10 Years

Yannick Pelletier – Hikaru Nakamura
31st European Chess Club Cup; Skopje, October 19, 2015
King’s Indian Defence E97

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. b4 a5. It may look Nakamura suffers of the Pelletier Syndrome: 9. ... Nh5 10. Re1 f5 11. Ng5 Nf6 12. Bf3 c6 13. b5 h6 14. Ne6 Bxe6 15. dxe6 Qa5 16. Bb2 fxe4 17. Nxe4 Nxe4 18. Rxe4 d5 19. cxd5 cxd5 20. Rxe5 Bxe5 21. Bxe5 Qxb5 22. Rb1 Qc6 23. Ba1 Rf4 24. g3 Rc4 25. Qd2 Qc5 26. Bf6 g5 27. Rxb7 Rc1+ 28. Kg2 Qc4 29. Qe2 Qxe2 30. Bxe2 Nf5 31. Bg4 1 : 0 Pelletier – Nakamura, 38th Internationales Schachfestival, Biel/Bienne 2005. 10. Ba3 b6 11. bxa5 Nh5 12. Nd2 Nf4 13. axb6!? A very well-founded theoretical novelty – then Yannik said he “had been waiting for ten years to use”. Such patience! 13. ... Rxa3 14. Nb5 Ra5 15. bxc7 Qd7 16. a4. Now White has three Pawns for the sacrificed Bishop with the strong positional threat of creating a centre/Queenside Pawn roller (c4-c5!). 16. ... Ba6. Nakamura decides to sacrifice the Exchange, with the hope of regaining some ground. It doesn’t turn out to be a good idea. 17. Nb3 Bxb5 18. cxb5 Qxc7. Otherwise b5-b6 follows. 19. Nxa5 Qxa5 20. g3 Nxe2+ 21. Qxe2 Bh6 22. Rfb1 Rb8

23. b6! A brilliant solution! What follows is more or less forced and Pelletier terminates the game in grand style. 23. ... Rxb6 24. Rxb6 Qxb6 25. a5 Qc5 26. Ra4 Kg7 27. a6 Nc8 28. Rc4 Qb5 29. Qa2 Nb6 30. Rc6 Na4 31. a7 Qa5 32. Kg2 Qxa7 33. Rc4 Bg5 34. Qxa4 Qb7 35. Rb4 Qc7 36. Qc6 Qa7 37. Qxd6 Be7 38. Qxe5+ 1 : 0.

Yannik Pelletier
Photo: Stefan Bohrer