Under the Volcano

Daniel Naroditsky – Hikaru Nakamura
59th U.S. Chess Championship, Saint Louis, April 5, 2015
Sicilian Defence B79

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Bc4 0-0 9. Bb3 Bd7 10. h4 h5 11. Qd2 Qa5. Many theoreticians of our generation would have criticized this move and said that Nakamura ought to have played 11. ... Rc8 12. 0-0-0 Ne5 immediately. 12. 0-0-0 Rfc8 13. Kb1 Ne5 14. Bg5

14. ... Rxc3!? A thematic Exchange sac! “I decided to just be practical and sacrifice the Exchange”, Nakamura said. “I think objectively it’s probably losing but over the board it’s difficult to find the right plans”. 15. Qxc3 Qxc3 16. bxc3 a5 17. a3 Rc8 18. Kb2 Kf8 19. Ne2? “This allows Black to regroup his forces. 19. Rhe1 looks normal, making Black think about f3-f4 ideas”, Grandmaster Josh Friedel said. 19. ... Bb5 20. Nd4. White practically admits his own error, but the light-squared Bishop gets a fantastic square now. 20. ... Ba6. Intending ... Nf6-d7-c5. 21. Rhe1. 21. Bxf6 Bxf6 22. a4 might be sounder (Friedel’s analysis). 21. ... Nfd7 22. f4 Nc4+ 23. Bxc4 Bxc4 24. f5. “Daniel lost the thread with 19. Ne2 and 20. Nd4... and once he played 24. f5, all hell broke loose – but the complications favored me”, Nakamura said. 24. ... Nc5 25. Re3 Ke8 26. Bf4. “In a difficult (though not necessarily worse) position, Danya starts to go astray. 26. Kc1 I’d probably walk out of ... Nc5-a4+”, Friedel said. 26. ... Na4+ 27. Kc1 Ba6 28. e5? “Danya’s instincts were correct, but the execution was inaccurate. 28. Rde1 Nxc3 29. e5 is a better move order, and after 29. ... Nd5 30. exd6! Nxe3 31. Rxe3 gives nice counterplay, with the idea that if 31. ... Bxd4? 32. Rxe7+ Kd8 33. Rxf7 and Black’s King is the one in trouble”, Friedel said. 28. ... dxe5 29. Rxe5 Bxe5 30. Bxe5 Nxc3. Despite the Bishops of opposite colour, White has a lost game. 31. Re1 gxf5 32. Bf6. This is very prettily refuted by Black. In any case, after 32. Nxf5 Ne2+ 33. Kd2 Rc5 Black must win. 32. ... Ne4 33. Nxf5 Bd3 34. c3 Rc5! Oops! The threat of ... Rc5-b5-b1 mate is unstoppable. 35. Nxe7 Rb5 0 : 1.

Hikaru Nakamura
Photo: Kevin Duggin