DRAWS MAINTAIN TENSION INTO LAST ROUND BY BRIAN JERAULD

Issue 5 Saturday, September 14, 2013

CURRENT STANDINGS:

1 GM Magnus Carlsen 3½

2 GM Hikaru Nakamura 3

3 GM Levon Aronian 2½

4 GM Gata Kamsky 1

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Aronian-Kamsky (GM Ian Rogers)

2

Nakamura-Carlsen (GM Ben Finegold)

3

Crosstable 4

There’s just one round left in the strongest tournament ever held on American soil - one game to play for the Sinquefield Cup.

After draws on both boards on Saturday, including a pivotal match between frontrunner Mag-nus Carlsen (3.5/5) and Hikaru Nakamura (3.0/5), the tournament standings remain the same. Levon Aronian (2.5/5) stays within strik-ing distance of both leaders, and the result of his impending Sunday morning duel with Carlsen could play out to several storylines.

The two played to a draw in their first meeting on Tuesday. Nakamu-ra seeks his second win against Gata Kamsky (1.0/5), who looks to play spoiler with the white piec-es.

It is no secret that Kamsky is having a rough stay in Saint Louis. So if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

The reigning U.S. champ united with the newly popular theory that Aronian’s 1.d4 needed some work against the Dutch Defense, a secret that Carlsen had revealed with great effect in round 2. Last Tues-day, Aronian had quickly lost white’s edge against Carlsen’s Dutch, falling into a middlegame that offered him no initiative and a grueling path to a draw.

It was a decent enough idea for Kamsky, who is seasoned in the Dutch and was yearning for a bal-anced game of chess in the Sinque-field Cup. He looked to lean on an advantage where Carlsen could not.

“I’ve played the Dutch for a number of years now; it’s an inter-esting opening. If white screws up, he can possibly get in a worse posi-

tion,” Kamsky said. “I’m curious why [Aronian] defensed this Bf4 set up. After the game, of course, it was justified, but I don’t think white has such a serious advantage by playing this line.”

Indeed, 5.Bf4 was a questionable move against Kamsky, just as it had been against Carlsen. The improvement on Saturday after-noon, however, came at 8.Bg3, a move that did avoid the tactical mess that Carlsen had introduced, but still did little to prevent black equality. Kamsky earned himself the bishop pair with 10…Nxg3.

By the middlegame, the Ameri-can was pushing with initiative, ultimately introducing the clever 27…Qf6. The interesting double attack threatened Aronian both in material, via a queen-rook skewer, as well as position, setting up for the h4 break. It baffled Aronian, who went into a deep think on his response, at a time when his clock wasn’t forgiving. It fell below ten minutes before he decided on 28.Nxh5.

“I couldn’t really see a good way for me to play,” Aronian said. “I’m not sure [28. Nxh5] was the best move, but I felt that at least there is some simplification, and I thought, ‘I’m not getting ‘mated, so I shall play that one.’”

It worked, though not without drama. The pawn grab did little more than open up the h-file and a direct lane to the white monarch, an exploit that Kamsky pressed immediately. A rook-and-queen battery briefly brought the leading lady too close for comfort, though ultimately into a futile position. The queens and eventually rooks

were traded, leaving the curse of the opposite-squared bishops. The game drew on the 44th move.

Though the Sinquefield Cup has already featured five wins through ten games, Saturday’s Nakamura-Carlsen tilt was what most might expect from a super tournament: Two of the world’s elite, refusing to give an inch. The draw-by-repetition served as the quickest match of the tournament, only 32 moves, and featured a delicate balance of the smallest advantages.

Perhaps the only prize Nakamu-ra could grab from Carlsen’s Berlin Defense was the bishop pair, mov-ing his queen’s knight six times to achieve 15.Nxc8. Nakamura brought the game into new territo-ry with 16.g3, though it was Carl-sen who pressed the issue with 22…f4.

“I thought that I might be a little bit better, but I think it’s a question of whether this whole idea of f4 works or doesn’t,” Nakamura said. “Unfortunately, at the end, he was able to bail out.”

Clearly, f4 did not work to any-one's favor. Though it looked pre-carious, the attack found no future, and Nakamura simply chased Carlsen’s queen into repetition.

“I’m usually not too unhappy with a draw with black against such strong players,” Carlsen said. “I was kind of hoping he would over-press, and at the end I decided not to play out of a draw ... be-cause I was hoping he would play on and play for a loss. But obvious-ly he’s much too good of a player to screw it up.”

