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The 2012 London Chess Classic is taking place in the Olympia Conference Centre from Saturday, December 1st until Monday, December 10th. Games start each day in general at 14:00h London time, except for round four (16:00h) and the final round (12:00h). Time controls are classical forty moves in two hours, then twenty moves in one hour and thirty minutes for the rest of the game. A win is counted as three points, a draw as one, and a loss zero. Tiebreaks: 1) number of wins, 2) number of wins with black, 3) result of the individual game between the tied players. In the unlikely event that there is still a tie then: 4) 2 x 15'+2" games, and if necessary 5) Armageddon game: 6'+2" vs 5'+2" with draw odds for black. If there is a tie involving more than two players then the Rapid games will be conducted as a double round all play all.
Coming in to land in London capital we have a beautiful view of Tower
Bridge...
... and of the famous London Eye [photos by Frederic Friedel]
The London Eye is a giant Ferris wheel situated on the banks of the River Thames in London, England. The entire structure is 135 metres (443 ft) tall and the wheel has a diameter of 120 metres (394 ft). It has 32 sealed and air-conditioned ovoidal passenger capsules, each weighing ten tons. It is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom, visited by over 3.5 million people annually.
On the free day Judit Polgar and Magnus Carlsen were taken to the London
Eye
The pose for the cameras of journalists, including our own Ray Morris-Hill
You actually want to play a game of blitz?
Judit with Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament behind her
The shot that a number of broadsheets used (see below)
Photos by Ray Morris-Hill
On Friday night, after round six of the London Chess Classic finished, Magnus Carlsen had risen to the stratospheric rating peak of 2864 on the (inofficial) live ratings. That is an increase of 16 points just from this tournament, where he has won five games and drawn just one (against Vladimir Kramnik). His performance: 3146. Magnus is now 55 points higher than his nearest rival (again: Vladimir Kramnik).
Incidentally, a couple of months before this event began Garry Kasparov, who had trained Magnus for a while, predicted that the Norwegian could go to 2900 quite easily, "if he starts to work seriously." At the time we thought this was an over-the-top over-optimistic prediction by the 13th World Champion. But Garry's precognitive skills must never be underestimated. Here is the current status of Magnus' rise to the stars.
# |
Name | Rating |
+/– |
Games |
Chart |
Age |
1 |
Carlsen | 2863.6 |
+15.6 |
6 |
|
22 (30.11.1990) |
2 |
Kramnik | 2807.9 |
+12.9 |
6 |
|
37 (25.06.1975) |
3 |
Aronian | 2807.4 |
-7.6 |
5 |
|
30 (06.10.1982) |
4 |
Radjabov | 2793.0 |
0.0 |
0 |
|
25 (12.03.1987) |
5 |
Caruana | 2780.6 |
-1.4 |
11 |
|
20 (30.07.1992) |
6 |
Karjakin | 2780.3 |
+5.3 |
11 |
|
22 (12.01.1990) |
7 |
Anand | 2772.3 |
-2.7 |
5 |
|
42 (11.12.1969) |
8 |
Topalov | 2771.0 |
0.0 |
0 |
|
37 (15.03.1975) |
9 |
Mamedyarov | 2766.4 |
+2.4 |
11 |
|
27 (12.04.1985) |
10 |
Ivanchuk | 2766.0 |
0.0 |
0 |
|
43 (18.03.1969
|
his remarkable performance by the Norwegian prodigy has led to super-star status in the media, with national and international broadsheets and news portals descending on him with a vengence. Here are some examples.
"She can stop Carlsen's record hunt" is the headline of this
article
No she couldn't: "My best game of the tournament" says Carlsen in
the headline
"Lahlum helped Carlsen" is the story in this
report with enchanting pictures
"Simply the greatest" says this two-page spread in the broadsheet
edition of VG
Magnus Carlsen in a big report
in the Financial Times
Magnus Carlsen has become the highest-rated chess player in history. He's been making all the right moves in the world of chess since the age of five, and now Norwegian sensation Magnus Carlsen has become the game's highest-rated player ever. The 22-year-old world number one has finally surpassed legendary Russian grandmaster Gary Kasparov's 12-year-old tally to be earn the prestigious accolade. Known as the 'Mozart of chess' for the raw ability he demonstrated from a young age, Carlsen achieved his goal by defeating English player Luke McShane at the London Chess Classic this week. Kasparov had previously claimed that his record rating of 2,851 was impossible to beat, but with victory over McShane, Carlsen nudged his own total to 2,857.4 points. Full story here.
It’s no wonder he is known as ‘the Mozart of chess’, as Magnus Carlsen can play up to ten games at once with his back to the board. Now the 22-year-old grandmaster has made history by overtaking Gary Kasparov’s record rating of 2,851 points – a feat the Russian claimed was impossible after he set the target 12 years ago. Carlsen’s manager Espen Agdestein said the star was unlikely to celebrate with bubbly – because he was a ‘bit boring in that regard’. But Norwegian chess expert Dag Danielsen hailed his achievement as a milestone. He added: ‘Magnus Carlsen has a fundamental understanding of chess that perhaps no one else has had before him. It’s a God’s gift.’ He supplements his £933,000 chess income by appearing in ads for fashion label G-Star. Full story here.
Links
The games will be broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client and get immediate access. Or you can get our latest Fritz 13 program, which includes six months free premium membership to Playchess. |
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