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