Round seven of the 8th edition of the London Chess Classic, was held on Friday 16 December, 2016. For the third time this tournament, Hikaru Nakamura was the only player to pick up a point — and what a point it was. The American Grandmaster played a game against France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave that I can only describe as ‘sublime’. And it was just what Nakamura needed, having been “blown off the board” as he described it, in the previous round. Today was a new day and he bounced back with gusto.
Playing the Bg5 Najdorf, Nakamura was clearly in no mood for half measures in trying to recover his point. The first indication of this was his novelty of 16.Qh3, which looks very strange, but gives Black some considerations on the Kingside. Vachier-Lagrave dealt with this quite well, but then came 18.Nf5! Nakamura offered a piece for position and this sharpened the situation right up.
Accepting the piece with 18…exf5 would have been strongly met by 19.exf5. From here, 19…gxf4 is probably forced, 20.Bxb7 Qxb7 21.Bd4 sees White fully in command. Vachier-Lagrave chose 18…Ncxe4, which was not bad, though perhaps 18…gxf4 was most testing. Regardless, White’s build-up on the Kingside was very commanding and this mounted steadily and Black had very little answer or counter-play to it, the h-pawn would gradually work its way up the board, the Queen was ideally poised, the fine dark-squared bishop and nicely centralised and active rooks. Black threw everything at White in an attempt to defend, but White had all of this covered and the point was soon Nakamura’s. A very fine game indeed.
Michael Adams quite appropriately chose the English Opening against Fabiano Caruana, tempting his opponent with a pawn in order to establish a nice knight on c5. Black wasn’t doing too badly, however, until his 27…Bb3. Adams’ 28.Ra1 resulted in a nice situation of initiative for White, which led to the winning of a pawn. White definitely enjoyed the best of things from here, but the opposite coloured bishops endgame was no simple matter and the Englishman obviously decided that his opponent had enough up his sleeve in order to hold and they split the point.
Anish Giri and Veselin Topalov got were involved in the longest game of the round. Their Queen’s Gambit Declined lasted around 6 hours! Unfortunately, though, it was 6 hours of torture. The position became very solid and fixed early on, with both sides being rather entrenched behind their own lines. If either player had gone into the game intending to try anything, it didn’t pan out for them. Perhaps Giri could have sharpened things up with 47.g5, but this didn’t happen and after some more rather aimless shuffling, the players split the point in 67 — a very strange affair. The good thing for Veselin Topalov, is that he stopped his losing streak having dropped points in the previous three rounds.
Tournament leader, Wesley So, enjoyed a Queen’s Gambit Declined with Vladimir Kramnik. I say ‘enjoyed’ because it was a rather peaceful game, with nothing really to report. Exchanges came rather quickly and the players agreed a draw in 36. Levon Aronian and Viswanathan Anand also had a rather quiet affair with the Queen’s Gambit, exchanging pieces rather rapidly and leaving a rather natural position that was without potential.
