The 2012 London Chess Classic is taking place in the Olympia Conference Centre from Saturday, December 1st until Monday, December 10th. Games start each day in general at 14:00h London time, except for round four (16:00h) and the final round (12:00h). Time controls are classical forty moves in two hours, then twenty moves in one hour and thirty minutes for the rest of the game. A win is counted as three points, a draw as one, and a loss zero. Tiebreaks: 1) number of wins, 2) number of wins with black, 3) result of the individual game between the tied players. In the unlikely event that there is still a tie then: 4) 2 x 15'+2" games, and if necessary 5) Armageddon game: 6'+2" vs 5'+2" with draw odds for black. If there is a tie involving more than two players then the Rapid games will be conducted as a double round all play all.

Round one report

Round 1: Saturday, Dec. 1st, 2012, 14:00h Luke McShane 0-1 Magnus Carlsen Levon Aronian 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 Judit Polgar Gawain Jones 0-1 Michael Adams Vishy Anand (bye) – assisting commentary Full report with commentary to follow soon...

Replay all the games of the round



Dr J Bhagwati, High Commissioner of India to the UK, plays the

first move for Luke McShane in his game against Magnus Carlsen

World Champion Viswanathan Anand and Dr J Bhagwati,

High Commissioner of India to the United Kingdom



Before the start of the game Vladimir Kramnik vs Judit Polgar



What's he going to play? Luke McShane vs Magnus (let me check first what the others are doing) Carlsen



All-English encounter Gawain Jones vs Michael Adams in round one



Armenian GM Levon Aronian in round one facing...

... top US grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura

Judit Pogar, the strongest female who ever played chess



Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik, who vanquished Judit in round one

Photos by Ray Morris-Hill

Analysis of the games by the players



Vladimir Kramnik analysing his game against Judit Polgar with GM Daniel King...

... while Judit Polgar looks on without too much pleasure



Levon Aronian discusses his loss against...

... US GM Hikaru Nakamura



Magnus Carlsen analysing in the press center...

... with Luke McShane joining in gamely

Photos by Pascal Simon for ChessBase

Daniel King: Highlights of round one

Pairings and results

Round 1: Saturday, Dec. 1st, 2012, 14:00h Luke McShane 0-1 Magnus Carlsen Levon Aronian 0-1 Hikaru Nakamura Vladimir Kramnik 1-0 Judit Polgar Gawain Jones 0-1 Michael Adams Vishy Anand (bye) – assisting commentary Round 2: Sunday, Dec. 2nd, 2012, 14:00h Judit Polgar Gawain Jones Hikaru Nakamura Vladimir Kramnik Magnus Carlsen Levon Aronian Vishy Anand Luke McShane Michael Adams (bye) – assisting commentary Round 3: Monday, Dec. 3rd, 2012, 14:00h Levon Aronian Vishy Anand Vladimir Kramnik Magnus Carlsen Gawain Jones Hikaru Nakamura Michael Adams Judit Polgar Luke McShane (bye) – assisting commentary Round 4: Tuesday, Dec. 4th, 2012, 16:00h Hikaru Nakamura Michael Adams Magnus Carlsen Gawain Jones Vishy Anand Vladimir Kramnik Luke McShane Levon Aronian Judit Polgar (bye) – assisting commentary Wednesday, Dec. 5th, 2012 Rest day Round 5: Thursday, Dec. 6th, 2012, 14:00h Vladimir Kramnik Luke McShane Gawain Jones Vishy Anand Michael Adams Magnus Carlsen Judit Polgar Hikaru Nakamura Levon Aronian (bye) – assisting commentary Round 6: Friday, Dec. 7th, 2012, 14:00h Magnus Carlsen Judit Polgar Vishy Anand Michael Adams Luke McShane Gawain Jones Levon Aronian Vladimir Kramnik Hikaru Nakamura (bye) – assisting commentary Round 7: Saturday, Dec. 8th, 2012, 14:00h Gawain Jones Levon Aronian Michael Adams Luke McShane Judit Polgar Vishy Anand Hikaru Nakamura Magnus Carlsen Vladimir Kramnik (bye) – assisting commentary Round 8: Sunday, Dec. 9th, 2012, 14:00h Vishy Anand Hikaru Nakamura Luke McShane Judit Polgar Levon Aronian Michael Adams Vladimir Kramnik Gawain Jones Magnus Carlsen (bye) – assisting commentary Round 9: Monday, Dec. 10th, 2012, 12:00h Michael Adams Vladimir Kramnik Judit Polgar Levon Aronian Hikaru Nakamura Luke McShane Magnus Carlsen Vishy Anand Gawain Jones (bye) – assisting commentary

The games – except for rounds four and nine – start at 2 p.m. or 14:00h British time = 15:00h CET, 17:00h Moscow, 7:30 p.m. Chennai, 22:00h Beijing, 01:00 a.m. Melbourne, 03:00 a.m. Auckland, 6 a.m. San José, 9 a.m. New York. You can check your location here. Naturally the games will be covered live on the official web site (below) and on Playchess. The games of round four begin two hours later, those of the final round two hours earlier.

Watch the live stream from the London Chess classic here.