Saturday, November 6, 2010

Tal Memorial round 2: Nakamura shares the lead

Today in the Tal Memorial, Hikaru Nakamura pulled off a cool combination:

Hikaru Nakamura - Pavel Eljanov
After 25...h6: White to play

The knight on g5 is under attack: where to put it?

26. Rxd5!

Nowhere!

26...Rxd5 27. Ne4! 

White is temporarily down an entire rook, but Eljanov has no way to take advantage.

27...Qc4 28. Qxc4 Nxc4 29. Nxd5 Re8?! 

The engines suggest 29... Rd8 as a better defense, but 30. Ne7+ (and not 30.Nf4? Re8 embarrassing the knight on e4) 30... Kf8 31. Nf5 Rd5 32. g4 h5 33. h3 leaves White with a pleasant pawn-up ending.

30. Nef6+ gxf6 31. Nxf6+ Kf8 32. Nxe8 Kxe8 

Nakamura puts Eljanov away quickly:  crisp clean style reminiscent of Fischer. 

33. Rb1 Nd6 34. e4 b6 35. e5 Nb7 36. Rb4 Nc5 37. Rh4 Kf8 38.Rxh6 Kg7 39. Rc6 Nxa4 40. e6 1-0

The full game score is available at The Week in Chess and the official site.

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