The dramatic showdown between Luke McShane and Vladimir Kramnik was the key game of round eight at the London Chess Classic.
Hoping to secure the outright lead, McShane took the game to Kramnik with an exchange sacrifice to create a powerful bishop with threats to Kramnik's king.
However, any advantage that McShane had achieved evaporated during time-trouble and Kramnik took the initiative, but despite being a full rook ahead the result was still far from clear.
However, eventually the tactical tricks ran out and Kramnik earned a crucial win to take the sole lead with just one round remaining.
Nigel Short managed to completely block the position against Hikaru Nakamura, and remarkably there were no captures at all until move 30! Yet "thanks" in part to the anti-draw rules, the players continued shuffling their pieces around until move 90 before a draw was mercifully agreed!
Magnus Carlsen drew his game with black against Vishy Anand, and David Howell ended his event on a positive note by holding Lev Aronian to a draw.
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