Trebuchet

Wesley So – Hikaru Nakamura
3rd Sinquefield Cup; Saint Louis, August 29, 2015
King’s Indian Defence E99

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. Ne1 Nd7 10. f3 f5 11. Be3 f4 12. Bf2 g5 13. Nd3 Ng6 14. c5 Nf6 15. Rc1 Rf7 16. Kh1 h5 17. cxd6. For 17. Nb5 g4 18. cxd6 cxd6 19. Qc2 g3 20. Nc7 Rxc7 21. Qxc7 Qxc7 22. Rxc7 gxf2 23. Rfc1 see Shirov – Bacrot, 30th European Club Cup, Bilbao 2014. 17. ... cxd6 18. Nb5 a6! We guess Nakamura deeply studied the aforementioned game. 19. Na3 b5 20. Rc6 g4 21. Qc2 Qf8 22. Rc1 Bd7 23. Rc7. This is quite pointless. Both the positional Exchange sacrifice by 23. Nb4 and 23. Rb6 were much more to the point. 23. ... Bh6 24. Be1. “Such antipositional play from Wesley, he will get punished”, Grandmaster Levon Grigori Aronian said.

24. ... h4! “Never mind about the engines, I have this gut feeling that Nakamura is going to deliver checkmate, come what may”, Grandmaster Nigel David Short said. 25. fxg4. This is very unwise. 25. ... f3!! 26. gxf3 Nxe4! A terrific blow! 27. Rd1. After 30 minutes’s thought. White, however, has no good move! If 27. fxe4 then 27. ... Rf1+ 28. Kg2 Be3! with an irresistible attack, the threat being 29. ... Rg1+ 30. Kh3 Qf1+! 31. Bxf1 Bxg4 mate. If, instead, 27. Rxd7 there follows 27. ... Rxf3 28. Bxf3 Qxf3+ 29. Qg2 Qxd3 30. Rd1 Bd2!! – a move which appears to have been overlooked by So which forces the win in all variations. 27. ... Rxf3 28. Rxd7 Rf1+ 29. Kg2 Be3. Here Short gives an extremely elegant variation: 29. ... h3+ 30. Kxh3 Rf2!! (indeed the more human 30. ... Rxe1 produces the same result) 31. Bxf2 Qxf2!! 32. Nxf2 Nf4+ 33. Kh4 Bg5 mate. “If Hikaru picks that winning 30. ... Rf2, this may be the game of the year”, Grandmaster Robin van Kampen said. 30. Bg3. Or 30. Bxf1 h3+ 31. Kxh3 Qf3+ 32. Bg3 Ng5 mate 30. ... hxg3 31. Rxf1 Nh4+ 32. Kh3 Qh6 33. g5 Nxg5+ 34. Kg4 Nhf3 35. Nf2. If 35.Bxf3 then 35. ... Qh3 mate. 35. ... Qh4+ 36. Kf5 Rf8+ 37. Kg6 Rf6+ 38. Kxf6 Ne4+ 39. Kg6 Qg5 mate. Delightful game by Nakamura! “Congrats to Nakamura on his victory today. The King’s Indian requires the courage of your convictions & courage to ignore machine opinions!”, thirteenth World Chess Champion Garry Kimovich Kasparov said.

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Hikaru’s throne
Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club