London Chess Classic: games selection
Game Selection from London
A selection of what I think are the most interesting games from the 2016 Classic, with some short comments. You can download all of the games played at the tournament (35-games) up to and including the 7th round HERE.
Nakamura – Vachier-Lagrave
Rd 7
A sharp 6.Bg5 Najdorf, which belies a very thorough preparation at home from both players. This time Nakamura seems to have done a better job than his French rival. Very nice for the spectators!
Vachier-Lagrave – Aronian
Rd 6
The French superstar needed to win to make up for a less than satisfactory start in the tournament. His exchange sacrifice is hardly convincing,but afterwards Aronian unexpectedly drops the level of his play.
Caruana – Nakamura
Rd 6
What can one say? All played before and the one with the faster computer and more time to investigate wins! Pleasing for the spectators, but White’s Queen sacrifice has the ‘made in Taiwan’ smell to it.
Topalov, V – So, W
Rd 6
Interesting opening by both! It only takes one silly move and Topalov can’t stop mate. Nice finish by So, but an easy point against an off-form Topalov. Chess is sometimes all psychology!
Adams, M – Topalov, V
Rd 5
One of the best games this tournament! Topalov completely overlooked Adams’ brilliant e5 move, but still managed to put up a great fight. Adams deserved the whole point with his precise play.
Topalov,V– Nakamura,H
Rd 4
Another interesting fight, but this time between the tournament’s most ambitious players! The Queen sacrifice seems playable, but risky. It just take sone silly move for White to be worse.