- So — 5.0
- Caruana — 4.5
- Kramnik, Nakamura — 4.0
- Aronian, Anand, Giri — 3.5
- Vachier-Lagrave, Adams — 3.0
- Topalov — 1.0
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.16”]
[Round “7.4”]
[White “Nakamura, Hikaru”]
[Black “Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “B96”]
[WhiteElo “2779”]
[BlackElo “2804”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “73”]
[EventDate “2016.12.09”]{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 h6 8. Bh4
Qb6 9. a3 Be7 10. Bf2 {A very potent move, lining the Bishop up with the Queen
to threaten discoveries.} Qc7 {It is prudent to remove the Queen from
potential discoveries — obviously, …Qxb2 was extremely bad, losing
instantly to Na4.} 11. Qf3 Nbd7 12. O-O-O b5 13. g4 Bb7 14. Bg2 Rc8 15. Kb1 g5
16. Qh3 {A novelty from Nakamura, removing his Queen from the Bb7’s line of
fire. It seems strange to put the queen on h3, but the threat to g5 and h6
gives Black some Kingside issues to solve.} Nc5 17. Rhe1 {Backing the e4-pawn
up. Black must now solve his g5 and h6 problem.} h5 (17… gxf4 18. g5 Nfd7 {
not …Nh7, when White can push the g-pawn with a good initiative.}) 18. Nf5 {
A confident, sound move from Nakamura. The position is now extremely sharp and
Vachier-Lagrave must be careful.} (18. fxg5 Nxg4 19. Bg3 {And White is already
very much better, here.}) 18… Ncxe4 {not bad, …gxf4 was a little better,
perhaps.} (18… exf5 {is not a good way to proceed.} 19. exf5 gxf4 20. Bxb7
Qxb7 21. Bd4 {and White’s prowess along the e-file, and threat to f6 and e7
mean that Black is in serious trouble here.}) (18… gxf4 {Possibly the most
testing move.} 19. Nxe7 Qxe7 20. Bf3 Nfd7 21. gxh5 Ne5 22. Bd4 {With the best
of the situation, but Black is not squaring up too badly.}) 19. Bxe4 Nxe4 {
the correct piece to recapture with — it makes a lot of difference to get the
knight off of the f6-square.} (19… Bxe4 {this is all kinds of wrong.} 20.
Nxe7 Bxc2+ (20… Kxe7 21. fxg5 Nxg4 22. Bg3 {winning, due to the threats to
e4 and d6.}) 21. Kxc2 Qxe7 22. fxg5 {winning.}) 20. Bd4 Rg8 21. Nxe7 {The
knight has fulfilled its purpose on f5, now White can reap the rewards.} Kxe7 (
21… Nxc3+ 22. Bxc3 Qxe7 23. f5 {with a big initiative.}) 22. gxh5 gxf4 23.
Qh4+ {with a very powerful position, here, Black has all kinds of doom and
gloom.} Kf8 (23… Ke8 24. Qxf4 f5 {This move is pretty forced, other moves
just seem to lose. Black has two issues, the Ne4 and freeing the 7th rank so
that it can be used for defence — the h-pawn will march, of course.} 25. Rg1 {
and this is quite possibly strategically winning for White.}) 24. Ka1 {getting
White out of the way of checks on c2 — threatening to win a piece on e4.} (24.
h6 e5 25. h7 Rh8 26. Ka1 {with Qh6+ on its way. This could be played here also,
White is still hugely winning.}) 24… b4 {this is inadequate, but then again,
so was everything else.} 25. Nxe4 Bxe4 26. Rxe4 Qxc2 27. Ree1 bxa3 {…Rg2 was
an alternative, but White is still dominant.} (27… Rg2 28. Qxf4 e5 29. Qh6+
Kg8 {(…Ke8?, Bxe5!)} 30. Rc1 Qf5 31. Rxc8+ Qxc8 32. Rc1 Qf8 33. Qe3 {and
White is ready for the final push. Note that …exd4 would lose here, to Qh3.})
28. Qxf4 axb2+ 29. Bxb2 Rg5 {Offering the rook for perpetual — that resource
is being prevented by the White Queen’s covering of a4. White is beautifully
coordinated, here.} 30. Qxd6+ Kg8 31. Rg1 Qa4+ 32. Ba3 {Black is quite dead in
the water, Nakamura finishes the game superbly.} Rxg1 33. Rxg1+ Kh7 34. Qd3+ {
(…f5, Qd6)} Kh6 35. Rg6+ Kxh5 36. Rg1 f5 37. Qf3+ {And Vachier-Lagrave
resigned here, it’s mate in 2 or Black must throw his Queen just to drag the
matter out. A lovely confident game from Hikaru Nakamura.} 1-0[Event “London Chess Classic 2016”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.16”]
[Round “7.1”]
[White “So, Wesley”]
[Black “Kramnik, Vladimir”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “D37”]
[WhiteElo “2794”]
[BlackElo “2809”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “72”]
