Magnus Carlsen of Norway defeated Nigel Short of England to clinch the 2010 London Chess Classic title at Olympia. Carlsen who had the best tiebreak score grabbed the top spot with four victories, one draw and two losses scoring 13 points getting ahead of Vishwanathan Anand of India and Luke Mcshane of England. Anand and Mcshane won the second spot jointly.
Short’s strategy of facing Carlsen with black pieces and using a simplified position boomeranged. Carlsen restricted Nigel’s queenside development and obtained crucial squares to win a pawn ultimately to win the game technically.
Anand meanwhile settled for a draw playing against Russian Vladimir Kramnik. Anand had to face a Berlin defence and gained an edge in the middle game. However Kramnik didn’t give in and went on exchanging pieces at regular intervals resulting in an opposite coloured bishop endgame and Anand’s extra pawn was of no help in getting any clear cut result.
Another game between Mcshane and David Howell was also a draw. They both played a Sicilian dragon openings-one of the sharpest chess openings and are only suitable for experienced players. Howell who had an edge in the game was unable to recreate the success in the middle game resulting in a draw through perpetual checks.
Vladimir Kramnik and Hikaru Nakamura of United States grabbed the fourth spot jointly with ten points each.
