By Online Chess Coach William Stewart. Original article on Dortmund 2011 available here.
Nakamura Fights Back From Horrible Start
Hikaru Nakamura began Dortmund with one of the worst performances of his career, unable to win a game in the first 8 rounds! The competition was tough, however Nakamura did not get to 2770 FIDE playing like that. Nakamura started with 1/4 points (2 draws, 2 losses), then stopped the bleeding with 3 consecutive draws to bring him to 2.5/7. He lost to Ponomariov in round 8 to bring his total score to 2.5/8 – his worst performance that I can remember. Famous for his stubborn fighting spirit, Nakamura came back with wins over Meier and Kramnik in rounds 8 and 9 to finish with a respectable 4.5/10 (+2 =5 -3) It is very difficult to bounce back from such a tough start, especially at a prestigious tournament like Dortmund – hats off to Nakamura for fighting to come back at the end.
- Kramnik vs Nakamura – Last Round
Kramnik played his normal 1. d4 and Nakamura played his typical response with the King’s Indian Defense (KID). Kramnik played an aggressive line involving 9. b4 and 10. c5 – aiming to immediately weaken and attack black’s queenside. This opening has occurred many times between Kramnik and Nakamura as it truly fits their respective styles: Kramnik is able to play positionally and attempt to squeeze the black queenside while Nakamura is able to play tactically and strive directly for a kingside attack. With 20. …Rb8!? and 21. …b6 Nakamura was able to significantly slow down white’s queenside initiative – so Kramnik decided to speculatively sacrifice a piece with 23. Nfxg5?! Black’s defense was not immaculate, however it was certainly good enough to force Kramnik to resign in a dead-lost endgame after 50 moves.
- Kramnik vs Nakamura – Position after 23. Nfxg5?!
Naka is clearly better than Kramnik.
“I think at this point in the tournament having been lost in just about every single game that I played I’m a little bit numb to the point where it really didn’t matter whether I won or I lost, it’s just a matter of finding a way to get through the last couple of rounds.”
And then…he decided to flip a coin to decide his opening against Meyer. And said he might do it also against Kramnik.
And look what happened!