| Dec-31-11 | | hellopolgar: Very nice game by Naka. Nerves of steel! |
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| Dec-31-11 | | Marmot PFL: 37...Ng4(stopping Kf2), then Nh4-f3+ and it looks bad for white. White can trade with Nd2 Nf3+ Nxf3 exf3, but the passed pawn should win. Having done little in the opening or middlegame white then plays the rest very well, typical for Nakamura. |
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Dec-31-11
 | | Domdaniel: Looks like Ivanchuk had a safe draw around move 25 -- after a couple more piece exchanges it's a flat position. But he went for a win, and then unleashed a sacrificial attack that didn't quite work, but required precision defending. Good game by both players. |
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| Dec-31-11 | | whithaw: With this win, Nakamura reaches #5 in the world on the live rating list, at 2773.2. In order to reach the top 4, he'll need to make a jump of over 25 points. The top 4 are basically the 2800 group, although Anand's rating is slightly lower after recent results. |
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Dec-31-11
 | | FSR: <whithaw: With this win, Nakamura reaches #5 in the world on the live rating list, at 2773.2. In order to reach the top 4, he'll need to make a jump of over 25 points.> Not true. He could just sit around and let Anand to bleed away rating points. After Anand plays two more tournaments, Naka will be #4. |
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| Dec-31-11 | | King Death: < Marmot PFL:...Having done little in the opening or middlegame white then plays the rest very well, typical for Nakamura.> Playing through some of his games where he's White in these 1...e5 lines, I get the impression that Nakamura doesn't quite have the "feel" for this kind of game that he does in more open positions. |
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Dec-31-11
| | Domdaniel: Could Chuky have *blundered* with 33...Rxc5? And then just made what he could of the mess after 34.Nc4! ...? I find it hard to believe. Yet even if his combination was sound, the likely outcome was perpetual check. And there were easier ways to draw. |
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| Dec-31-11 | | mrkangaroo: This is one of the wildest GM games I've seen in a while. Kudos to both of them for going for it. That's what chess needs... |
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| Dec-31-11 | | Manders: 37 Qg3+ was a mistake which shouldve lead to a draw , 37 ng4 was the winning move. |
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| Dec-31-11 | | frogbert: domdaniel, ivanchuk had a safe <winning> plan at move 23 (see naka's page), but he also had a tactical win the way he played. 37... Ng4 leads to a queen ending two pawns up for black. 37... Ng4 38. Qe2 (only move) Nh4 39. Nd2 Qg3+!
click for larger view40. Kh1 (only move) Nf3 41. Nxf3 exf3 42. Qe8+ Kh7 43. Rc2 (all forced) 
click for larger view43... f2! (threatening mate on h2)
44. Rxf2 Nxf2+ 45. Bxf2 Qxf2
0-1
click for larger view |
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Jan-01-12
 | | HeMateMe: Nice to see fighting chess like this. I think Chuckie thought there was a perpetual check for him, if the attack didn't work out. Looking at the board, its hard to believe black didn't have a perpetual, with a Queen and two pieces, sitting right in front of the white King. |
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| Jan-01-12 | | Strongest Force: I thougt Nak would be done in a car wreck after 22 moves; I could see the cars headed for a collision and Chuck was in a tank and poor Nak was in a sports car. What a good feeling when I went back to the game and it looked like chucky really didn't want to kill Nak after all.
However that small car turned into one of those James Bond cars with rockets and machine guns:) |
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Jan-01-12
 | | OhioChessFan: I have no idea if it holds, but 50...Kf5 had to be a better practical option. |
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Jan-01-12
 | | Penguincw: At some point, I thought Ivanchuk was doing better. Looks like the American flipped the switch. |
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| Jan-01-12 | | Riverbeast: Wow nakamura played like a comp this game
For me at least, I had to play through this game more than once to really appreciate it |
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Jan-01-12
| | Domdaniel: <frogbert> That looks sound. The Black Knights are lethal on h4/g4, and White doesn't even have a chance of perpetual. 43...f2 actually threatens three different mates in one (Qh3, Qh2, Qg1) with more (f1Q, f1R) if the Bishop stops covering g1. But that's mere pedantry. |
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| Jan-01-12 | | frogbert: <At some point, I thought Ivanchuk was doing better. Looks like the American flipped the switch.> nearly. ivanchuk switched off. |
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| Jan-02-12 | | Whitehat1963: By move 20, Ivanchuk looks to be in great shape, perhaps even with the advantage. Where exactly was the turning point? |
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| Jan-02-12 | | frogbert: black was more or less winning all the way from move 20 unless the fatal mistake on move 37. |
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| Jan-02-12 | | wordfunph: "Terribly played game by both of us, but great for the fans." - GM Hikaru Nakamura
http://www.chess.co.uk/twic/chessne... |
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| Jan-03-12 | | frogbert: wordfunph, i think naka's really missing the target with that comment. see comments on the naka page on january 1st for an elaboration. |
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Kibitzing
