London Rapid

The exciting American grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura compensated for his somewhat lacklustre performance in the London Classic section, held at Olympia just before Christmas, with an overwhelming victory in the Rapidplay arena. The top final scores were Nakamura 9½ and Giri 8½, while those on 8 included Kramnik, Caruana, Anand and Short. By its very nature, Rapidplay chess tends to be exhilarating rather than accurate and favours those who have a buccaneering spirit and a talent for opportunism.
 
Nakamura-Anand: London Classic Rapidplay 2014 (see diagram 1)
 
First off we see Nakamura outmanoeuvring former world champion Viswanathan Anand. It is axiomatic that a bishop in the endgame, unless heavily restricted by its own pawns, will tend to outgun a knight. Nakamura gives an excellent example. 22 Bb7 Rb8 23 Bc6 Rd6 24 b4 Rbd8 25 Rc2 Ng8 This regrouping of the knight is unsuccessful as it leaves White with an entry point on c7 for the rooks.