World champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway has won the last major event of the year, taking the 7th annual London Chess Classic, the third and final leg of the FIDE Grand Tour events, in a two-game rapid playoff over French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The playoff came after Carlsen, Vachier-Lagrave and Dutch GM Anish Giri finished in a three-way tie for first at 5-3.
It wasn’t exactly a bloodthirsty battle — just 10 of the 45 games in the nine-round tournament ended in a decisive result, and two players, American Fabiano Caruana and Britain’s Michael Adams, managed to draw all nine games they played.
Still, it was a welcome return to form for Carlsen, who has had some recent indifferent results recently and saw his No. 1 world rating fall as he prepares for his second title defense sometime next year. Carlsen also displayed his trademark grit, winning twice in the final three rounds to qualify for the playoff. He ran his record against top rival Hikaru Nakamura to an astounding 12-0-18 in classical chess games with a Round 7 win over the American.
Carlsen also wins a bonus for the best cumulative result from the Grand Chess Tour, the series of three tournaments for the world’s top players that included June’s Norway Chess Tournament (won by Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov) and the 2015 Sinquefield Cup in August-September, in which Carlsen finished in a tie for second behind GM Levon Aronian of Armenia.
Congratulations as well to the Manhattan Applesauce, who claimed the 2015 U.S. Chess League title earlier this month with a 2-1 defeat of the St. Louis Arch Bishops in the final. Expert Akira Nakada upset NM Nicholas Rosenthal on Board 4 to provide a crucial point for the Gotham squad.
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We wrote here last week of the amazing run of Wisconsin prodigy Awonder Liang, who in November earned his third and final norm to become the youngest American international master in history. At the tender age of 12 years, seven months and 16 days, Liang managed the feat 10 days faster than it took Carlsen to become an IM back in the day.
The Madison seventh-grader already has two age-class FIDE world titles and a U.S. junior championship under his belt. One reason why can be seen in the mature and measured way he conducted today’s game, taken from October’s FIDE Under-12 World Championships in Halkidiki, Greece, against expert Nikolaos Spyropoulos.
In a Reverse Sicilian/English, Liang as White is not afraid to trade off pieces early against his lower-rated opponent, obtaining a strong positional bind based on his powerful bishops and a pin on the Black pieces. Black unwisely allows his queenside to be broken up on 16. Na4 Bd7?! 17. Nxb6 axb6 18. a3, leaving him with no real counterplay for the rest of the game.
Nice also is 20. Rfe1 Rxe1+ 21. Nxe1!, keeping the pin on the d-file and freezing the rook. When Black again threatens to break the pin with 23…Ne6 (see diagram), Liang strikes with 24. Ng5+! Nxg5 25. fxg5 Ne8 26. a4 Nc7 27. Bh3! Ke8 (g6 28. Bf6 wins, while suicidal is 27…Kg6 28. Rd6+ Kxg5 29. Bc1+ Kh5 30. Bxf5) 28. Be5 Rc8 29. Bxg7, winning a critical pawn.
White shows fine technique in making the extra pawn count, keeping the Black minor pieces in bottled up as he makes steady progress on the kingside. In the final position, after 45. Be5 Be6 46. Bd6, 46…Nc8 47. gxf5+ Kf6 48. Be5+ wins a piece; Spyropoulos resigned.
Liang-Spyropoulos, FIDE Wiorld Under-12 Championship, Halkidiki, Greece, November 2015
1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 f5 4. d4 Be7 5. Bg2 Nf6 6. dxe5 dxe5 7. Qxd8+ Bxd8 8. b3 c6 9. Bb2 Nbd7 10. Nf3 O-O 11. O-O Re8 12. Rad1 e4 13. Nd4 Ne5 14. f3 exf3 15. exf3 Bb6 16. Na4 Bd7 17. Nxb6 axb6 18. a3 Rad8 19. Nc2 Ng6 20. Rfe1 Rxe1+ 21. Nxe1 Kf7 22. f4 Nf8 23. Nf3 Ne6 24. Ng5+ Nxg5 25. fxg5 Ne8 26. a4 Nc7 27. Bh3 Ke8 28. Be5 Rc8 29. Bxg7 Be6 30. Be5 Kf7 31. Bg2 Na6 32. Bd4 Rd8 33. Bf3 c5 34. Bc3 Rxd1+ 35. Bxd1 Kg6 36. h4 Nb8 37. Kf2 Nc6 38. Ke3 Bd7 39. Bf3 h6 40. gxh6 Kxh6 41. Kf4 Kg6 42. Be2 Kh6 43. Bd3 Kg6 44. g4 Ne7 45. Be5 Be6 46. Bd6 Black resigns.
• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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