In Dubious Battle

Hikaru Nakamura – Pavel Eljanov
6th Chess World Cup; match game 2; Baku, September 24, 2015
English Opening A13

“Alas it has all come to an end in round 5 of the Fide World Cup! Simply put, my opponent Pavel Eljanov played better than I did, especially yesterday when he found a nice sacrificial idea to which I responded very poorly”, then Nakamura posted on his Facebook account.

1. c4 Nf6 2. g3 e6 3. Bg2 d5 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Qa4+ Bd7 6. Qxc4 c5 7. Ne5 Qc8 8. 0-0 Nc6 9. Nxd7 Qxd7 10. Nc3 Be7 11. Qa4 Rc8 12. d3 0-0 13. Be3. For 13. Bd2 Rfd8 14. Rfd1 b6 15. Rab1 Qb7 16. a3 a6 see Ki. Georgiev – Khairullin, 30th European Chess Club Cup, Bilbao 2014. 13. ... Rfd8 14. Rac1 b6 15. Rfd1 h6 16. h3 Ne8 17. Nb5 Bf6 18. b3 Nd6 19. Nxd6 Qxd6 20. Bxc6 Qxc6

21. Qg4 Kf8 22. Rc4 Qd5 23. Rdc1 h5 24. Qf4 Bb2 25. R1c2 Be5 26. Qe4 Qxe4 27. Rxe4 Bd6 28. Rh4 g6 29. Rhc4 g6 29. Rhc4 Rb8 30. d4 cxd4 31. Rxd4 Ke8 32. Kg2 Rb7 33. Rdc4 Ke7 34. Bg5+ f6 35. Be3 Rdd7 36. Rc8 Rd8 37. R8c4 Rdd7 38. Ra4 Rbc7 39. Rxc7 Rxc7 40. h4 e5 41. f4 Ke6 42. fxe5 Bxe5 43. Bf4 ½ : ½. Thus Eljanov jumps to the semifinals!

Hikaru Nakamura vs. Pavel Eljanov
Photo: Eteri Kublashvili