L’Homme révolté

Hikaru Nakamura – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
7th London Chess Classic; London, December 5, 2015
Modern Benoni A48

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. e3. Beginner’s luck. 3. ... Bg7 4. c4 0-0 5. Be2 c5 6. d5 d6 7. Nc3 e6 8. 0-0 exd5 9. cxd5 Na6 10. Nd2 Rb8 11. e4 Re8. “Today’s philosophical question: is the Benoni so bad even with an extra tempo? We will find out...”, Grandmaster Nigel David Short said. 12. f3 Nh5! 13. f4 Nf6 14. Kh1 Nc7 15. a4 a6 16. a5 Bd7 17. Bf3 Nb5. Black looks better. 18. e5!? A bold and rather speculative Pawn sacrifice. 18. ... dxe5 19. fxe5 Rxe5 20. Nc4 Rf5 21. Ne2

21. ... Rxf3! A brilliant touch! 22. gxf3 Bh3 23. Re1 Qxd5. Two Pawns and the Bishop pair fully compensates Black for the sacrificed Exchange. 24. Nf4. Consideration deserved 24. Qxd5 Nxd5 25. Nf4 Nxf4 26. Bxf4 Rf8 with White only slightly worse. 24. ... Qxd1 25. Rxd1 Bd7 26. Be3 Bc6 27. Kg2 Re8!? Vachier-Lagrave sacrifices a Pawn to fuel his initiative. 28. Kf2. Also 28. Bxc5 would have been answered by 28. ... g5. 28. ... g5! 29. Nd3 g4! 30. Nde5 Bd5 31. Rg1 h5 32. h3? This is a mistake, but White’s position was not easy to deal with. 32. ... Bxc4? Vachier-Lagrave misses 32. ... gxf3!! 33. Bh6 Ne4+ 34. Ke3 kh7 35. Bxg7 f2 and, although White is a Rook up, he has fallen down into the pit of hell. 33. Nxc4 Nd5 34. fxg4 Nxe3 35. Nxe3 Bxb2. “All’s Well, That Ends Well”. 36. Rae1 Bc3 37. Re2 Bd4. “Two very strong tacticians making serious errors [...]. Shows what a complicated position it was”, Short said. 38. Kf3 Nc3 39. Ree1 Ne4 40. gxh5+ Kh7 41. Rg2 Nd6 42. Ree2 Re5 43. Nc2 Rxh5 44. Nxd4 cxd4 45. Rg4 Rxa5 46. Rxd4 Nf5 47. Rb4 b5 48. Kf4 Nh6 49. Ke5 Ra3 50. h4 Rg3 51. Ra2 Rg6 52. Rb1 Re6+ 53. Kf4 Rf6+ 54. Ke4 Re6+ 55. Kf4 Rf6+ 56. Ke4 Re6+ ½ : ½.

Hikaru Nakamura vs. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Photo: Ray Morris-Hill