[EventDate “2016.12.09”]{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. }
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. a3 c5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. dxc5 Nxc5 11. Be2 Qb6 12. b4 Ne6 13. Be5 a5 14. O-O {
A novelty, Gonzalez Vidal-Delgado Ramirez, Las Tunas 2009, continued 14.b4 for
a draw in 27.} axb4 15. axb4 Rxa1 16. Bxa1 Rd8 17. b5 {The problem with this
move, (for which there is probably no alternative), is that it gives away the
c5-square and Black makes immediate use of that.} Bc5 18. Qd2 d4 {Black will
be quite content achieving this move, with full equality. The problem with it
is that there follows heavy exchanges in the centre.} 19. exd4 Nxd4 20. Bxd4
Bxd4 21. Nxd4 Rxd4 {It will be very hard for either player to generate
anything from here.} 22. Qe3 Be6 23. Ra1 h6 24. Ra8+ Kh7 25. Bd3+ g6 26. Ra4
Rd6 27. Qxb6 Rxb6 28. Rd4 {A very important move, controlling both c4 and d7
(not to mention a4) from where Black’s bishop could hit the b5-pawn.} Kg7 29.
f4 Kf6 30. Kf2 Bf5 31. Bc4 Ke7 {All that remains is for some final tidying up
before splitting the point.} 32. Ke3 f6 33. h4 Rd6 34. Rxd6 Kxd6 35. Kd4 b6 36.
g3 g5 {And the players agreed a draw, here.} 1/2-1/2[Event “London Chess Classic 2016”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.16”]
[Round “7.2”]
[White “Adams, Michael”]
[Black “Caruana, Fabiano”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “A37”]
[WhiteElo “2748”]
[BlackElo “2823”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “91”]
[EventDate “2016.12.09”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1. c4 c5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e5 6. O-O d6 7. a3 a5 8. Ne1 Be6
9. d3 Nge7 10. Nc2 d5 11. cxd5 Nxd5 12. Ne3 Nb6 13. Nc4 {Na4 is another
approach, here. White can also take on c6 with validity, or just develop
quietly with Bd2.} O-O {A new move, …Nxc4 had been played before and White
can deal with this in two ways, either immediately recapturing after which
Black can either exchange Queens or castle, castling being perhaps the more
possitive continuation. The same after Bxc6 bxc6, dxc4.} 14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. Nxb6
Qxb6 16. Be3 {offering a temporary pawn in order to place his knight on the
c5-square.} Qxb2 {There was nothing better than accepting this pawn, anything
else was a bit too slow.} 17. Na4 Qb3 18. Nxc5 {This is quite a nice result
for White.} Qxd1 19. Rfxd1 {With a slight edge, but nothing telling.} Bd5 20.
Rab1 {Very good straight-forward chess, but in a way that is the problem, the
position is lacking tension and it is not easy to see how any can be generated.
} Rfb8 21. a4 f5 22. f3 Ba2 23. Rbc1 {Rxd8 seems to result in a fairly drawish
position.} (23. Rxb8+ Rxb8 24. Kf2 Rb2 25. Rd2 Rxd2 26. Bxd2 e4 27. dxe4 Bd4+
28. Be3 Bxc5 29. Bxc5 fxe4 30. fxe4 {is about equal, with …Bb3 coming next
for Black.}) 23… Rb2 (23… Bd5 24. Bd2 {is a good move, both releasing the
e-pawn and preventing …Rb4.} Rb2 25. e4 {With a pull for White.}) 24. Kf1 {
Rd2 was the best try for advantage, here.} (24. Rd2 {presents Black with a
choice — exchange or not?} Rxd2 (24… Rab8 25. Kf2 Bd5 26. Rdc2 Rxc2 27. Rxc2
Re8 {searching country-play, with White being slightly the more positive of
the two.}) 25. Bxd2 Ra7 {preventing Nb7.} 26. Bc3 {is a rather good situation,
with Rc2 and Rb2 following.}) 24… Bd5 25. Bd2 Ra2 26. Ke1 Bf8 27. Nd7 Bb3 {
This move is not as powerful as Black may have thought.} 28. Ra1 {! a good
response, giving White the initiative.} Rxa4 {This is the only move here,
really, anything else works out for White.} 29. Rxa4 Bxa4 30. Ra1 Bb3 31. Rxa5
Rxa5 32. Bxa5 Bg7 (32… Bd6 33. Bc3 Kf7 34. Bxe5 Bb4+ {…Bxe5 would lose of
course.} 35. Kf1 {With a nice safe advantage and extra pawn, White has the
luxury of being able to play on as long as he wants in seeking a point, here.})
33. Bc3 {All of a sudden, there is tension. White has been presented with
weaknesses to go at.} Be6 (33… e4 34. Bxg7 Kxg7 35. Nc5 Bd5 36. dxe4 fxe4 37.
