Chess - The Scotsman 29/11/2012

THIS year marks the 150th anniversary of one of the earliest tournaments and, arguably, the most innovative. London 1862 introduced to international chess the concept of the round-robin format.

The 14-player tournament – won by Adolf Anderssen – also showcased the first time limit in tournament praxis of 20 moves for two hours.

London has always been a popular venue for major tournaments: a couple of months back, it kicked off the Fide Grand Prix cycle, and next March there’s the Fide candidates tournament.

This Saturday, one of the eagerly-awaited highlights of the chess year kicks off with the fourth London Chess Classic featuring a stellar line up of Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Vladimir Kramnik, Viswanathan Anand, Hikaru Nakamura, Judit Polgar, Michael Adams, Luke McShane and Gawain Jones.

The London Chess Classic runs 1-10 December at the Kensington Olympia, with play starting daily from 2pm. It’s still not too late to get tickets if you are visiting London over those dates by calling 0207-288 1305 and there’s further information available at www.londonchessclassic.com.

There will also be live online coverage of play (with commentators including Nigel Short, Julian Hodgson and Danny King) and daily videos available on the official site throughout.

And at the ongoing Tashkent Fide Grand Prix in Uzbekistan, Russia’s Alexander Morozevich regained the sole lead by being the only victor of round six.

A Morozevich - L Dominguez

Tashkent Grand Prix, (6)

Grünfeld Defence

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 g6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e4 Nxc3 6 bxc3 Bg7 7 Qa4+ Nd7 8 Nf3 c5 9 Be2 0–0 10 0–0 a6 11 Qa3 Qc7 12 Bg5 Re8 13 Rad1 Rb8 14 d5 e6 15 dxe6 Rxe6 16 Bh4 Bh6 17 Bc4 Rxe4 18 Bg3 Qb6 19 Qa4 Re7 20 Bd6 Qd8 21 Bxe7 Qxe7 22 Rfe1 Qf8 23 Rxd7! b5 24 Bxf7+ Kg7 25 Qd1 Bxd7 26 Qxd7 Rd8 27 Qc7 Rc8 28 Qb7 Rb8 29 Qe7 1–0