London Super Sixteen Starts 2013
by Alejandro Ramirez
12/12/2013 – The London Super Sixteen is the crown jewel of the London Chess Classic. This rapid tournament brings the top rapid players of the world and the best British players in an exciting event. The games were certainly not dissapointing as the fans saw many blunders, traps, crazy and wild games and very few solid draws. Group stages continue tomorrow and the day after while the knockout begins on Saturday. Round one and two reports.
The London Super Sixteen rapid tournament has started. The main event of the London Chess Classic takes place from December 11th to December 15th at the Olympiad Conference Center in London, England. The tournament brings together many of the best players of the World as well as two qualifiers from the Open section of the London Chess Classic.
Players were divided into four groups initially, to play a double round robin between them and determine two qualifiers to the knock out stages.
The groups are as follows:
Group A
Name Rating
Vishy Anand 2775
Michael Adams 2761
Andrei Istratescu 2709
Luke McShane 2697
A very close group. Despite Anand having focused so much energy in the recent World Chess Championship, it is cear that he is a magnificent rapid chess player and he has excellent chances of making it out of the group stage. Luke McShane will have to prove that he is not rusty to be able to have a chance of second, while it seems that more realistically the second place will be a toss-up between Adams and Istratescu.
Group B
Name Rating
Vladimir Kramnik 2794
Peter Svidler 2746
Matthew Sadler 2646
Jonathan Rowson 2573
Despite Sadler’s unquestionable talent and his magnificent return to chess with an over 2900 performance in a recent tournament, it is unlikely Rowson or him have a chance against Kramnik and Svidler. Surprises are always fun but it’s hard to expect one here.
Group C
Name Rating
Hikaru Nakamura 2772
Boris Gelfand 2764
Judit Polgar 2696
Gawain Jones 2633
Gelfand and Nakamura come as the favorites in this group, unquestionably, but unlike Group B this one is rather dangerous. Polgar is an experienced tactician who has defeated Kasparov in rapid time controls, so she is a force to be reckoned with. Further Gawain Jones is very talented and he can take away a key half or even full point from the favorites to make the group interesting.
Group D
Name Rating
Fabiano Caruana 2779
Nigel Short 2684
Emil Sutovsky 2663
David Howell 2644
Probably the hardest group to call. Caruana has a nice rating advantage over his opponents but rapid and blitz have never been his strong suit. On the other hand there is Nigel Short who can always play amazing chess if he feels like it, Sutovsky who is very experienced and Howell who is still young and talented.