NH Chess Tournament 2010 (10)
Nakamura catches Giri for Amber place
IM Malcolm Pein - Wednesday 25th August 2010
Hikaru Nakamura caught Anish Giri when the latter lost his final game of the NH Tournament in Amsterdam. This lead to a playoff between the two. Malcolm Pein reports.
Hikaru Nakamura caught the teenage prodigy Anish Giri in the race for a place in the 2011 Amber Rapid and Blindfold tournament. This lucrative event is open only to a select group. Nakamura won brilliantly against Loek Van Wely in the penultimate round of the NH Hotels 'Rising Stars v Veterans' tournament in Amsterdam and then held the draw against Boris Gelfand with black as Giri faltered. The pair finished on 6/10 and Nakamura, the king of the Internet Chess Club, won a speed chess tie break.
Giri lost to Peter Heine Nielsen from a passive position but the Rising Stars defeated the Veterans overall 26-24. David Howell ended with a very respectable 4.5/10. In the last round, Howell sacrificed his queen against Peter Svidler and appeared lost. He turned the position round to such an extent it might have been tenable before an ending arose with rook, 'a' pawn and 'e' pawn against queen. Svidler manoeuvred to win both pawns and won on move 107.
H Nakamura - L Van Wely
4th NH Chess Tournament Amsterdam (7)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5
(This move was considered the most dangerous until Fischer and Kasparov honed the Poisoned Pawn but it is back again)
6...Nbd7
(Avoiding 6...e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2, the Poisoned Pawn)
7.f4! Qb6 8.Qd2! Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.Bxf6! Nxf6
(This version of the Poisoned Pawn looks so potent there may be no antidote, but 10...gxf6 11.Nd5 Rb8 may survive longer)
11.e5 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nd7 13.Nd5! Qc5
(13...Rb8 14.Nc6 bxc6 15.Rxb8 Nxb8 16.Nc7#)
14.Nb3 Qc6 15.Na5 Qc5 16.Nxb7 Qc6
(16...Bxb7 17.Rxb7 Rc8 18.Bxa6 with Bb5 or Rxd7 next)
17.Rb6!! 1-0
A bombshell, 17...Nxb6 18.Nf6+! Qd8 and 17...Qa4 18.Nc7 are both mate.
Loek van Wely
 |  |  | |  | | | |
|  | |  |  | | | |
|  |  | | | | | |
| | | |  | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | |  | | | | |
| | | |  |  | | |
Hikaru Nakamura
Position after 17.Rb6
Black's opening is by no means as bad as it looks. He had two clear improvements after the initial piece sacrifice.
V Bologan (2695) - Il Schneider (2515)
GRENKE Rapid WCh Mainz
1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 f5 3.exf5 d5 4.d4 Bxf5 5.Bb5 e6 6.Ne5 Nge7 7.Qh5+ g6
(7...Bg6 8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.Qe2 Nf5 10.Nxg6 hxg6 11.Qxe6+ Qe7 12.Qxe7+ Bxe7 13.c3 c5 with some compensation)
8.Qe2 Bg7 9.Bxc6+ Nxc6 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.g4 Be4 12.f3 Qh4+
(12...0-0!? 13.Rf1 Qh4+ 14.Kd1 Bxf3 15.Rxf3 Rxf3 16.Qxf3 Qxh2 or 12...0-0!? 13.fxe4 Bxd4!)
13.Kd1 0-0 14.fxe4 Bxd4 15.h3 Qg3
(15...Rf2 16.Qe1 Qg3 or 15...Rf2 16.Qd3)
16.Nd2 Rf2 17.Qd3 Qg2 18.Re1 c5 19.c3 Bf6 20.exd5 exd5 21.Rf1! Re8 22.Rxf2 Qxf2 23.Qxd5+ Kg7 24.g5! Qg1+ 25.Kc2 Bxg5 26.Nb3 Rd8 27.Qe5+ Bf6 28.Qe2 1-0
Ilya Schneider
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | |
Viktor Bologan
Final position after 28.Qe2
