London Chess Classic 2015

London Chess Classic 2015

4th Dec - 13th December 2015 Grand Chess Tour         Open Tournament         Rapid Tournament


Magnus Carlsen won the 7th London Chess Classic and the whole Grand Chess Tour after an amazing final day for him. Carlsen knew he needed to beat Alexander Grischuk in his round 9 game to have any chance. At first he secured a very promising position but he lost control of the position and his hopes only lay with Grischuk's severe time pressure. Grischuk might have even won but in the end with only seconds left he went for a perpetual check that wasn't there and lost. The remaining games of the round were drawn leaving Carlsen tied with Anish Giri and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. In the final tie-break match of the day MVL was a bit worse against Carlsen in game one but towards the end seemed favourite to hold the rook endgame before suddenly going wrong and losing. In the second game MVL seemed to have little energy left and Carlsen took a draw from a position of strength that secured both first place in London and first place in the inaugural Grand Tour.


London Chess Classic 2015 Carlsen London Chess Classic 2015




7th London Classic 2015 London ENG 4th Dec - 13th Dec 2015
Leading Final Round 9 Standings:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2834 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 5½ 2858
2. Giri, Anish g NED 2784 ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 5½ 2864
3. Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime g FRA 2773 ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 5½ 2865
4. Aronian, Levon g ARM 2788 ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 5 2826
5. Caruana, Fabiano g USA 2787 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 4½ 2783
6. Adams, Michael g ENG 2737 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ ½ ½ 4½ 2789
7. Grischuk, Alexander g RUS 2747 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ 4½ 2788
8. Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2793 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ 4 2740
9. Anand, Viswanathan g IND 2796 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 * 1 3½ 2702
10. Topalov, Veselin g BUL 2803 ½ 0 0 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ 0 * 2½ 2616
Round 1 (December 4, 2015) Live Show  Recap 
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ 28 B33 Sicilian Sveshnikov
Caruana, Fabiano - Aronian, Levon ½-½ 51 C84 Ruy Lopez Centre Attack
Grischuk, Alexander - Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ 38 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Anand, Viswanathan - Adams, Michael ½-½ 32 A20 English Opening
Topalov, Veselin - Giri, Anish 0-1 40 E60 King's Indian without Nc3
Round 2 (December 5, 2015) Live Show  Recap 
Carlsen, Magnus - Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ 42 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Giri, Anish - Adams, Michael ½-½ 26 E37 Nimzo Indian 4.Qc2
Aronian, Levon - Anand, Viswanathan ½-½ 34 D38 QGD Ragozin
Nakamura, Hikaru - Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime ½-½ 57 A48 King's Indian Defence /c2-c4
Topalov, Veselin - Grischuk, Alexander ½-½ 33 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Round 3 (December 6, 2015) Live Show  Recap 
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime - Topalov, Veselin 1-0 38 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Caruana, Fabiano - Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ 45 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Adams, Michael - Aronian, Levon ½-½ 34 C88 Ruy Lopez Closed
Grischuk, Alexander - Giri, Anish ½-½ 47 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Anand, Viswanathan - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ 56 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Round 4 (December 7, 2015) Live Show  Recap 
Carlsen, Magnus - Adams, Michael ½-½ 78 A07 Barcza System
Giri, Anish - Aronian, Levon ½-½ 33 A22 English Opening
Grischuk, Alexander - Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime ½-½ 43 B96 Sicilian Najdorf
Nakamura, Hikaru - Anand, Viswanathan 1-0 41 E06 Catalan
Topalov, Veselin - Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ 83 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Round 5 (December 8, 2015) Live Show  Recap 
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime - Giri, Anish ½-½ 31 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Aronian, Levon - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ 40 D41 Semi-Tarrasch Defence
Caruana, Fabiano - Grischuk, Alexander ½-½ 58 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Adams, Michael - Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ 56 C65 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Anand, Viswanathan - Topalov, Veselin 1-0 74 B90 Sicilian Najdorf Variation
Round 6 (December 10, 2015) Live Show  Recap 
Giri, Anish - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ 53 C91 Ruy Lopez
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime - Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ 30 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Grischuk, Alexander - Anand, Viswanathan 1-0 54 A20 English Opening
Nakamura, Hikaru - Aronian, Levon ½-½ 41 E06 Catalan
Topalov, Veselin - Adams, Michael ½-½ 47 D37 QGD 5.Bf4
Round 7 (December 11, 2015) Live Show  Recap 
Carlsen, Magnus - Nakamura, Hikaru 1-0 78 D11 Slav Defence
Aronian, Levon - Topalov, Veselin 1-0 27 A34 English Symmetrical
Caruana, Fabiano - Giri, Anish ½-½ 36 A45 Trompowsky
Adams, Michael - Grischuk, Alexander ½-½ 29 B91 Sicilian Najdorf with 6.g3
Anand, Viswanathan - Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime 0-1 34 B92 Sicilian Najdorf with 6.Be2
Round 8 (December 12, 2015) Live Show  Recap 
Giri, Anish - Nakamura, Hikaru 1-0 43 A08 Barcza System
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime - Adams, Michael ½-½ 37 C95 Ruy Lopez Breyer
Caruana, Fabiano - Anand, Viswanathan ½-½ 59 E06 Catalan
Grischuk, Alexander - Aronian, Levon ½-½ 40 A14 Reti Opening
Topalov, Veselin - Carlsen, Magnus ½-½ 97 D41 Semi-Tarrasch Defence
Round 9 (December 13, 2015) Live Show  Recap 
Carlsen, Magnus - Grischuk, Alexander 1-0 38 B51 Sicilian Rossolimo
Aronian, Levon - Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime ½-½ 33 A04 Dutch System
Adams, Michael - Caruana, Fabiano ½-½ 35 C78 Ruy Lopez Moeller Defence
Nakamura, Hikaru - Topalov, Veselin ½-½ 37 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Anand, Viswanathan - Giri, Anish ½-½ 33 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin



7th London Classic TB London ENG Sun 13th Dec 2015
Leading Final Round 2 Standings:
RkNameTiFEDRtg123Pts
1 Carlsen, Magnus GM NOR 2834 1 = 1.5
2 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime GM FRA 2773 0 = 0.5
1 Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime GM FRA 2773 0 1 1 2
2 Giri, Anish GM NED 2784 1 0 0 1