In London, the world’s number 1, Norway’s Magnus Carlsen, shared second place with Hikaru Nakamura of the U.S. Both were half a point behind Kramnik. Like Kramnik, Carlsen was undefeated but he won only 3, including another victory over Nakamura. Hikaru gonged Anand and Aronian as well as Howell and Adams, and the American’s performance was way better than his 8th-9th place finish at the Tal Memorial.
McShane, who finished solo fourth, was the only British player who did not end up in the cellar. As for world champ Anand, it was another disappointing tournament, winning 1, losing 1 and drawing the rest. (At the Tal Memorial, he drew all his games.) It seemed that he’s more focused now on his title match against Gelfand next year.
After the tournament, Nakamura announced that Kasparov was no longer his coach. Their partnership apparently ended after the Tal Memorial. The former world champ was a guest at the London tournament, but he didn’t even say hi to his former student. In an interview, Hikaru said although he was impressed with Kasparov’s opening preparations, he believed other players were better in the middle- and endgames! Clearly, it wasn’t an amicable separation.
Game of the week. Here’s how Hikaru beat the world champ in a game annotated by Bobby Ang.
White: V. Anand (2811)
Black: H. Nakamura (2758)
King’s Indian Defense
London 2011
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0 — 0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 9.b4 The Bayonet Attack, the line which made Kasparov quit the KID. 9…Ne8 It is no longer fashionable to play 9…Nh5 followed by …Nf4. 10.c5 f5 11.Nd2 Nf6 12.a4 Anand avoids 12.f3 f4 13.Nc4 g5 14.a4 Ng6 15.Ba3 Rf7 with which his opponent won well known games against Beliavsky and Gelfand. 12…g5? Nakamura had played the more accurate 12…f4 against Vladimir Kramnik in their 2010 Khanty Mansiysk game. Perhaps he was experiencing an attack of nerves and forgot his move orders? I’ll show you later why the text move is wrong. 13.Nc4 h6 This is the reason why the previous move was an error — Black is now forced to play 13…h6. If he had instead played 12…f4 this move would not have been necessary and he could have moved the h-pawn to h5 in one go. 14.f3 f4 15.Ba3 Ng6 16.b5 Black now has a problem on the defense of d6. In the time-honored Gligoric formation Black would play …Rf7, …Bf8 and …Rg7 to both attack and defend, but since he is a tempo down 16…Rf7 would lose an important pawn. There remains 16…Ne8, but Nakamura chooses to concede his strong point on d6 and capture on c5. 16…dxc5 17.Bxc5 Rf7 18.a5 h5 As usual White is dominating in the queenside and now also the center. However, the kingside is Black’s compensation. 19.b6 g4 20.Nb5 cxb621.axb6 g3 22.Kh1 Nakamura: “All these lines are very similar. I’m just down a tempo, which makes a big difference, unfortunately.” By the way, take note that White makes a point to avoid playing h2-h3, since the h-pawn becomes a target for Black to sacrifice either his knight or bishop on h3. 22…Bf8 23.d6! Secures c7 and d5 for his pieces. 23.Bxf8? is a mistake because of 23…Nxe4! 24.fxe4 Qh4 and White cannot avoid mate. 23…a6 24.Nc7 Rb8 25.Na5 Kh8 26.Bc4 Rg7 27.Ne6 More often than not the Black bishop on c8 is important for his attack, so Anand forces it off the board. 27…Bxe6 28.Bxe6 gxh2 And Black now takes off the white pawn on h2 before it can go to h3. This is a crucial moment in the game. 29.Nc4? It is not so obvious, but this is a mistake, and I will show you why next move. 29…Qe8! Nakamura is very tactically alert. The White bishop cannot go to h3 because after 30.Bh3 Qb5! White loses a piece. The bishop is forced to go to d5 but from that square it can no longer keep an eye on h3, which is why Black now advances his h-pawn. It appears that the tables have already turned and Nakamura rushes his pieces up the kingside. 30.Bd5 h4 31.Rf2 h3! 32.gxh3 Rc8 33.Ra5 Nh4 34.Kxh2 Some more tactics: 34.Rxh2? Nxd5! 35.exd5 (35.Qxd5 Nxf3 36.Rg2 Qh5 wins) 35…e4! 34…Nd7? Nakamura is getting confused as well. Best is 34…Nxd5! 35.exd5 (35.Qxd5 Qg6 followed by mate) 35…Rg3! and 36…Qg6 35.Bb4 Rg3 36.Qf1 Qh5! 37.Ra3 a5 38.Be1 Rxc4! 39.Bxc4 Bxd6 40.Rxa5 Bc5 41.Be2 Bxb6 42.Rb5 Bd4 Black can also play 42…Bxf2 43.Bxf2 (43.Qxf2 Nxf3+ 44.Bxf3 Qxh3#) 43…Nxf3+ 44.Bxf3 Qxf3 45.Rb1 (45.Rxb7? Nc5 46.Rb4 and now Black has the luxury of playing 46…Kg7! and tucking in his king at either g5 or h5 before crushing white with …Nd3) 45…Rg6 46.Re1 b6 White is powerless. 43.Bd1 Bxf2 44.Bxf2 Nxf3+ 45.Bxf3 Qxf3 46.Rb1 Defending the queen so that he can (hopefully) take the g3 rook. 46…Rg6 47.Rxb7 Nf6 48.Rb8+ Kh7 49.Rb7+ Kh6 Anand is losing his e4 pawn, after which the two passed Black pawns guarantee victory. 0-1
Puzzler.
White: Ka5, Nb5, Qc1, Bd3, pawn on d4
Black: Kd5, Ne5, pawns on a6 and f3
White to play and mate in three moves.
Send your answers to “64” c/o Marianas Variety, P.O. Box 500231, Saipan MP 96950. Our fax no. is 670-234-9271. You can also e-mail editor@mvariety.com.
