In December 2010 McShane participated in the 8-player London Chess Classic Tournament, which included Viswanathan Anand (reigning World Chess Champion), Magnus Carlsen (rated #1 for most of 2010), Vladimir Kramnik (former World Champion) and Hikaru Nakamura (US Champion). Under a scoring system of 3 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss, McShane finished joint second with Anand, behind Carlsen, whom McShane had beaten in their individual game. Undefeated, his event performance rating was 2838 – higher than Carlsen's or Anand's. In the January 2011 rating list, he overtook Nigel Short, to become the UK's second highest ranked player after Michael Adams. 