Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: No Draws!
The 13th edition of the London Chess Classic was a 10-player classical round-robin tournament. It took place in London during December 1-10, 2023. Indian GM Gukesh headed the field of players. Followed Russian GM Nikita Vitiugov who recently completed his transfer from Russian to English Federation. Three local players: GM Michael Adams, GM Luke McShane and junior rising star IM Shreyas Royal also played. The rest of the pool were GMs who do not usually receive invitations for high-level closed events but were among the world’s 100 top-ranked players: GM Amin Tabatabaei, GM Andrei Volokitin, GM Hans Niemann, GM Mateusz Bartel, and GM Jules Moussard.
As IM Malcolm Pein, the organizer of the tournament, announced: “It’s a great field full of players who like fighting chess.” And certainly, fans witnessed great games.
For example, in round 7 Polnish GM Bartel played the black pieces against GM Niemann and it was a dramatic game. Bartel showed in this tournament an uncompromising chess and after 6 rounds he had not made a draw. His game against Niemann followed the same pattern. At the start of the game Bartel increased his confidence due to his opponent’s condition: “I had a small bonus because it turned out that Hans is simply unwell. For the whole game, it was visible that he was suffering, so you could say that put the wind in my sails, although, of course, I don’t wish anything bad on my opponent.”
Despite his condition, Niemann played aggressively and in move 12 he took the risky decision of grabbing the f7 pawn. The consequence was Bartel’s immediate attack on the kingside. Niemann defended well and in a sign of desperation, Bartel started sacrificing pieces in the hope of keeping his attack alive. Follow below the game with Bartel’s funny comments:
Bartel summarized the game and his performance as follows: “To call it a dramatic game would be an understatement. A good game? Very much not a good game! But it’s a point, and I’m happy about it. The seventh game without a draw. I don’t remember when I last had such a streak of so many games without a draw. What’s happening with me here in London is a beautiful story but exceptionally unstable. I’m happy to win, but I’m not happy with the style…”
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