Medias Kings Rd1: Commentary by GM Dorian Rogozenco

[Event "5th Kings Tournament"] [Site "Medias/Romania"] [Date "2011.06.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D31"] [Annotator "GM Dorian Rogozenco"] [PlyCount "76"] [EventDate "2011.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 {The Queen's Gambit Declined became fashionable again on the very top level thanks to the Candidate matches in Kazan, where Black was able to neutralize White's opening advantage. Carlsen was happy that he found a way to break through this rock solid classical opening.} 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. Qc2 {This is a popular move order: White prevents his opponent from developing the bishop on f5. Recently Nakamura himself played this move against Ponomariov.} Bg4 {[%cal Gg4h5,Gh5g6] # A rare move. Black insists on transferring the bishop on the diagonal b1-h7. Magnus Carlsen admitted after the game that the move was new to him.} (6... Bd6 7. Bxd6 Qxd6 8. e3 Qg6 9. Qxg6 hxg6 10. b4 a6 11. f3 Nd7 12. Bd3 Ne7 13. Nge2 g5 14. Kf2 Nf6 15. g4 Kd8 16. Kg3 Bd7 17. a4 Nc8 18. h3 Re8 19. Kf2 Nd6 20. a5 Re7 21. Rac1 Nfe8 22. Ng3 g6 23. h4 {and the American converted his advantage into a full point in the game Nakamura,H (2774)-Ponomariov,R (2754)/Saint Louis 2011}) 7. e3 Bh5 8. Bd3 Bg6 9. Bxg6 $1 {An important change of structure for the strategy of White, who will be able to open the h-file later on. From this point of view the similarity with the mentioned game is amazing.} hxg6 10. O-O-O Nf6 11. f3 $1 {[%cal Ge3e4] #} Nbd7 12. Nge2 ({The immediate} 12. e4 { runs into} Nh5 {and White can't keep the bishop} 13. Be3 {due to} Ng3 $1) 12... b5 {Nakamura's desire to postpone the short castle is understandable, since then at some moment White will start advancing the h-pawn. However, Black's problem is that sooner or later he will have to hide the king anyway, since White's play in the center is simple and clear.} 13. e4 b4 14. Na4 dxe4 15. fxe4 Qa5 16. Kb1 ({Carlsen wasn't satisfied with the alternative} 16. e5 Nd5 17. e6 fxe6 18. Qxc6 Kf7 19. Qxd7 Rhd8 {where} 20. Qc6 {runs into} Rac8) 16... O-O {So finally Black could not avoid the inevitable castle.} 17. h4 $1 {And the reaction is very natural: White plans e4-e5 followed by h4-h5.} Rfe8 18. e5 Nd5 19. h5 g5 {# The position is highly complicated, but Carlsen rightly felt that White's attacking prospetcs should be higher.} 20. h6 g6 21. Bc1 {[%csl Ra4,Gc5] # Black has a much weaker king and an worse pawn structure. White's only problem is his badly placed knight on a4.} ({The variation preferred by computer} 21. e6 gxf4 22. exd7 Red8 23. Qxc6 Ne3 24. Nc5 Nxd1 25. Rxd1 {with advantage for White would always appear unclear for a human in a practical game.}) 21... N7b6 {A bad decision, allowing White to place the knight on c5.} ({Preferable was} 21... N5b6 {after which Black can still fight on, although his position remains worse anyway.}) 22. Nc5 Bxc5 23. dxc5 b3 (23... Nd7 24. e6 $1 Rxe6 25. Nd4 {with the idea} Ree8 26. Nxc6 Qxc5 27. Qxc5 Nxc5 28. Rxd5 { wins a piece for White.}) 24. Qxb3 Qxc5 25. Nd4 Rxe5 26. Nf3 {#} Re2 $2 {The second mistake, after which Black's position is hardly possible to save any longer. The rook is seemingly active, but in many variations it is unstable and it needs protection on e2.} (26... Rf5 {was the right way to put up resistance. It must be said that Nakamura already started to experience prblems with the time.}) 27. Nxg5 Qe7 28. Qd3 $1 {[%csl Rg6][%cal Gg5f7,Gd1f1] #} Rf8 29. Rdf1 f5 (29... f6 30. Re1 $1 Rxe1 31. Rxe1 Qxe1 32. Qxg6+ {and mate} ) 30. g4 Na4 31. Qd4 (31. gxf5 {wins quicker, but Magnus admitted that he missed something after Black's answer.}) 31... Qe5 $1 {Being short of time Nakamura finds interesting tactical ideas. Unfortunately for him Black's position is just too bad and White still has ways to keep the decisive advantage.} 32. Qxe5 $1 (32. Qxa4 {suddently runs into} Nc3+ $1 33. bxc3 Rb8+ { and White must give up his queen:} 34. Qb4 Rxb4+ 35. cxb4 Qd5 $1 {The move missed by Carlsen when he played 31.Qd4. Black is not worse.}) 32... Rxe5 33. gxf5 gxf5 34. Nf3 {[%csl Rg8][%cal Gf1g1,Gg1g7,Gf3g5] # Even in endgame the vulnerability of his king is fatal for Black.} Re7 ({Or} 34... Re6 35. h7+ Kh8 36. Bh6 Rb8 37. Rfg1 {winning}) 35. Rfg1+ Kh7 (35... Kh8 36. Nh4) 36. Rg7+ $1 Kh8 (36... Rxg7 37. hxg7+ Kxg7 38. Bh6+) 37. Rhg1 Rfe8 38. Nh4 Rxg7 {and without waiting the opponent's answer Nakamura resigned. Both 39.hxg7+ and 39. Rxg7 win easily for White.} 1-0

