H-Bomb

‘H-Bomb’ flattens Bu
By Malcolm Pein
Last Updated: 12:01am GMT 02/02/2008

There was a dramatic finale to the GibTelecom Masters as the American GM Hikaru Nakamura won a fifth game in a row and then defeated the Chinese GM Bu Xiangzhi in a Rapid Chess playoff. Nakamura secured the £12,000 first prize while Bu took home £8,000.

Nakamura, one of the world’s finest Blitz and Rapid players was faster and better and after a convincing victory in the first play off game he chose to defend with the solid Queen’s Gambit Declined in the return. Bu took the initiative but Nakamura fought off an attack by sacrificing his queen to set up what proved to be an unbreakable fortress.

Bu tried all sorts of ideas to dismantle Nakamura’s formation of rook, knight and king but there was no way through and Nakamura’s body language said it all. Playing quicker than his opponent the man known as the ‘H-Bomb’ for his aggressive play looked into Bu’s eyes and he seemed to be saying: “I can see all your tricks and they don’t work”. Bu’s king was allowed to penetrate all the way to eighth rank but it made no difference and when Nakamura offered a draw Bu responded by walking into a rather pretty mate. It was magical to watch.

Earlier in the day Nakamura forced a play off with a crushing last round victory over the Ukrainian Zahar Efimenko a former winner of the event. Victor Bologan could have been in the mix but failed to overcome the rising Indian star GN Gopal. Bu reached the top score of 8/10 after a quick draw with his compatriot Ni Hua.

Nakamura surprised his opponent with the English Opening and although he rarely plays this way the resulting position was effectively a Sicilian Defence with colours reversed where the American was playing with an extra tempo. Efimenko’s position became very passive and while he was defending himself in depth on the kingside Nakamura struck on the other wing.

Nakamura travels with his father Sunil Weeramantry, a former Sri Lankan international and now a renowned chess trainer in New York who has written extensively on the game. This result was his fourth consecutive tournament victory following successes at Barcelona, Corsica and Las Vegas.

Here is the full analysis.