ROUND 5 RESULTS:

GM Levon Aronian ½ GM Gata Kamsky ½ GM Hikaru Nakamura ½ GM Magnus Carlsen ½

ROUND 6 PAIRINGS:

GM Magnus Carlsen GM Levon Aronian GM Gata Kamsky GM Hikaru Nakamura

ARONIAN AND KAMSKY SPLIT FIGHTING DUTCH ANALYSIS BY GM IAN ROGERS

Sinquefield Cup Page 2

Aronian, Levon (2813) Kamsky, Gata (2741) 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nf3 g6 5.Bf4 Once again Aronian tries the

system − his own invention,

although in retrospect he prob−

ably would not mind his second

Melkumyan's name being at−

tached to it − which worked so

poorly for him against Carlsen

in round 2.

5...Bg7 6.e3 0-0 7.Be2 Nc6 8.Bg3 Aronian's improvement on the

Carlsen game, though hardly

one designed to strike fear in

Black's heart.

8...h6!? 9.0-0 9.d5 is the critical test of Kam−

sky's 8th move; one of the

points of 8.Bg3 is to play d5

without allowing the ri−

poste ...e5!

9...Nh5 10.d5 Nxg3 11.hxg3 Ne5 "I think I emerged well from the

opening," said Kamsky. The

dark−squared bishop on an

open diagonal provides good

insurance against trouble.

12.Rc1 Nxf3+ 13.Bxf3 e5 14.dxe6 c6 15.b4

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15...g5!? "I thought I might be slightly

worse until I found this ...g5-g4

plan," explained Kamsky. After

15...Bxe6 16.b5! is promising

for White because 16...Bxc4

(16...Qd7 17.bxc6 bxc6 18.Qa4) 17.bxc6 bxc6 18.Bxc6 Bxf1

19.Bxa8 Qxa8 20.Qxf1 leaves

Black with a compromised pawn

structure.

16.b5 16.Qd3!? , freeing d1 for the

bishop, was the last chance for

White to try to claim an edge.

16...g4 17.Be2 Bxe6 18.bxc6 bxc6 19.Qa4

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19...c5! Anti−positional but Black will

only have serious problems with

the d5 square if the light

squared bishops are ex−

changed.

20.Bd3 Be5 21.Ne2 Bd7 22.Qd1 h5 23.Bc2 Qe8 23...Bc6 24.Ba4 Bb7 25.Rb1

Rb8 was also playable, but the

text move keeps the tension

and forces White to find con−

structive moves − not an easy

task.

24.Nf4 Bc6 25.Re1 Rd8 26.Rb1 Qf7 26...Rd7? , intending ...Rh7

and ...h4, would walk into

27.Ba4!

27.Qd2 Now Aronian, with ten extra

minutes on the clock, 16 to 6,

and Black apparently unable to

organize the ...h4 advance, was

satisfied with his chances, but

he was in for a shock...

27...Qf6! XIIIIIIIIY 9-+-tr-trk+0 9zp-+-+-+-0 9-+lzp-wq-+0 9+-zp-vlp+p0 9-+P+-sNp+0 9+-+-zP-zP-0 9P+LwQ-zPP+0 9+R+-tR-mK-0 xiiiiiiiiy

28.Nxh5! "After 27...Qf6 I got pretty wor−

ried," admitted Aronian, who

had fallen behind Kamsky on

the clock by the time he made

his choice. "I thought that

28.Rb3 was a bit passive. I

knew that 28.Nxh5 was dan−

gerous but it either works or it

doesn't."

28...Qh6 28...Qh8 29.Nf4 Bc3 wins the

exchange, but after 30.Qe2!

Bxe1 31.Bxf5! Black is the

player who must be careful.

29.Nf4 Rd7 30.Nd5 Staying cool − White's king

should not run too early.

30...Rh7 31.Kf1 Qh1+ 32.Ke2 Qxg2

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33.Rg1! Qf3+ 34.Kf1 Kg7 "I expected this because I had

seen that 34...Bxg3 loses to

35.Bd1," said Aronian, e.g.

35...Qe4 36.Nc3 Qxc4+ 37.Be2;

34...Rh2 also offers little after

35.Ne7+ Kg7 36.Nxc6 Qxc6

37.Qd5 .

35.Qd1 Aronian was surprised to hear

that 35.Rb3!?, threatening

36.e4, was playable. "Was I

really not in trouble here?" he

asked. After 35.Rb3, 35...Bxd5

36.cxd5 c4 was fine for White

because of 37.Bd1!

35...Bxd5 36.Qxd5 Qxd5 37.cxd5 Kf6 Now Black's advantage is only

symbolic and the players take

the shortest route to a draw.

38.Kg2 Rfh8 39.Rh1 Rxh1 40.Rxh1 Rxh1 41.Kxh1 c4 42.Kg2 Bb2 43.Kf1 Ke5 44.Ke2 ½-½ "I guess it was fairly equal all

the way," mused Kamksy after

the game.

