A bad day for the English!

Hikaru Nakamura versus David Howell

Hikaru Nakamura won comfortably against David Howell and has taken the lead after five rounds of the 2011 London Classic. The English players scored 0/3 today, with Short losing to Anand and Adams to Kramnik. In second place is Magnus Carlsen after he drew with Levon Aronian.

David Howell suffered at the hands of Hikaru Nakamura who had the bishop pair. Under pressure he gave up the a-pawn, but he failed to stem the tide of the American's initiative.

Magnus Carlsen's interpretation of the Slav was quite interesting as he spent time on both ...a6 and ...h6 to safeguard his light-squared bishop. Aronian was able to keep a small lead in development, but Carlsen managed to liquidate the queenside to equality.

Viswanathan Anand sacrificed a pawn for some play. When he regained the material, Nigel Short had two isolated pawns which the World Champion set about pressurizing. Anand emerged with an extra pawn and had little difficulty in converting the advantage.

In a complex Catalan/Bogoljubov Michael Adams pushed both rooks pawns, but his a-pawn became weak and eventually Vladimir Kramnik won the pawn and thus ultimately the game.

The 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

Luke McShane (England, 2671) sat out the fifth round whilst helping out with the live commentary.

Here is the tournament situation so far:

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

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

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