fxe4 {with a very big lead advantage.}) 34. Nxe5 Bxe5 {I am not sure I would
have given the bishop so readily, here.} (34… c5 35. e4 c4 36. exf5 gxf5 37.
dxc4 Bxe5 38. Bxe5 Bxc4 {might just be defendable.}) 35. Bxe5 Kf7 {Time to
batten down the hatches for Black.} 36. Kd2 Bb3 37. e4 Ke6 38. Bg7 h5 39. Bf8
Kf7 40. Bc5 Ke6 41. h3 Ba4 42. Ke3 Bd1 43. Bb4 Kf7 44. Kf4 Ke6 {…Be2 was a
valid alternative.} 45. g4 fxg4 46. fxg4 {and the players agreed a draw, here.
It may seem rather puzzling, especially when looking at chess engine
evaluations, but with the opposite bishop situation, it is no straight-forward
matter to convert this position, even with the extra pawn.} 1/2-1/2
[Event “London Chess Classic 2016”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.16”]
[Round “7.3”]
[White “Aronian, Levon”]
[Black “Anand, Viswanathan”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “D37”]
[WhiteElo “2785”]
[BlackElo “2779”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “60”]
[EventDate “2016.12.09”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. Bd3
dxc4 9. Bxc4 Qxd1+ 10. Rxd1 Bb4 11. Rd3 {A new move, (0-0 was more usual),
which momentarily deters Black from exchanging on c3 — giving the bishop pair
without the compensation of giving White a couple of isolated pawns.} Ne4 12.
O-O Bxc3 13. bxc3 {So Black achieves the pawn isolation anyway, but has had to
neglect his development in order to do so.} Nc6 14. Bb5 f6 15. Bd6 Rd8 16. Rfd1
{At first glance, this looks good for White, but Black has achieved a
comfortable equality.} Rxd6 {The beginning of exchanges which leave the
position rather dead.} 17. Rxd6 Nxd6 18. Rxd6 Kf7 19. Bxc6 Ke7 {An important
resource, obviously simply recapturing on c6 is good for White.} 20. Bxb7 Bxb7
{The correct way to play, …Kxd6, Bxa8 is heavily better for White.} 21. Rd4
Rc8 22. Rb4 Bd5 23. Ra4 Rxc3 24. Rxa7+ Kf8 25. h3 Rc1+ 26. Kh2 Rc2 27. Kg3 Rxa2
28. Rxa2 Bxa2 29. Nd2 e5 30. f4 exf4+ {and the players agreed a draw, here,
today wasn’t their day for a fight.} 1/2-1/2
[Event “London Chess Classic 2016”]
[Site “London ENG”]
[Date “2016.12.16”]
[Round “7.5”]
[White “Giri, Anish”]
[Black “Topalov, Veselin”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[ECO “D37”]
[WhiteElo “2771”]
[BlackElo “2760”]
[Annotator “Shaw,John Lee”]
[PlyCount “133”]
[EventDate “2016.12.09”]
{ Annotations by John Lee Shaw for www.hotoffthechess.com. } 1. c4 Nf6 2. d4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 c6 8. h3 b6
9. b4 a5 10. a3 h6 11. Be2 Ba6 12. O-O Qc8 13. Rb1 {This is a new try, in
Matthiesen-Teplyi, Silkeborg 2008, the continuation had been Re1 for a very
quick draw in 17.} Bxe2 14. Qxe2 axb4 15. axb4 Qb7 16. Rfc1 Rfc8 17. Ne1 Bd8
