2010 London Chess Classic
GMs Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen and Vladimir Kramnik.
Photo by Frederic Friedel.
Four of the world’s top players will be in Kensington for the 2010 London Classic. World Champion Viswanathan Anand, Magnus Carlsen, Vladimir Kramnik and Hikaru Nakamura will join four of the top English players in a marquee event. Michael Adams, Nigel Short, Luke McShane and David Howell will defend homecourt. The prize fund is 145,000 euros.
The tournament is a single round-robin with time controls of 40/2 then 15 minutes with 30-second increment. “Sofia Rules” are in effect and will include the scoring system of three points for a win and one point for a draw. There will be a daily Best Game prize of 1,000 euros. Carlsen is the defending champion.
December 8-15, 2010 (London, England) |
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#
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Name
|
Title
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Federation
|
Flag
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Rating
|
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| 1 | Anand, Viswanathan | GM | India |
 |
2804 | ||
| 2 | Carlsen, Magnus | GM | Norway |
 |
2802 | ||
| 3 | Kramnik, Vladimir | GM | Russia |
 |
2791 | ||
| 4 | Nakamura, Hikaru | GM | USA |
 |
2741 | ||
| 5 | Adams, Michael | GM | England |
 |
2723 | ||
| 6 | Short, Nigel | GM | England |
|
2680 | ||
| 7 | McShane, Luke | GM | England |
|
2645 | ||
| 8 | Howell, David | GM | England |
|
2611 | ||
I am not a Carlsen fan, but he showed a great deal of fighting spirit in winning this tournament. This is the sign of a true champion: to come back from defeat, adversity, dispare. It would have been easy for him to accept 2nd or 3rd place, but he did give up. I like that kind of fight in a person.
As far as Short concerns: He laugh to hide his pain. Such a weak showing by a super grandmaster!