Grand prix | 13 December 2017

The London Classic is over and full reports in this column will follow in the new year. Meanwhile, we now know the line-up for the World Championship candidates tournament, which is to be staged in Berlin next March and will determine the challenger to Magnus Carlsen for the supreme title. Leading results in the Fidé (World Chess Federation) event in Palma de Mallorca were as follows: 1= Dmitry Jakovenko and Lev Aronian 5½.
 
The upshot is that the following players now have secure places in the Candidates tournament: Sergei Karjakin, Lev Aronian, Ding Liren, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Alexander Grischuk, Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Vladimir Kramnik. The two games from Palma that caught my eye were, paradoxically, both wins against the normally super-solid Dutch grandmaster Anish Giri.
 
Li Chao-Giri; Palma de Mallorca 2017; Slav Defence
 
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 cxd5 It may seem harmless playing for a symmetrical position in this line of the Slav Defence, however the Exchange Variation has been employed with success at a very high level.