18. Qd1 Bc7 19. Nd3 b5 {Removing tension on the Queenside and fixing the
b-pawn. The game is now going to be a case of careful maneuvering.} 20. Ra1
Ne4 21. Ne2 Bd8 22. f3 Nef6 23. Nc3 Nf8 24. Rc2 Ng6 25. Rca2 Rxa2 {This
exchange is very logical, Black doesn’t want to give White too much power
along the a-file.} 26. Rxa2 {With approximate equality. If White had intended
to try anything in this game, it has not worked out.} Ra8 27. Qa1 Rxa2 28. Qxa2
Nxf4 29. exf4 {Most would probably have re-captured very naturally with the
knight, here and this was a very respectable alternative, but no better.} (29.
Nxf4 Bc7 30. Nce2 {is equal, and it is hard to see where the game is going
from here — for me at least.}) 29… Nd7 30. Ne2 Bc7 31. h4 Nb8 32. h5 Qa6 33.
Qb2 f6 34. g4 Nd7 35. Kf2 {White has the luxury of being able to play on with
little risk and now begins the elaborate plan of working his King over to the
Queenside, from where it is adequate in limiting Black’s possibilities along
the a-file. This will then free the Queen to be transferred to the Kingside.}
Qa8 36. Ke1 Kf7 37. Kd2 Kg8 38. Kd1 Kf7 39. Kc2 Qa4+ 40. Kc1 Qa8 {All that
Black is able to do is shuffle his pieces, the Nd7 and Bc7 are mere spectators.
That being said, White is not able to do very much either, so barring errors,
the game is going nowhere.} 41. Kb1 Qa7 42. Qc1 Qa8 43. Kb2 Bd8 44. Qg1 Be7 45.
Nec1 {on its way to b3 to eye a5.} Bd8 46. Nb3 Qb7 47. Qe3 {g5 may have been
slightly more to the point, here.} (47. g5 {This seems to be the only way to
play for anything. White is actually striving for access to the a6-square for
his Queen, which makes exchanging on g5 unwise. On the other hand, allowing
White to exchange is not much better, so Black has some concerns here.} Nf8 {
this is probably the best that Black can do, covering g6 so that White cannot
exchange on h6 and then play Qg6+} (47… hxg5 {is ill-advised} 48. fxg5 {
and now White has some options, depending on how Black plays, f4, gxf6 then
Qg6+, even h6.}) 48. Qe3 {setting up gxh6 and f5 possibilities.} Qd7 49. gxh6
gxh6 {and Na5 or Nf2 sees White with the best of things, it will take some
converting, though.}) 47… Qa8 48. Qc1 Qa4 49. Qe1 Qa8 50. Qd2 Qa4 51. Nf2 Qa8
52. Nh3 {White seems reluctant to draw, but also unwilling to play g5 and so
it is nigh impossible for anything to be generated, here. The shuffling is
rather pointless.} Qc8 53. Qc2 Nf8 54. Nc1 Kg8 55. Nd3 Nh7 56. Qe2 Nf8 57. Qe3
Qd7 58. Ng1 Qe8 59. Ne2 Bc7 60. Nec1 Kf7 61. Nb3 Ke7 62. Qe1 Kd7 63. Nbc1 Kc8
64. Ne2 Nd7 65. Ng3 Qf7 66. Qe3 Kb7 67. Ne2 {And the players agreed a draw,
here.} 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]
