ČEZ Chess Trophy 2014

The royal launch

[08.06.2014 00:00:00] - Sadly, the spectators of the first game of the match of David Navara and Hikaru Nakamura were not lucky enough to see the sacrifice of black queen on f2, but still the game in King Indian could catch the attention of numerous audience in Michna Palace. Nakamura, American number one player, has proved himself prepared and inventive in his favourite opening and he successfully made a whole point out of the blacks.

Before the Saturday's game GM Vlastimil Hort took care of making the right chess atmosphere by his lecture "Famouse and strange chessplayers of Prague´s history" after which there was a launch of a new chess book "Černobílá cesta" (Black and white road), consits of 45 studies of great chess composer Mario Matous, chess stories written by Pavel Houser and beautifully ilustrated by pictures of Kristina Perichova.

Commentators of the match, GM Jan Markoš and GM Robert Cvek have been busy since the beginning. The first longer thought came from the players hall as soon as 12th move was done. The position based on Krasenkov variation of King Indian defence offered lots of possibilities shown in GM Robert Cvek's comments.

DAVID NAVARA (2724) - HIKARU NAKAMURA (2775) [E90]
ČEZ Chess Trophy 2014, the 1st game
Prague , 07.06.2014

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 0-0 6.h3!? David bravely choose to play King Indian, but Hikaru is very skilled with this opening and he has beaten lots of strong opponents in that...
6...e5 7.d5 a5 8.Bg5 Na6 9.Nd2 Qe8 10.Be2 Nd7 11.a3 Nb6!? Very interesting move which was not expeced by David. The black deals with the position of his Knights in a interesting way. Now threatens 12.a4 with a blockade of Queens side.
12.Be3 Bd7 13.b3 f5 14.Nb5 Beginning of a doubtful operation. [14.0-0 was probably the strongest because after 14.f4?! 15Bxb6 cxb6 16.Bg4 the white has a dreamy position]
14...Qd8 15.Bxb6?! The white takes the gage and takes the pawn, but it would be better to do a castling. [15.0-0 Bxb5 16.cxb5 Nc5 17.Qc2]
15...cxb6 16.Nxd6 Nc5 17.0-0 Bh6!



Very strong move, which was immediately suggested by GM Vlastimil Hort in the commentatory room. The black pushes to the base e4. 18.b4 [18.exf5 Bxd2 19.Qxd2 Qf6! 20.fxg6 Qxg6! (20...Qxd6 21.gxh7+ Kh8 22.Qb2 in not clear) Knight on d6 has no rest and when: 21.Nb5 then 21...Bxh3! and white is in trouble.] 18...Ba4 19.Qb1 The only move! 19...Qxd6 [19...Na6?! the white could have had a good compensation after: 20.Nxb7 Qc7 21.b5 Nb8 22.d6! Qxb7 23.exf5 Bxd2 24.Bf3 Qa7 25.Qb2!] 20.bxc5 Qxc5 The result of this operation is that the black has very active figures and white is the one who has to look for compensation.
21.Nf3 21.Qd3 or 21.Qa2 was worth considering
21...fxe4 [21...Rae8!?=/+]
22.Qxe4 Rae8! [22...Rf4 GM Hikaru Nakamura has shown following variation: 23.Qxe5 Re8 24.Qb2 Bg7 25.Qd2 Bxa1 26.Qxf4 Rxe2 27.Ng5 (27.Rxa1?? Qxf2+ 28.Kh2 Qxg2#) 27...Bg7 28.Qf7+ Kh8 29.Ne6 Rxe6 30.Qxe6! and the white has a good chance of draw]
23.Qh4 Computer suggests 23.Nh2 but even then the white has worse position 23...Kg7 24.Ng5 Rf4 25.Qg3 Bxg5 26.Qxg5 Bb3 The critical position. It seems like the white is close to compensation thanks to weak King on g7, but how to do that?
27.a4 Still seems OK
27...Re4?! In the commentatory room we were shocked by this move. We expected simple capture on c4. Here the simplest answer would be the best. Now the white has a good chance for draw - but still the position is pretty complicated and it is easy to make a mistake. 28.Rfe1



28...Qd4! Strong centralisation of the queen. 29.Bf1? It might seem logical - the white covers Pawn c4 and defends his King, but the Bishop on f1 will stay out of the game until the end, which would be the cause of losing. [29.Bf3! Rxe1+ 30.Rxe1 and what should the black do now? There is always some counterplay for the white. 30...Bxa4 (30...Bxc4 31.Qc1! very strong, and when: 31...e4 so: 32.d6! with counterplay) 31.Re4 s Rh4 31...Qa1+ 32.Kh2 h6 33.Qe3 with Rh4 has the white an OK position.] 29...Rxe1 30.Rxe1 Bxa4 Now the black has one free Pawn which is very strong. 31.h4?! The plan of moving on the "h" Pawn is wrong. The only chance would be to move the white Queen to Queen's wing. [31.Qg3 would be even stronger, but after: 31...Bd7 32.Qa3 a4 has an obvious advantage.] 31...Bd7 32.h5?!



32...Qf4! Trasposing to the ending wins the game. 33.Qxf4 exf4 34.Rb1 b5! 35.cxb5 The black has better pieces, better King and a free passed Pawn on a5. The game is decided. 35...b6 36.Rc1 Rc8 37.Re1 Re8 38.Rc1 Rc8 39.Re1 Kf6 40.hxg6 hxg6 41.d6 Rc5 [41...Be6 wins as well, for: 42.g3 fxg3 43.Rxe6+ Kxe6 44.Bh3+ Kxd6 45.Bxc8 a4 and a black Pawn runs] 42.Re4 [42.Re7 Bxb5-+] 42...Rc1 43.Rxf4+ Ke6 44.Re4+ Kxd6 45.Rd4+ Ke6 46.Rc4 Rxf1+ 0-1

The match of David Navara vs Hikaru Nakamura continues with the second game, you can watch it online from 4 PM (program).

| Petr Boleslav | visits(3428x)