Four solid games in London

Vladimir Kramnik (Ray Morris-Hill from the official site)

The sixth round will be remembered for the distinct lack of winning chances in all four games. In the clash of World champions, Viswanathan Anand sacrificed the exchange for a pawn or two, against which Kramnik gave back material for activity which led to a complete decimation of the queenside and equality. Hikaru Nakamura still leads in a virtually unchanged table.

After having already lost three games, Michael Adams was clearly determined to keep things solid against Levon Aronian. In fact the game was the driest so far this week, with easy equality for Black and a totally symmetrical structure.

The pawn structure in Viswanathan Anand-Vladimir Kramnik was also rather symmetric, but here the tension was maintained due to the presence of many pieces on the board. Kramnik had an annoyingly active knight which induced the exchange sacrifice from Anand. Then Kramnik sought to activate the other knight rather than count material. The dust settled and there was complete equality.

Luke McShane tried to avoid mainstream theory with an early kingside fianchetto against the Sicilian Defence. A short tactical sequance led to all the queenside pawns being exchanged.

In the all-English tussle between David Howell and Nigel Short, a c3-Sicilian transposed to the French Defence, an opening with which Short has great experience. Howell maintained a nominally superior pawn structure, so Short pushed in the centre leading to pawn exchanges and ultimately a dead drawn endgame.

Not the most exciting round, by any means!

The sixth round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	0.5-0.5	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	39	Queen's Gambit Declined 5.Bf4
Michael Adams	ENG	2734	0.5-0.5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	34	Spanish Berlin
Luke McShane	ENG	2671	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	31	Sicilian 3.g3
David Howell	ENG	2633	0.5-0.5	Nigel Short	ENG	2698	36	French Tarrasch

Magnus Carlsen (Norway, 2826) sat out the sixth round whilst helping out with the live commentary.

Here is the table after six rounds (noting that some players have only played five games):

Rank	Name	Country	Rating	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Total (3, 1, 0)	Total (standard)
1	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	*	0	½	½	1	1	.	.	1	11	4
2	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1	*	½	½	½	.	.	.	1	9	3½
3	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	½	½	*	.	.	½	1	1	.	9	3½
4	Luke McShane	ENG	2671	½	½	.	*	½	.	.	1	1	9	3½
5	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	0	½	.	½	*	.	1	½	.	6	2½
6	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	0	.	½	.	.	*	1	½	½	6	2½
7	Nigel Short	ENG	2698	.	.	0	.	0	0	*	1	½	4	1½
8	Michael Adams	ENG	2734	.	.	0	0	½	½	0	*	½	3	1½
9	David Howell	ENG	2633	0	0	.	0	.	½	½	½	*	3	1½

Further statistics:

Position	Name	Country	Rating (1/11/2011)	World Ranking (1/11/2011)	Age	Games played	Points
1	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	10	24	6	11
2	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1	21	5	9
3-4	Luke McShane	ENG	2671	74	27	5	9
3-4	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	4	36	5	9
5-6	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	3	29	5	6
5-6	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	2	41*	5	6
7	Nigel Short	ENG	2698	48	46	5	4
8-9	Michael Adams	ENG	2734	17	40	6	3
8-9	David Howell	ENG	2633	139	21	6	3

There are 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw in London.

(*Anand will be 42 on the 11th of December).

The details of the earlier rounds follow on below.

First round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	0.5-0.5	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	45	Catalan with ...dxc4
Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	0.5-0.5	Luke McShane	ENG	2671	42	Chebanenko Slav
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1-0	David Howell	ENG	2633	40	Spanish with d3
Michael Adams	ENG	2734	0.5-0.5	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	49	Sicilian Najdorf

Second round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Nigel Short	ENG	2698	0-1	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	43	Four Knights Rubinstein
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	1-0	Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	54	Queen's Gambit 3...Be7
Luke McShane	ENG	2671	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	79	Spanish Neo-Archangel
David Howell	ENG	2633	0.5-0.5	Michael Adams	ENG	2734	35	Spanish Anti-Marshall

Third round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	1-0	Nigel Short	ENG	2698	60	Queen's Indian Defence
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	1-0	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	41	Quiet Italian
Michael Adams	ENG	2734	0-1	Luke McShane	ENG	2671	61	Spanish with d3
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	0.5-0.5	David Howell	ENG	2633	65	Slav Defence

Fourth round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Michael Adams	ENG	2734	0-1	Nigel Short	ENG	2698	71	French Tarrasch
Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	0.5-0.5	Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	55	Nimzoindian with g3.
David Howell	ENG	2633	0-1	Luke McShane	ENG	2671	37	Scotch Opening
Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	0-1	Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	49	King's Indian Classical Bayonnet

Fifth round:

White	Country	Rating	Result	Black	Country	Rating	Moves	Opening details
Vladimir Kramnik	RUS	2800	1-0	Michael Adams	ENG	2734	55	Bogoljubov Defence
Levon Aronian	ARM	2802	0.5-0.5	Magnus Carlsen	NOR	2826	55	Chebanenko Slav
Hikaru Nakamura	USA	2758	1-0	David Howell	ENG	2633	38	English Opening
Nigel Short	ENG	2698	0-1	Viswanathan Anand	IND	2811	62	Sicilian Moscow Variation

The playing schedule (local time):

Rounds 1 to 3, the 3rd to 5th of December at 2pm.

Round 4 on the 6th of December at 4pm.

(Rest day on the 7th of December)

Rounds 5-8, the 8th to the 11th of December at 2pm.

Round 9 will be on the 12th of December at 12 noon.

For Los Angeles subtract eight hours.

For New York subtract five hours.

For Paris and Madrid, add one hour.

For Moscow add three hours.

For Mumbai add five-and-a-half hours.

For Sydney add eleven hours.

More information from the official site: http://www.londonchessclassic.com/classic.htm