Thursday, December 09, 2010

It's an English Week

It really must be England's week. After their cricketers humiliated the once mighty Australians, here is Luke McShane vanquishing the biggest name in chess of the moment.

2nd Chess Classic London
McShane,L
Carlsen,M
A37

1.c4 c5 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.0-0 Nh6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Bxh6 Bxh6 9.Nxd4 Ne5 10.Qb3 0-0 11.Rfd1 Nd7 12.Qa3 a5 13.b4 Ra6 14.b5 Ra8 15.e3 a4 16.Rab1 Bg7 17.Ne4 Qb6 18.Nc6 Re8 19.Nb4 f5 20.Nc3 Qc5 21.Nxa4 Qa7 22.Na6 bxa6 23.b6 Nxb6 24.Rxb6 Rb8 25.c5 Be6 26.Rdb1 dxc5 27.Rb7 Rxb7 28.Rxb7 Qa8 29.Nxc5 Qc8 30.Qxa6 Bf7 31.Bc6 Rd8 32.Nd7 Rxd7 33.Bxd7 Qc1+ 34.Qf1 Qxf1+ 35.Kxf1 Bc4+ 36.Kg1 Bxa2 37.Ba4 e5 38.f3 Bh6 39.Bb3+ 1-0

Of course, for Carlsen it is really just a temporary glitch; for the hapless Australians, however, the signs are that it will be a very long, long period of misery.

Note that alongside the main event is a women's invitational. Chessdom has a preview. Shannon Oliver, taking time off from med studies, will represent Australia. Let's hope that her performance will be better than the cricketers. And turning out for the Kiwis (who, by the way, have an even worse cricketing side than the Australians), is Natasha Fairley who has one of the best smiles in chess I reckon.

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