Trompowsky: Nigel tromps Chuck in Havana

The Trompowsky is the bane of those who like to work things out from home.  What to do?  No less than 8 moves have been played by players rated over 2400 against the Trompowsky.  Here they are:

1.  Ne4  10261  53.8%
2.  e6      8441   54.4%
3.  d5      5599   53.6%
4.  c5      3863   50.6%
5.  g6      3093   57.3%
6.  d6      865     56.7%
7.  c6      488     50.9%
8.  h6      261     64.2%

Ivanchuk plays the principled move, 2...Ne4, and then takes the game off the heavily beaten path with 7...Qf5.  After 12 moves Black has exactly one pawn advanced as far as the 3rd rank.  White has a tremendous space advantage, but his army his scattered.  The game ultimately reduces to a Bishop and three pawns versus two Bishops, and with the draw in hand Short plays 37.Bg2?? ending the day. 

Corus 2010, Group A: Nakamura Looking Strong But All Chase Shirov

The field at Corus A has developed some separation after 3 rounds. Shirov has the hot hand at 3-0, but it's best that he score now, because the competition is going to stiffen quickly. Nakamura and Carlsen are a half point back and Ivanchuk is a full point back. Nakamura is picking up where he left off at the World Team Championship, playing along at a 2900+ performance clip.

Akobian has a loss and two draws in Group B and Robson is tied for the lead in Group C with 2 1/2 after giving up a draw today.

The crosstables and games can be found here at TWIC.

Corus A Wijk aan Zee														cat. XIX (2719)
					1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	0	1	2	3	4
1.	Shirov, Alexei	g	ESP	2723	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	1	1	.	.	.	3
2.	Carlsen, Magnus	g	NOR	2810	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	1	1	.	2½	2926
3.	Nakamura, Hikaru	g	USA	2708	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	1	½	1	2½	2937
4.	Ivanchuk, Vassily	g	UKR	2749	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	½	½	.	.	1	.	2	2789
5.	Dominguez Perez, Leinier	g	CUB	2712	.	.	.	.	*	½	½	½	.	.	.	.	.	.	1½	2766
6.	Karjakin, Sergey	g	UKR	2720	.	.	.	.	½	*	½	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	1½	2747
7.	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2790	.	.	.	.	½	½	*	.	.	.	.	.	.	½	1½	2709
8.	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2788	.	.	.	.	½	.	.	*	.	½	½	.	.	.	1½	2708
9.	Tiviakov, Sergei	g	NED	2662	0	½	.	½	.	.	.	.	*	.	.	.	.	.	1	2635
10.	Caruana, Fabiano	g	ITA	2675	0	.	.	½	.	.	.	½	.	*	.	.	.	.	1	2628
11.	Leko, Peter	g	HUN	2739	0	.	.	.	.	½	.	½	.	.	*	.	.	.	1	2618
12.	Van Wely, Loek	g	NED	2641	.	0	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	1	1	2613
13.	Smeets, Jan	g	NED	2657	.	0	½	0	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	*	.	½	2482
14.	Short, Nigel D	g	ENG	2696	.	.	0	.	.	.	½	.	.	.	.	0	.	*	½	2440

London Chess Classic: Don't Look Over Your Shoulder, Magnus

Carlsen dodged a bullet against Adams today in London. The game is worth seeing. Kramnik continued his comeback, and is now close enough that tomorrow will be a full work day for Magnus.

A further word on Kramnik. My sense is that he's going to go down as an under-appreciated World Champion. He is provocative in his statements at times, but that can likely be attributed to being brought up in a different (chess) world. One shouldn't ever forget that he took down arguably the greatest champion of all time, and I've never really bought into the idea that he did so when Kasparov was past his prime. He simply outplayed Kasparov for a brief moment in time. That was a feat. Among his recent pronouncements, he said that Magnus was not quite up to his and a few others' level quite yet. With a little time to digest the remarks, I suspect he's right. I also suspect that Magnus will exceed them all in a short time. In any event, here's to Vladimir and his game. He played well against Nigel today. And he's still a large force.

London Chess Classic: Day 2--Carlsen Again

McShane tossed out a KID against Carlsen and Carlsen chewed him up. Again, no fireworks, although there was some flash: see especially White's 47th. The kid wakes the imagination. Kramnik manhandled Ni Hua, and Howell and Short drew. Today, Hikaru escaped from Adams not unlike Ni Hua from Hikaru yesterday. Chess players are going to talk about Hikaru's speed and raw talent forever. Put the bullet down now and go for more.

Tomorrow's a red letter day. Howell has White against Carlsen, Hikaru has White against Short, and Gelfand-Ponomariov kick off in the World Cup final.

London Chess Classic: Carlsen over Kramnik

Carlsen was the big winner at the London Chess Classic today turning in a clean, convincing performance against Kramnik. There were no fireworks in the game, but rather one accurate move after another until Kramnik folded. Impressive. McShane also won, but I haven't found the energy to look more closely at this 163-move glacier. There could be some good chess in there. Disappointingly, Nakamura let a win slip through his fingers against Ni Hua. Adams and Howell drew after some fighting chess.