Three
The third round at the London Chess Classic was another hugely entertaining day with four hard-fought games producing three decisive results.
Magnus Carlsen's strong recent record against Hikaru Nakamura continued with yet another victory against the American. The exchange sacrifice with 31.Rxf6 quickly led to a brutal win.
The tournament underdog David Howell really had the world champion on the ropes after Anand's attempted kingside attack backfired, but a few less than perfect moves in time-trouble let the advantage slip away, leaving only a draw.
Nigel Short once again struggled to achieve a playable position out of the opening and Lev Aronian kept up the pressure to bring home the full point, with Short graciously allowing checkmate to finish the game.
The last game to finish saw Luke McShane win with black against Mickey Adams. After missing a win against Magnus Carlsen yesterday, McShane uncorked 18..Bxh3 and Adams fought shy of the sacrifice, deciding to accept the loss of a pawn. That proved to be crucial, and after 61 moves Adams tendered his resignation.
The standings after three rounds:
| Name | Elo | Played | Score |
| Magnus Carlsen | 2826 | 3 | 7 |
| Luke McShane | 2671 | 3 | 5 |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 2758 | 3 | 4 |
| Lev Aronian | 2802 | 3 | 4 |
| Vladimir Kramnik | 2800 | 2 | 4 |
| Vishy Anand | 2811 | 2 | 2 |
| David Howell | 2633 | 3 | 2 |
| Michael Adams | 2734 | 3 | 2 |
| Nigel Short | 2698 | 2 | 0 |
I thought Garry's advice was supposed to be helping me? Nakamura loses to Carlsen
David Howell came close to claiming the world champion's scalp
Short on ideas? Nigel suffered his second loss in two games
Mickey Adams (right) lost to Luke McShane in the last game to finish
The pairings in round four tomorrow:
| Magnus Carlsen |
v | Vladimir Kramnik |
| Michael Adams |
v | Nigel Short |
| Vishy Anand |
v | Hikaru Nakamura |
| David Howell |
v | Luke McShane |
Lev Aronian will have a bye. Games start two hours later at 16:00 local time (UTC).
The excellent official website has live commentary on all the action.
The total prize fund is €160,000 (before tax), with the winner receiving €50,000. If there are any ties in the final scores, they will be broken for ranking purposes only (prize money will be shared) in this order:
- Number of games won
- Number of games won with black
- Result of direct encounter
- Rapid tie-breaks and Armageddon game (first place tie only)
The "Sofia" anti-draw rules are in operation, and the 3-1-0 scoring system.
The time control is 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by 20 moves in 1 hour, and then 15 minutes to a finish with a 30 second increment.
All photos courtesy of Ray-Morris Hill at the official website.
