London going as expected

The top seeds of their groups in the London Super Sixteen rapid tournament have taken a strong lead. In group A Adams and Anand seem untouchable while in Group B Svidler took out Kramnik and now shares the lead with him. Gelfand and Nakamura lead group C as do Caruana and Short in D, although Howell can still come back in that one. Will the leaders keep their positions?

 

The London Super Sixteen rapid tournament has started. The main event of the London Chess Classic takes place from December 11th to December 15th at the Olympiad Conference Center in London, England. The tournament brings together many of the best players of the World as well as two qualifiers from the Open section of the London Chess Classic.
Players were divided into four groups initially, to play a double round robin between them and determine two qualifiers to the knock out stages.

Round 3

Round 03 – Group C: Thursday December 12th, 14:00
Gawain Jones	2633	0-1	Judit Polgar	2696
Hikaru Nakamura	2772	½-½	Boris Gelfand	2764
Round 03 – Group D: Thursday December 12th, 14:00
Fabiano Caruana	2779	½-½	David Howell	2644
Emil Sutovsky	2663	0-1	Nigel Short	2684
Round 03 – Group A: Thursday December 12th, 15:30
Andrei Istratescu	2709	0-1	Vishy Anand	2775
Michael Adams	2761	½-½	Luke McShane	2697
Round 03 – Group B: Thursday December 12th, 15:30
Jonathan Rowson	2573	0-1	Peter Svidler	2746
Matthew Sadler	2646	½-½	Vladimir Kramnik	2794

Nakamura played the Larsen (1.b3) against Gelfand following the logic of Lawrence Trent from yesterday's commentary: it's a better move than 1.b4. The game became somewhat wild after Nakamura sacrificed some material but when the dust settled an equal endgame was reached. Jones obtained a seemingly winning position against Polgar but through mistakes he managed to lose.

A little chit-chat before the game didn't help Jones convert his advantages

Howell missed a golden opportunity to beat Caruana with black as he was simply two pawns up. He made it too hard on himself and ended up drawing. Short outplayed Sutovsky through most of the game in a Spanish and ultimately a blunder by the Israeli cost him the game in a situation that was already bad.
Anand demolished Istratescu with good tactics and sound positional play, while Adams uncorked a beautiful tactic with 14.Nd5! and was probably winning at some point, but his follow-up was not the best, he let go of his advatange and McShane crawled his way back into a draw.
Sadler made an easy draw with Kramnik by not risking too much while Rowson faced a powerful exchange sacrifice by Svidler. Black quickly got a winning position and never let go of the throttle.
Interestingly all groups in round three ended with a black win and a draw!

The audience!

Round 4

Round 04 – Group C: Thursday December 12th, 18:00
Judit Polgar	2696	½-½	Boris Gelfand	2764
Hikaru Nakamura	2772	1-0	Gawain Jones	2633
Round 04 – Group D: Thursday December 12th, 18:00
David Howell	2644	0-1	Nigel Short	2684
Emil Sutovsky	2663	0-1	Fabiano Caruana	2779
Round 04 – Group A: Thursday December 12th, 19:30
Vishy Anand	2775	1-0	Luke McShane	2697
Michael Adams	2761	1-0	Andrei Istratescu	2709
Round 04 – Group B: Thursday December 12th, 19:30
Peter Svidler	2746	1-0	Vladimir Kramnik	2794
Matthew Sadler	2646	1-0	Jonathan Rowson	2573

Polgar spoiled a slight edge against Gelfand and had to settle for a draw while Nakamura outplayed Jones from an equal endgame to share first with Gelfand in the group, and it seems unlikely they do not go through.
Howell played another good game, this time against Short, but his atrocious time management left him in a bad situation and Short fully exploited this, with some tactics he turned the game around and won a piece. Sutovsky lost his fourth game in a row and was simply demolished by Caruana.
Adams had the smallest of advantages for a long time against Istratescu, but a blunder by the French player on move 27 allowed Adams to win a pawn and subsequently convert the game. Istratescu, like Sutovsky, qualified from the Open and neither player has scored a single point in the rapids. Anand demolished McShane:

McShane felt the power of Anand's wrath

Sadler still has realistic chances to advance if he pulls of a big upset tomorrow

Svidler took revenge on Kramnik for his round one loss, and this time he against found himself with two pieces against a rook. In this case however the Russian Champion annihilated his opponent with the two bishops. Sadler also reversed the result from round one and took out Rowson.