[Event "5th Kings Tournament"] [Site "Medias/Romania"] [Date "2011.06.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"] [Black "Radjabov, Teimour"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E73"] [Annotator "GM Dorian Rogozenco"] [PlyCount "69"] [EventDate "2011.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 {Radjabov shows fighting spirit and returns to his beloved King's Indian. Several weeks ago in Kazan he succeeded to hold equality against Kramnik by employing the Queen's Gambit Declined.} 5. Be2 O-O 6. Bg5 Na6 7. f4 c6 8. Qd2 Nc7 9. Bf3 {A rare plan. Usually White develops the knight on f3.} Ne6 10. Bh4 c5 11. dxc5 Nxc5 12. Rd1 Be6 13. b3 a5 14. Nge2 {#} Qc7 $2 {An inexplicable mistake. the square c7 is bad for the queen due to the knight jumps on b5 and d5, and this is a very important factor in many concrete variations.} 15. O-O {Now White already has a clear advantage.} a4 $2 {This leads to a strategically lost position. Probably the best Black could do was to remove the queen from c7...} 16. f5 $1 gxf5 17. exf5 Bxf5 18. Bxf6 exf6 ({Or} 18... Bxf6 19. Nd5 Qd8 20. Nxf6+ exf6 21. b4) 19. b4 Ne6 (19... Nd3 {loses a piece after} 20. Bh5 Qb6+ 21. c5 dxc5 22. Nd5) 20. Nb5 Qb6+ 21. Kh1 {[%csl Rd6,Rf6,Rg7] # It is just a question of time before Black's position collapses.} Ng5 22. Bxb7 Qxb7 23. Rxf5 Ne4 24. Qd3 Rfe8 25. Ned4 Rac8 26. Rf4 Bf8 27. Rdf1 Re5 28. a3 Kh8 29. Nf5 Rd8 30. Nc3 Nxc3 31. Qxc3 Rde8 32. Rg4 Qc8 33. Qg3 h5 34. Rg8+ Kh7 35. Rxf8 1-0

[Event "5th Kings Tournament"] [Site "Medias/Romania"] [Date "2011.06.11"] [Round "1"] [White "Nisipeanu, Liviu-Dieter"] [Black "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E54"] [Annotator "GM Dorian Rogozenco"] [PlyCount "38"] [EventDate "2011.??.??"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 d5 6. Nf3 c5 7. O-O dxc4 8. Bxc4 cxd4 9. exd4 a6 10. a3 Bxc3 11. bxc3 Qc7 {#} 12. Bd3 ({The alternatives are} 12. Qd3) ({and} 12. Qe2) 12... Qxc3 13. Bf4 Nc6 14. Re1 {#} h6 {A new move, which came as a surprise for the Romanian grandmaster.} (14... Qa5 {has been met before.}) 15. Bd6 ({Nisipeanu calculated} 15. Re3 Qa5 16. Ne5 Nd5 17. Rg3 Nxf4 18. Qg4 {but thought that after} Ng6 {Black defends.} ({Karjakin indicated the right way for Black:} 18... Nh5 19. Qxh5 Nxe5 20. dxe5 f5 {and White must make a draw:} 21. exf6 Qxh5 22. Rxg7+ Kh8 23. Rh7+ Kg8 24. Rg7+) 19. Bxg6 $1 fxg6 20. Qxg6 Qc7 21. Ng4 {White's attack is decisive.}) 15... Rd8 16. Bc7 Rd7 17. Re3 Qb2 (17... Qxa1 18. Qxa1 Rxc7 19. Ne5 {is probably slightly better for White.}) 18. Re2 (18. Rb1 Qa2 19. Rb3 Rxc7 20. Bb1 Qxb3 21. Rxb3 Bd7 {is already okay for Black, who continues Be8, Rd8 with comfortable pressure on d4.}) 18... Qc3 19. Re3 Qb2 1/2-1/2