Steinitziana

Jovana Vojinović-Rapport – Hikaru Nakamura
13th Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival; Catalan Bay, January 27, 2015
Dutch Defence A80

1. d4 f5 2. Bg5 c6 3. e3 Qb6 4. Nd2 Qxb2 5. Rb1 Qc3 6. g4. Jovana plays a sharp and risky move. 6. Bd3 d5 7. Ne2 Qa5 8. Nf4 is a “vintage recommendation” by Yasser Seirawan. 6. ... Qa5 7. gxf5 Qxf5 8. h4

8. ... Qa5. Six Queen moves in a row! “Nakamura has managed to get every chess teacher in the world rooting for his opponent after 8 moves”, Grandmaster Jonathan Tisdall writes. 9. Nh3 g6. “Breaking news: @GMHikaru moved a piece other than his Queen! 9. ... g6!”, Martin Bennedik tweeted. 10. Bd3 d6. “(Nakamura’s position) is only solid because he hasn’t got any pieces out! Amusing bit of Zen wisdom from @stuthefox”, Tisdall writes. 11. Qf3 Nd7 12. h5 Ndf6. “I like the ‘Nakamuraesque’ style by WGM Vojinović – against Nakamura! A pawn down, but with compensation”, Tarjei J. Svensen tweeted. 13. hxg6 hxg6 14. Bxg6+ Kd8 15. Bf4 Kc7 16. Ng5 Rxh1+ 17. Qxh1 Bh6 18. Qh4 Bd7 19. Bd3. “Black assumes the initiative after this. Instead, 19. c4 maintains some sort of momentum against the Black King. For example, if 19. ... Qxa2 20. c5 and the d6–Pawn is under further pressure”, John Saunders writes. 19. ... Nd5 20. Ne6+ Bxe6 21. Bxh6 Nc3 22. Ra1 Qb4 23. Kf1 Nxa2 24. Rd1 Nc3 25. Re1 Nxh6 26. Qxh6 Bd7 27. f3 a5 28. Kf2 a4 29. Qg5 Rh8 30. Qg3 Nd5 31. Rd1 c5 32. Bc4 Nc3 33. Re1 b5 0 : 1. “The irony of Nakamura forcing resignation by advancing his b-Pawn, his King safe as houses on the Q-side, was not lost on me”, Tisdall writes.

Jonathan Tisdall (@GMjtis)

Hikaru Nakamura (@GMHikaru)