John Saunders reports: The photo below shows the winner of the 8th Gibtelecom Masters, Michael Adams of England, being congratulated by master of ceremonies and tournament commentator GM Stuart Conquest. Also in the photo are the women's prize-winner Natalia Zhukova (who also achieved a GM norm, surpassing the required TPR by a huge margin) and CEO of Gibtelecom, Tim Bristow.
Adams Wins The Final
John Saunders reports: English grandmaster Mickey Adams has won the 8th Gibtelecom Masters after a four-player play-off. He did it the hard way, losing the first game of his semi-final against German GM Jan Gustafsson and having much the worst of the second game before Gustafsson blundered a piece. There followed an Armageddon game, with Adams obliged to win, which he did in some style. In the other semi-final Paco Vallejo Pons of Spain won his first game quite comfortably against Chand Sandipan of India. He was comfortable in the second game but Sandipan fought back to the point where he should have won, only the make a terrible blunder which cost him the win. The final saw Adams in his best form, soon securing a strong advantage which he carried through to victory. In the return, Vallejo Pons got a bad position but his attempt to mix the game up cost him a piece and he could only draw. The two-game mini-matches were played at a time control of 10 minutes with 10 second increments and the Armageddon game at 5 minutes to 4.
Michael Adams Wins the 8th Gibtelecom Masters
The London Chess Classic 2009
The London Chess Classic 2009 is the highest level tournament in London for 25 years. England's four leading Grandmasters; Nigel Short, Michael Adams, Luke McShane and David Howell are now pitching against a world class field that includes a former world champion Vladimir Kramnik and 18 year old Magnus Carlsen ranked world number two and widely seen a future holder of the world crown. One of China's finest players; Ni Hua and the US Champion Hikaru Nakamura, complete the field.
So far The London Chess Clasic has played 3 rounds of 7 rounds planned and now Magnus Carlsen, a chess prodigy from Norway, is conducting himself with half-point difference from Vladimir Kramnik, whom he had beaten in the first round. Calrsen now trained by the chess legend, Gary Kasparov (current rating: 2812)
GM Magnus Carlsen
ROUND 1
[Event "Chess Classic"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2009.12.08"]
[White "Carlsen, M."] [Black "Kramnik, V."]
[Result "1-0"] [ECO "A29"]
[WhiteElo "2801"] [BlackElo "2772"]
ROUND 2
[Event "Chess Classic"] [Site "London ENG"] [Date "2009.12.09"]
[White "Carlsen, M."] [Black "McShane, L."]
[Result "1-0"] [ECO "E94"]
[WhiteElo "2801"] [BlackElo "2615"]
ROUND 3
[Event "London Chess Classic"] [Site "London"] [Date "2009.12.10"]
[White "Howell, David"] [Black "Carlsen, Magnus"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B22"]
[WhiteElo "2597"] [BlackElo "2801"]
