Magnus Carlsen Wins the 2012 London Chess Classic
Magnus Carlsen has won the 2012 London Chess Classic after an exceptional tournament that will live long in the memory.
His +5 performance in earning a third Classic title was enough to break the 13-year old Elo rating record of Garry Kasparov.
In the last round Magnus Carlsen was unable to defeat the world champion Vishy Anand, but by then he knew he had done enough to win the tournament. The destiny of the first prize was decided when Vladimir Kramnik was unable to gain the victory he needed with black against Mickey Adams.
The tournament will also be remembered for Vladimir Kramnik's superb play, and a strong performance by Mickey Adams to cheer the home crowd.
Despite his final round draw, Kramnik placed second with a +4 score, achieving his highest rating in over a decade (2809.7 Elo).
Hikaru Nakamura finished win a win against Luke McShane to share third place with Adams, while Judit Polgar and Lev Aronian drew their game and finish in the bottom half of the standings.
The final standings in the 2012 London Chess Classic (3-1-0 scoring)
| # | Name | Fed | Elo | Pts |
| 1 | Carlsen, Magnus | NOR | 2848 | 18 |
| 2 | Kramnik, Vladimir | RUS | 2795 | 16 |
| 3 | Adams, Michael | ENG | 2710 | 13 |
| 3 | Nakamura, Hikaru | USA | 2760 | 13 |
| 5 | Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2775 | 9 |
| 6 | Aronian, Levon | ARM | 2815 | 8 |
| 7 | Polgar, Judit | HUN | 2705 | 6 |
| 8 | McShane, Luke | ENG | 2713 | 5 |
| 9 | Jones, Gawain C B | ENG | 2644 | 3 |
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Magnus Carlsen's tournament-end rating is a record 2861.4 Elo
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Mickey Adams and Vladimir Kramnik drew their final round game
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Hikaru Nakamura finished with a win against Luke McShane
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Judit Polgar and Lev Aronian also drew their last game
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Congratulations to Malcolm Pein and all those involved in the organisation of the 2012 London Chess Classic. How on earth can you top that next year?
The time control was 2 hours for 40 moves, then 1 hour for 20 moves, then 30 minutes to finish. The 'Bilbao' style 3-1-0 scoring system was used.
More information on all the London Chess Classic events is at the official website.
Photos by Ray Morris-Hill. Games via TWIC.
