The main event of the 12th London Chess Classic, which ended December 12th in London’s Cavendish Center was the England versus the Rest of the World match. The English team was made up of Michael Adams (2700), Gawain Jones (2665) and Luke McShane (2655). The Rest of the World (ROW) was composed of Nikita Vitiugov (2731) of Russia, Boris Gelfand (2663) of Israel, and Maxime Lagarde (2638) of France. The match was a double-round Scheveningen contest, with each player facing every representative of the opposing team twice. The match has a time format of 100 minutes plus 30 minutes to finish with an increment of 30 seconds per move.
In what turned out to be and exciting duel, ROW defeated England, 9½-8½, with the final outcome only decided in the last round.
Gelfand,B (2663)-Adams,M (2700) [E10]
London (4.1) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 a5 6.Bg2 0-0 7.Qc1 Nbd7 8.0-0 c6 9.Bxb4 axb4 10.Nbd2 b6 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.dxe5 Nd7 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Nf3 Bb7 15.Qe3 Qe7 16.Nd4 Rfc8 17.f4 Rc5 18.f5 exf5 19.e6 Re8 20.exf7+ Qxf7 21.Qd2 g6 22.g4 Qe7 23.gxf5 Qe3+ 24.Qxe3 Rxe3 25.fxg6 hxg6 26.Rf4 Re7 27.Bh3 Nf8 28.Raf1 Re8 29.Rf6 Bc8 30.Bg2 Kg7 31.Rf7+ Kg8 32.R7f6 Kg7 33.Rxb6 Rc4 34.Rf4 Ne6 35.Nxe6+ Rxe6 36.Rxc4 dxc4 37.Rxb4 Rxe2 38.Rxc4 Be6 39.Re4 Rxe4 40.Bxe4 Bxa2 41.Kf2 g5 42.Ke3 Kf6 43.Kd4 Ke6 44.Kc5 Ke5 45.Bd3 Bb3 46.Bc4 Ba4 47.b4 Kf4 48.Bd5 Kg4 49.Bc6 1-0
Jones,G (2665)-Lagarde,M (2638) [B40]
London (5.2) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.d4 cxd4 6.cxd4 d6 7.Bc4 Be7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Qe2 Nc6 10.Rd1 Na5 11.Bd3 Nb4 12.Nc3 Nxd3 13.Rxd3 d5 14.Ne1 Qe8 15.Rg3 f5 16.Nb5 f4 17.Rg4 Qc6 18.Rxf4 Bd7 19.Nc3 b5 20.Rg4 b4 21.Nd1 Qa4 22.Bh6 Rf7 23.Qe3 b3 24.Nc3 Qc4 25.Nd3 bxa2 26.Qg3 Bf8 27.Nf4 Kh8 28.Nh5 g6 29.Bg5 Be8 30.Bf6+ Kg8 31.Nf4 Rb7 32.Rxa2 Bb4 33.Ra1 Nb3 34.Rd1 Bf7 35.h4 Nxd4 36.Nxg6 hxg6 37.Rdxd4 1-0
Lagarde,M (2638)-Adams,M (2700) [A09]
London (6.1) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.b4 c5 4.e3 Nf6 5.Bb2 dxe3 6.fxe3 cxb4 7.Be2 g6 8.a3 bxa3 9.Rxa3 Bg7 10.Nc3 0-0 11.Qa1 Nc6 12.Nd5 Be6 13.Nxf6+ Bxf6 14.0-0 a5 15.d4 Nb4 16.Qb1 Rc8 17.Rc1 Bg4 18.Qe4 Bxf3 19.Qxf3 b6 20.Rd1 Bg7 21.Bc3 e5 22.Rb3 exd4 23.exd4 Re8 24.Qf2 Rc7 25.Bf1 Rd7 26.d5 Bxc3 27.Rxc3 Ree7 28.h4 Re5 29.Re1 Rxe1 30.Qxe1 Re7 31.Qf2 h5 32.Rf3 Na6 33.Rf6 Nc5 34.Qb2 Nd7 35.Rd6 Qe8 36.c5 bxc5 37.Qb5 Kh7 38.g3 Ne5 39.Qxa5 Nf3+ 40.Kf2 Nd4 41.Rf6 Rb7 42.Qc3 Qe5 43.Rf4 Rb3 44.Qc1 Qxd5 45.Bc4 Rf3+ 46.Kg2 Qb7 47.Kh2 Rxf4 48.Qxf4 Nf3+ 49.Kh3 Ne5 0-1
Gelfand,B (2663)-Jones,G (2665) [E97]
London (6.2) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.d4 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 a5 10.bxa5 Rxa5 11.a4 Ne8 12.Be3 f5 13.c5 f4 14.Bd2 dxc5 15.Nb5 Ra8 16.Bc3 c6 17.dxc6 Qxd1 18.Rfxd1 Nxc6 19.Bc4+ Kh8 20.Ng5 Bf6 21.Nf7+ Kg7 22.Nfd6 Nxd6 23.Nxd6 Nd4 24.Rdb1 Ra7 25.a5 f3 26.Ra2 Bd7 27.Rxb7 Rxb7 28.Nxb7 Bc6 29.Nxc5 Rb8 30.gxf3 Nxf3+ 31.Kg2 Nh4+ 32.Kg3 Kh6 33.a6 Be7 34.Ne6 Bxe4 35.Bxe5 Rg8 36.Ng5 Kxg5 37.Bxg8 Nf5+ 38.Kh3 Bd3 39.Bd5 Bf1+ 40.Bg2 Bc4 41.a7 1-0
Vitiugov,N (2731)-McShane,L (2655) [E12]
London (6.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 d5 6.Bg5 Be7 7.Qa4+ Qd7 8.Qc2 dxc4 9.e3 Bxf3 10.gxf3 b5 11.a4 c6 12.Rg1 0-0 13.f4 a5 14.axb5 cxb5 15.Bh6 g6 16.Bxf8 Kxf8 17.Bg2 Nc6 18.Qe2 Rb8 19.Ne4 a4 20.Kf1 Nd5 21.h4 h5 22.Bf3 Bxh4 23.Nc5 Qd6 24.Ne4 Qd7 25.Nc5 Qd6 26.Ne4 Qd8 27.Nc5 Ke7 28.Be4 Bf6 29.Qf3 Rb6 30.Bxg6 Nxd4 31.exd4 Bxd4 32.Bxf7 Bxc5 33.Qxh5 Nf6 34.Qxc5+ Kxf7 35.Rg3 Rb8 36.Qa7+ Ke8 37.Re1 Qd6 38.Rxe6+ Qxe6 39.Re3 Rb6 40.Qxb6 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qc3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Ne6 2.Rxd5#; 1…Ng6 2.Qc8#; 1…Ng5 2.Rf6#; 1…dd4 2 Qc5#; 1…e3 2.Qxd3#; 1…d2 2.Qh3#; 1…Qd1/e1/xf1 2.Qe5#; 1…Qb2+ 2.Bd2#; 1…Qxc3 2.Bg3#.
