Carlsen Leads London

Kudos to GM David Howell. In his round 3 game of the London Chess Classic, the Englishman held Magnus Carlsen to a draw. But not without a little oversight from the super grandmaster Norwegian.

After Howell's 52. Nf5, Magnus could grabbed victory with 52...Ra2+.



But the game continued: 52...Rd7 53. Rh8+ Kf7 54. Kg3 Rb3 55. Kf4 Rb1 56. Kxe4 Rf1 57. Rh7+ Ke6 58. Rh8 Rc7 59. Nd4+ Kd6 60. Rd8+ Rd7 61. Rc8 Rg7 62. Rd8+ Rd7 63. Rc8 Re7+ 64. Kd3 Rc7 65. Rd8+ Rd7 66. Rg8 Rg1 67. Ke2 Kc5 68. Kf2 Rb1 69. Rf8 Rd6 70. Rf7 Rb2+ 71. Kf3 Ra2 72. Ke4 Kb6 73. Rf8 Rg2 74. Kf3 Rh2 75. Rb8+ Kc7 76. Ra8 Kb7 77. Rf8 Rh7 78. Kf4 Rh1 79. Kf3 1/2-1/2

And this from John Saunders' press release:

As the players signed their scoresheets, Malcolm Pein took upon himself the lugubrious duty of informing the world number one what he had missed at move 52. Magnus took it pretty well, on the whole – a pained expression briefly crossed his face, and sotto voce he uttered the comment “that’s a bit embarrassing”. It broke his streak but he will come back refreshed after the rest day (Friday 11th). The last word must be for David Howell – he showed true grit to defend a horrendous position through two time scrambles. OK, ‘England’ lost the four-game ‘match’ by the odd point to the ‘Rest of the World’ but I think David’s performance on its own deserves the singing of a few choruses of the country’s favourite footie chant. Altogether now, everyone, there’s only word to learn: "Eng-er-land!, Eng-er-land!, Eng-er-land!..."

Meanwhile, Caoili still leads the Women's Invitational by a full point, on 4/5, despite her expected setback against IM Susan Lalic. The good thing is that games from the women's are now available and can be viewed here.