Starts tomorrow (Sat 3rd), press conference in an hour followed by a game against Twitter followers, not sure how that's going to pan out! Anyway, this is an historic event with four of Englands strongest GMs taking part in a field containg (gulp) four 2800-rated players, thanks goodness Nakamura is there to dilute the talent ;-) He is 'only' currently rated 2758 !!
David Howell is studying at University and his chess seems to have been suffering, it's a shame Matthew Sadler can't sub in, but maybe that's harsh, I hope Howell proves me wrong.
The live event was brilliant the time I went in 2009 and the online coverage is great, possibly only bettered by the US Chess Championship in my opinion, but this year the London Classic has a different format with a nine players, one of whom sits out each round to join the commentary, so a new level of excellence is to be expected.
I keep changing my mind, but at the moment I am planning to use an afternoon off on Monday to attend the event, and may well be attending next Saturday (10th) as I am in London for work anyway. I'm vaguely considering Sunday 11th and Monday 12th but I expect two days will be enough. I should be at the BHCC playing a match tomorrow if anyone would like to discuss meeting up, or just e-mail or call me on the day if you have my details.
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