GM Gata Kamsky and GM Levon Aronian shake hands prior to the start of their round five game

Issue 5 Page 3

CARLSEN’S BERLIN TOO SOLID FOR NAKAMURA ANALYSIS BY GM BEN FINEGOLD

Nakamura,Hikaru (2772) Carlsen,Magnus (2862) 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 Hikaru said he did not prepare

much for the game, but that he

wanted to play good solid

chess. He said he prepared

something in the Berlin for

Levon Aronian earlier in the

event, so he decided to use it in

this game.

4.0-0 Nxe4 5.Re1 This has been played a lot re−

cently. The most common line is

5.d4 Nd6 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.dxe5

Nf5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8.

5...Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Magnus and Hikaru have both

had black in the line before, so

they had excellent knowledge of

theory and the ins and outs of

the variation. White is a tiny bit

better, but nothing serious.

7...Nxe5 8.Rxe5 0-0 9.Nc3 Ne8 10.Nd5 Bd6 11.Re1 c6 12.Ne3 Bc7 13.Nf5 d5 14.Ne7+ Kh8 15.Nxc8 Rxc8

This has all been played before

many times. Now Hikaru plays a

novelty, which he had looked at

it in his earlier prep. In previous

games, white always played

16.d3 or 16.d4. Hikaru said he

thought he could try to squeeze

a little edge with his two bish−

ops.

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16.g3 Nd6 16...Qd7 was suggested by GM

Har−Zvi during the game as the

most natural (to stop Bh3) and

was the move expected by

Hikaru. The text move is more

ambitious.

17.Bh3

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17...f5 I expected this move, but,

strangely, most of the live audi−

ence and my co−commentator,

Ronen Har−Zvi thought Magnus

would probably move his rook.

17...f5 is the most active, and

Carlsen almost always plays for

an advantage.

18.d3 This makes the most sense,

controlling e4 and starting the

development of the queenside.

18...Qf6 19.c3 Rce8 20.Bd2 Hikaru said he was looking at

20.Be3 Bb6 21.Qd2 (21.Bxb6 axb6 22.Qb3 b5 23.Qb4) 21...Bxe3 22.Rxe3 d4 but

thought this led to nothing for

white, and he might even prefer

black.

20...Nf7 21.Rxe8 Rxe8 22.Qf1 f4 23.Re1 Rf8 Hikaru thought Magnus might

be playing too ambitiously, and

that he could try for an ad−

vantage if black gets too ag−

gressive.

24.Qe2

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24...h6 Ronen and I were surprised by

this move, but Nakamura

thought it was forced! 24...Ng5

25.Bg4 Bd6 26.h4 Nf7 27.Qe6

Qd8 is also all right for black,

but 24...h6 is probably safer.

25.Kh1 The aggressive looking 25.Qe7

Ng5 is just good for black.

25...Ng5 26.Bg4 Bd6

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27.h4 Hikaru thought about moving

his queenside pawns instead,

but didn't see any future there.

By this time, GM Wesley So

was with us in the commentary

room, and we were looking at a

lot of lines after the text move,

and they all seemed to be about

equal. Hikaru thought he was

better now, but...

27...Nh7 28.Kg2

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28...Qg6 Hikaru said this move is excel−

lent, and that now the game is

just equal.

29.Bh5 Qf5 30.Bg4 Qg6 31.Bh5 Qf5 32.Bg4 Qg6 ½-½ A well−played draw. White did

not get much out the opening,

and both sides played carefully.

GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Magnus Carlsen play in front on a packed house in round five

GM Magnus Carlsen, considered one of the most fashionable chess players

CROSSTABLE AFTER ROUND FIVE

Chess Club & Scholastic Center of Saint Louis 4657 Maryland Avenue

Saint Louis, Missouri 63108

Phone: (314) 361-2437 Fax: (314) 361-5465

www.SaintLouisChessClub.org

www.USChessChamps.com

1. 2. 3. 4. Pts SB K GW DE

1. GM Magnus Carlsen NOR 2862 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 3½ 6.25 1 2 0

2. GM Hikaru Nakamura USA 2772 ½ ½ 1 0 1 3 7.00 1 2 0

3. GM Levon Aronian ARM 2813 ½ 0 1 ½ ½ 2½ 5.75 1½ 1 0

4. GM Gata Kamsky USA 2741 0 0 0 ½ ½ 1 2.50 ½ 0 0

Tie breaks: SB, Sonneborn-Berger; K, Koya; GW, Games won; DE, Direct Encounter

The chess action is shown on the screens in the bar at Lester’s next door to the chess club

Live commentary at the World Chess Hall of Fame across the street from the chess club

The Sinquefield Cup