Chess Classic starts today Luke McShane vs Magnus Carlsen Levon Aronian vs Hikaru Nakamura Vladimir Kramnik vs Judit Polgar Gawain Jones vs Michael Adams Viswanathan Anand - Bye The Israeli composer Yochanan Afek produced a beautiful study in honour of the event: X22222222 ?uRu+u+k+5 AELoOt+u+u5 ?u+r+uPuT5 ?+uPp+u+u5 ?u+u+u+u+5 ?+u+u+u+u5 ?u+u+u+u+5 ?+u+u+u+u5 ???????? White to play and win 1.f7 Rh8+! (1...Rxf7 2.Rxh6 wins) 2.Kxh8 Rxf7 3.Kg8!! Rd7! (3...Rf5 4.d6 Kxb8 5.d7 Rd5 6.Rd6! ) 4.Rxb7+! Kxb7 X22222222 ?u+u+u+k+5 AE+lOt+u+u5 ?u+r+u+u+5 ?+uPp+u+u5 ?u+u+u+u+5 ?+u+u+u+u5 ?u+u+u+u+5 ?+u+u+u+u5 ???????? 5.Rd6!! cxd6 (5...Re7 6.Re6+ ) 6.c6+ Kc7 7.cxd7 (All four rooks have been sacrificed, White wins) 1-0 X22222222 ?u+u+u+k+5 AE+uLp+u+u5 ?u+uOu+u+5 ?+u+p+u+u5 ?u+u+u+u+5 ?+u+u+u+u5 ?u+u+u+u+5 ?+u+u+u+u5 ???????? X22222222 ?u+u+u+u+5 AE+oTu+u+u5 ?pRu+u+u+5 ?+p+u+uLo5 ?u+k+u+o+5 ?+u+u+uPu5 ?u+u+u+u+5 ?+u+u+u+u5 ???????? Anna Ushenina took a 2-1 lead with one to play in the Women's World Championship final. The decisive moment is below. Stefanova, black, has just played Nxb7 and seems to be re-establishing material equality. How did Ushenina continue? A. Ushenina - A. Stefanova Women's World Championship Khanty-Mansiysk Slav a6 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 a6 5.c5 Nbd7 6.Bf4 Nh5 7.Bd2 Nhf6 8.Rc1 g6 9.h3 Qc7 10.g3 Bg7 11.Bf4 Qd8 12.Bg2 0-0 13.0-0 Nh5 14.Bd2 f5 15.Qb3 e5 16.Ng5 exd4 17.Nxd5 cxd5 18.Bxd5+ Kh8 19.Ne6 Qf6 20.Nxf8 Qxf8 (20...Nxf8 21.Bxb7 Rb8 22.c6 Qe5 was a better defence) 21.Bxb7 Rb8 22.c6 Nc5 23.Qb6 Nxb7 X22222222 ?uTv+uWuL5 AE+m+u+uVo5 ?oQp+u+o+5 ?+u+u+o+m5 ?u+uOu+u+5 ?+u+u+uPp5 ?pPuBpPu+5 ?+uRu+rKu5 ???????? White to play and win Answer 1: Answer 2: 24.Qa7! Be5 (24...Be6 25.cxb7 Be5 26.Qxa6) 25.c7 Ra8 26.Qxa8 Qe8 27.Qxa6 Nc5 28.Qa8 Ne4 29.Rc2 Nxd2 30.Rxd2 Kg7 31.Rc2 Kh6 32.b4 Bd6 33.Qd5 Nxg3 34.Qxd6 Nxf1 35.Qxd4 g5 36.Qf6+ Kh5 37.Rc6 1-0 The London Chess Classic begins this afternoon at 2pm at the Olympia Conference Centre in west London. Live video commentary is available at londonchessclassic.com. The first-round pairings are: There are parallels with this game from Tashkent. Sergey Karjakin tricked Alexander Morozevich, but how? 53.Rc6! bxc6 (53...Re7 54.a7 Re8 55.b6 h4 56.gxh4+ Kxh4 57.Rc7 g3 58.Rxb7 g2 59.Rg7) 54.b6 Rc8 55.b7 Rb8 56.Kc5 h4 57.a7 Rxb7 58.a8Q Rh7 59.Qg8+ Kh6 60.gxh4 Rg7 61.Qh8+ Kg6 62.h5+ Kf7 63.h6 Rg5+ 64.Kd6 g3 65.Qh7+ Kf6 66.Qe7+ Kf5 67.Qxg5+ Kxg5 68.h7 1-0 By Malcolm Pein