Vassily Ivanchuk wins Cap d'Agde rapid tournament with a 1,5-0,5 victory against last edition's winner Hikaru Nakamura. In this final match both games opened with a King's gambit!! I commented the first one.
(2754) vs.
(2733)
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[Event "Le trophée CCAS 2010"]
[Site "Cap d'agde"]
[Date "2010.10.31"]
[Round "1"]
[White "V. Ivanchuk"]
[Black "H. Nakamura"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C30"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2010.??.??"]
1. e4 e5 2. f4 $5 {wow, Ivanchuk shows another time he is a great chess
player! It's the final of the tournament, he faces very strong Nakamura
against whom he lost 2 years ago here, and he goes for a King's gambit!!} Nc6 $5 {
good choice by Nakamura to play a rare defense to face Ivanchuk's surprise} 3.
Nf3 f5 {this looks crazy but it's a solid defense! I played it a couple of
times myself after having seen it in a "101 surprises in the openings" book by
Burgess 10 years ago.} 4. d3 {
of course white has many other possibilities but Chuky decides to play securely
} d6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. g3 g6 7. Bg2 Bg7 {that's funny, one could expect wild stuff
from a King's gambit but finally here is this symetrical position which leads
to a positional game} 8. fxe5 dxe5 9. Bg5 h6 10. Be3 O-O 11. O-O fxe4 12. dxe4
Be6 {
almost symetrical but black played h6 which is not very significant for now}
13. a3 Kh7 14. Kh1 {both player played prophylactic moves with their King} a6 (
{the computer is claiming that black could take a small edge with} 14... Bc4
15. Re1 (15. Qxd8 Raxd8 16. Rfd1 Ng4 17. Bc5 Nd4 $1 {getting the f2 square})
15... Qe8 $1 16. Qc1 Rd8 {with a very small plus for black}) 15. Bg1 Rf7 16.
Qe2 Nd4 17. Qd3 Nxf3 18. Qxf3 Rd7 (18... Ng4 {is not useful} 19. Qe2) 19. Rad1
Bg4 20. Rxd7 {white had to foresee that of course} Bxf3 21. Rxd8 Bxg2+ 22. Kxg2
Rxd8 {so, it's dead draw, isn't it?} 23. Be3 g5 {after the game a player told
me that Nakamura said he played like an idiot by putting his pawns on black
squares...} 24. h3 Kg6 25. g4 {whereas white are putting their ones on white...}
c6 {I'm not sure if white is already winning here but it's a textbook exemple.
White has the good bishop, black the bad.} 26. Rf2 b5 {ok, that's white!} 27.
Rd2 Rxd2+ 28. Bxd2 Bf8 29. Kf3 h5 $2 {one could think it's good idea to
exchange a pawn which was on black, but it's not sure at all, because now g5
is weak.} (29... Nd7 {must be a better defense}) 30. Ne2 hxg4+ 31. hxg4 Nd7 (
31... Bc5 32. Nc1 Bb6 33. Nd3 Nd7 34. b3 Bd8 35. Be3 Be7 36. a4 bxa4 37. bxa4
Kf6 {black suffers but maybe he can hold}) 32. Nc1 c5 $6 {
oops, another pawn on black...} (32... Nc5 {must be better}) 33. Na2 Nb8 $2 (
33... c4 {was forced} 34. Ba5 Bd6 35. Nb4 Nb8 36. b3 cxb3 37. cxb3 Kf6 38. Nd5+
Ke6 39. b4 Nc6 40. Bb6 Nd4+ 41. Bxd4 (41. Ke3 Nc2+ 42. Kd3 Nxa3 43. Bd8 Nc4 44.
Bxg5 Kf7 45. Bd8 Kg6 $11 {and black must hold}) 41... exd4 42. Ke2 Bf4 43. Kd3
Ke5 44. Nc7 Bc1 45. Nxa6 Bxa3 46. Nb8 Kd6 47. Kxd4 Bxb4 48. e5+ Ke6 49. Na6
Bc3+ 50. Kxc3 Kxe5 $11) 34. c4 $1 {Grandmaster technique in action! This
blocks c5 on black and maybe seals black's fate!} bxc4 (34... Nc6 $1 35. Nc3
Nd4+ 36. Ke3 b4 37. axb4 cxb4 38. Na4 Ne6 {g5 is so weak!} 39. Kd3 Bc5 40. Ke2
a5 41. Nxc5 Nxc5 42. Be3 Nxe4 43. c5 Kf7 44. Kf3 Nf6 45. Bxg5 Nd5 {
remains unclear}) 35. Nc3 Nc6 36. Nd5 Nd4+ 37. Ke3 Kf7 38. Nb6 Ke6 39. Nxc4 Be7
40. Ba5 Nb5 (40... Kf6 41. Kd3 Ke6 42. Ne3 Nf3 43. Kc4 Bf8 44. Nf1 {
to play Bb6 without Nd2+} Kd6 $13 {and the outcome is still unclear}) 41. Kd3 Nd6 $2 (41... Nd4 $13 {
transposes in 40...Kf6}) 42. Nxd6 {and the American player resigned, understanding that this endgame with 3 black pawns on black is totally winning for white} (42.
Nxd6 Kxd6 (42... Bxd6 43. Kc4 Be7 44. Bb6 {wins a pawn and the game}) 43. Kc4
Kc6 44. Bd2 Bf6 45. Be3 Be7 46. b3 a5 47. a4 $18 {
is a very wellknown zugzwang in this kind of endings!}) 1-0
