Catching Up on Other Events: British K.O., Russian Championship, Mind Games

The London Chess Classic is over, but it wasn't - and isn't - the only show in town. Literally: there was also the concurrent British K.O. Championship. (Rules here, results and games here.) That came down to a match between Luke McShane and David Howell (as reported earlier) that combined both classical (40/90', the rest/30', with 30" increment per move) and rapid games (15' + 10"). The four classical games were a success story for the Black pieces. Howell drew the first game with White, which turned out to be the high point for the white pieces; Black won the next three games, which meant Howell lead 2.5-1.5. Or rather, 5-3, as the classical games were weighted double compared to the rapid.

When it came time for the rapid games between these two time trouble addicts, McShane struck back, winning games 5 and 7 with White. After the eight scheduled games the score was knotted at 6-6. A two-game playoff (10' + 2") was required, and McShane won both games to take the title.

The other really big shew is the Russian Championship, which is still going. When we left off, Vladimir Fedoseev was in clear first with 4.5/5, having been held to his first draw of the event. Since then he experienced some bumps, losing to Vladimir Malakhov with white in round 6 and Nikita Vitiugov with black in round 7. After a draw in round 8 he was tied for first with Daniil Dubov and Vitiugov, but after defeating Sergey Volkov in round 9 he's back in clear first with six points. Vitiugov drew with Ernesto Inarkiev, and is alone in second with 5.5; Dubov lost with white to Malakhov and is tied for third with Malakhov, Evgeny Tomashevsky and Peter Svidler, both of whom drew in round 9. (Tomashevsky in 101 moves, trying to convert R+B vs. R against Alexander Riazantsev; Svidler in 19 moves against Maxim Matlakov.) Two rounds remain.

Now something new: one of the now-regular events every December is the (IMSA Elite) Mind Games event in China, a very strong rapid & blitz tournament with both men's and women's sections. The top players include Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Ding Liren, Alexander Grischuk, Pentala Harikrishna, Yu Yangyi, Wang Hao, and Vassily Ivanchuk among other 2700+ players. (TWIC page here.)