Svidler took out Kramnik, he now shares first with the other Russian in group b

Highlights of Day 2 by Daniel King

Standings

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Schedule

Round 01 – Group A: Wednesday December 11th, 14:00
Luke McShane	2697	0-1	Vishy Anand	2775
Andrei Istratescu	2709	0-1	Michael Adams	2761
Round 01 – Group B: Wednesday December 11th, 14:00
Vladimir Kramnik	2794	1-0	Peter Svidler	2746
Jonathan Rowson	2573	1-0	Matthew Sadler	2646
Round 01 – Group C: Wednesday December 11th, 15:30
Boris Gelfand	2764	1-0	Judit Polgar	2696
Gawain Jones	2633	½-½	Hikaru Nakamura	2772
Round 01 – Group D: Wednesday December 11th, 15:30
Nigel Short	2684	½-½	David Howell	2644
Fabiano Caruana	2779	1-0	Emil Sutovsky	2663

Round 02 – Group A: Wednesday December 11th, 18:00
Vishy Anand	2775	½-½	Michael Adams	2761
Luke McShane	2697	1-0	Andrei Istratescu	2709
Round 02 – Group B: Wednesday December 11th, 18:00
Peter Svidler	2746	½-½	Matthew Sadler	2646
Vladimir Kramnik	2794	1-0	Jonathan Rowson	2573
Round 02 – Group C: Wednesday December 11th, 19:30
Judit Polgar	2696	0-1	Hikaru Nakamura	2772
Boris Gelfand	2764	1-0	Gawain Jones	2633
Round 02 – Group D: Wednesday December 11th, 19:30
David Howell	2644	1-0	Emil Sutovsky	2663
Nigel Short	2684	0-1	Fabiano Caruana	2779

Round 03 – Group C: Thursday December 12th, 14:00
Gawain Jones	2633	0-1	Judit Polgar	2696
Hikaru Nakamura	2772	½-½	Boris Gelfand	2764
Round 03 – Group D: Thursday December 12th, 14:00
Fabiano Caruana	2779	½-½	David Howell	2644
Emil Sutovsky	2663	0-1	Nigel Short	2684
Round 03 – Group A: Thursday December 12th, 15:30
Andrei Istratescu	2709	0-1	Vishy Anand	2775
Michael Adams	2761	½-½	Luke McShane	2697
Round 03 – Group B: Thursday December 12th, 15:30
Jonathan Rowson	2573	0-1	Peter Svidler	2746
Matthew Sadler	2646	½-½	Vladimir Kramnik	2794

Round 04 – Group C: Thursday December 12th, 18:00
Judit Polgar	2696	½-½	Boris Gelfand	2764
Hikaru Nakamura	2772	1-0	Gawain Jones	2633
Round 04 – Group D: Thursday December 12th, 18:00
David Howell	2644	0-1	Nigel Short	2684
Emil Sutovsky	2663	0-1	Fabiano Caruana	2779
Round 04 – Group A: Thursday December 12th, 19:30
Vishy Anand	2775	1-0	Luke McShane	2697
Michael Adams	2761	1-0	Andrei Istratescu	2709
Round 04 – Group B: Thursday December 12th, 19:30
Peter Svidler	2746	1-0	Vladimir Kramnik	2794
Matthew Sadler	2646	1-0	Jonathan Rowson	2573

Round 05 – Group A: Friday December 13th, 14:00
Luke McShane	2697		Michael Adams	2761
Vishy Anand	2775		Andrei Istratescu	2709
Round 05 – Group B: Friday December 13th, 14:00
Vladimir Kramnik	2794		Matthew Sadler	2646
Peter Svidler	2746		Jonathan Rowson	2573
Round 05 – Group C: Friday December 13th, 15:30
Boris Gelfand	2764		Hikaru Nakamura	2772
Judit Polgar	2696		Gawain Jones	2633
Round 05 – Group D: Friday December 13th, 15:30
Nigel Short	2684		Emil Sutovsky	2663
David Howell	2644		Fabiano Caruana	2779

Round 06 – Group A: Friday December 13th, 18:00
Michael Adams	2761		Vishy Anand	2775
Andrei Istratescu	2709		Luke McShane	2697
Round 06 – Group B: Friday December 13th, 18:00
Matthew Sadler	2646		Peter Svidler	2746
Jonathan Rowson	2573		Vladimir Kramnik	2794
Round 06 – Group C: Friday December 13th, 19:30
Hikaru Nakamura	2772		Judit Polgar	2696
Gawain Jones	2633		Boris Gelfand	2764
Round 06 – Group D: Friday December 13th, 19:30
Emil Sutovsky	2663		David Howell	2644
Fabiano Caruana	2779		Nigel Short	2684