A bit one-sided you might think, but no, because I even it up by putting some strong players at each table to give advice. These included some of the London Chess Classic commentary team: GMs Nigel Short, Stephen Gordon, Danny King and IM Lawrence Trent. Also assisting were GMs Jonathan Rowson, Raymond Keene, Jon Speelman, Julian Hodgson, Dave Norwood, Jonathan Parker, William Watson, Peter Wells, Michael Stean and David Howell.
The GM assistants help prevent blunders and give general advice, but it was the lack of coordination between the simul givers that led to their downfall on Monday night. Also, not all of the these elite players know all of the openings that appear on the board, and as I send them out to make moves on a pretty random basis, this can also create confusion. The result was a 12-6 victory for the guests.
Among the tumult, there were several high-quality games and I particularly liked this one, played by guests from City broker ICAP and Bluecrest Capital. After the intervention of Magnus Carlsen, things looked grim for table 13, but Ryad Belab of ICAP found a brilliant defence.
King Magnus!