Nakamura faced another major setback in round 9. He lost to Karjakin, a major rival since his teenage years. But I have no doubt that Hikaru will continue to play aggressively the rest of the way. It is not his style to back down to anyone. This is what that makes him a very dangerous opponent.
Nakamura, H (2708) – Karjakin, S (2720) [E21]
Corus A (9), 26.01.2010
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 c5 5.g3 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Ne4 7.Qd3 Nxc3 8.bxc3 Be7 9.Bg2 0–0 10.0–0 d6 11.Rd1 a6 12.Nb3 Qc7 13.Bf4 e5 14.Be3 Nd7 15.Nd2 f5 16.Rab1 Rb8 17.Ba7 Ra8 18.Be3 Rb8 19.Ba7 Ra8 20.Bd5+ Kh8 21.Qe3 Nf6 22.Bb6 Qd7 23.f4 Qe8 24.Nf3 Qh5 25.Kh1 Re8 26.Qg1 Nxd5 27.cxd5 Bf6 28.Qf2 Bd7 29.c4 Rac8 30.Rdc1 h6 31.e3 Re7 32.c5 exf4 33.gxf4 dxc5 34.Bxc5 Re4 35.Rxb7 Bb5 36.Qg2 Rc4 37.Rg1 Rc2 38.Qg3 Be2 39.Ne1 R2xc5 40.e4 fxe4 41.Rxg7 Bf3+ 42.Nxf3 Qxf3+ 43.Qxf3 exf3 44.R7g6 Bg7 45.Rxa6 Rc1 46.Rc6 Rxg1+ 47.Kxg1 Bd4+ 48.Kh1 Rb8 Black wins 0–1
Click here to replay the game.
wonder why Nakamura played 40. e4?
a direct R7xg7 wouldn’t give black the …Bf3+ so black would have really passive options — such as 40 …Qe8
was it the 40th move time-pressure?
Another tactical mistake allowing Rc2. It gets worse and worse.
I hardly think this is a “major setback”. The chances of Nakamura winning the tournament were always small, because he is out-rated by the big guns and ratings are not awarded for popularity.
I see this event as a big success for him, despite a loss. He is still handily outplaying his rating level and unless he completely blows up the tournament will still count as a huge success for him.
And that success will translate into more invites to the big events, and more opportunity to get better faster.
I guess Nakamura chose the Wrong opening against BOTH his past opponents…Like Shirov CHOSE the wrong one against Him!
I really hate this dude. He’s such a windbag. Big mouth…Im starting to love to see him lose. And thats sort of sad….hompe another American steps up and shoves this goof aside.
You can be aggressive, but if you haven’t got any imagination, you are going to look silly and lose.
aam: I dodnt remember the position exactly, but Bg4 interception was winning for black, check it out
don’t get all the love-and-hate around Naka. He played a very creative and interesting game today. My feeling is he failed to realize it was the time to switch gears (after Re7 black might have been even better), overpushed (c5), got into time trouble and blundered a relatively simple blow. It’s a common problem at any level, so what? Fun to watch? enough said.
Karjakin about Naka in his Cresbook conf (a month ago or so). “Real Naka and Internet Naka are two different people. Last time I defeated him in a blitz match and censored him for good.” 🙂
**I guess Nakamura chose the Wrong opening against BOTH his past opponents…**
pray tell us, what he should have played. I guess 1. g4! or maybe 1. b4!? Never mind, I got it: 3. Nf3 opting for QID. LOL
@anon 12:01
you are right, …Bg4 was there.
hindsight is 20/20 of course, but 35. Rxb7 doesn’t work. The passive 35. Bd4 might be the best white had — keeps the black rook on e4 hemmed in, and white should get control of the c-file, keep pressure on the f5 pawn…
anon 12:05
re: ‘I guess Nakamura chose the Wrong opening against BOTH his past opponents…Like Shirov CHOSE the wrong one against Him’
anon 11:29 said that to stick it to nakamura for his (nakamura’s) comments regarding shirov’s opening choice.
You can be aggressive, but if you haven’t got any ammunition, you are going to look silly and lose.