Last Leg in London
The London Chess Classic was the final leg of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour. Apart from the Sinquefield Cup, the London Classic was the only other classical event in the 2017 GCT and boasted a $300,000 prize fund. Since 2009, the London Chess Classic has been dominated by World Champion Magnus Carlsen, winning four of the eight editions. Former World Champions Vishy Anand and Vladimir Kramnik and American super-GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Wesley So each won the London Classic once.
Fans enjoyed watching the ten participants compete for the London Classic prize over nine exciting rounds. In a dramatic final day, Fabiano Caruana defeated Ian Nepomniachtchi in the second blitz game of the playoffs to win the 2017 London Chess Classic. This was the first 2017 Grand Chess Tour tournament victory for the American. The overall winner of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour was none other than World Champion Magnus Carlsen, who won a clutch game with black pieces against Levon Aronian.