Hikaru Nakamura scores a hat trick
Photos by Eugeny Atarov
Hikaru Nakamura won the Zurich Chess Challenge for the third time in a row, although it was no stroll in the park. Going into the last round, Nepomniachtchi was trailing Hikaru by just half point. Hikaru had the better Sonneborn-Berger score even if Nepomniachtchi was to catch up.
He made a solid and comfortable draw against Vishy and secured his championship.
Hikaru continued to be in his element and was undefeated throughout. Although there were a few rare moments when his opponents had chances, overall he was too fast, too strong. He started off with a couple of victories over two of the lower ranked players in the tournament – Yannick Pelletier and Grigory Oparin. He was particularly brutal against Grigory.
He then just won one more game from the next five against Vlad, but that was more than enough for him to coast through to the championship comfortably.
[Event "Kortchnoi ZCC 2017-Blitz"] [Site "Zurich"] [Date "2017.04.17"] [Round "2"] [White "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Black "Oparin, Grigoriy"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A05"] [WhiteElo "2793"] [BlackElo "2604"] [Annotator "Srinath,Narayanan"] [PlyCount "41"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "SUI"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 b5 3. Bg2 Bb7 4. Na3 a6 5. c4 b4 6. Nc2 e6 7. O-O Be7 8. d4 Be4 9. a3 bxa3 10. b3 O-O 11. Bxa3 d6 12. Ne3 c6 13. Qd2 Nbd7 14. Nd1 Qb6 15. Nc3 Qxb3 {[#]} 16. Ne5 $1 dxe5 17. Bxe7 exd4 (17... Bxg2 18. Rfb1 $1 Qxc4 19. Rb4 {is the point, for Black this was the lesser of two evils.} Qxb4 20. Bxb4 c5 21. Bxc5 Nxc5 22. dxc5 Bc6 23. Qd6 Rfc8 24. Qxe5 $16) 18. Nxe4 {Black is just a piece down now.} Nxe4 19. Bxe4 Rfe8 20. Bxc6 Ra7 21. Qxd4 1-0
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Nepomniachtchi would have still liked to catch up with Hikaru and become the joint winner, but he couldn’t get past Grigoriy in this game.
[Event "Kortchnoi ZCC 2017-Blitz"] [Site "Zurich"] [Date "2017.04.17"] [Round "7"] [White "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"] [Black "Oparin, Grigoriy"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B90"] [WhiteElo "2751"] [BlackElo "2604"] [Annotator "Srinath,Narayanan"] [PlyCount "117"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "SUI"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 {In the 'new classical version of the event, Grigory had been trounced by Nepo, who was Black in the same opening. Time for revenge?} 6. Nb3 $5 {Pioneered and popularised by the Polish GM Bartel,Mateus.} e6 7. g4 {Bartel: One of the main ideas of 6.Nb3. With the knight on b3 e6-e5 is now unsound.} b5 {Bartel: This is probably not a correct move, as the game shows that Black gets into trouble.} 8. a3 $5 { A rare move in this position.} (8. Bg2 Bb7 (8... b4 9. e5 d5 10. exf6 bxc3 11. O-O $132 {is a complicated position.}) 9. g5 b4 10. Nd5 {Bartel,M (2625) -Wojtaszek,R (2713) POL-ch Poznan 2016 (5) 1-0 was analysed in detail in CBM 172 by Bartel}) 8... Bb7 9. Bg2 Nfd7 10. g5 Nc6 11. h4 {White has developed his position in a way similar to the 'Keres Attack'. However, the knight on b3 is not necessarily an improvement of the knight's position from d4. In many such Sicilian structures, Black often deliberately sacrifices a tempo to drive the knight away from d4 to b3 with Qb6.} Be7 12. f4 h6 {A typical pawn break against this structure.} 13. Qg4 b4 14. Ne2 bxa3 15. bxa3 {White's king is stuck in the center now. He can neither castle on the kingside, nor on the queenside. Black's king doesn't have a safe haven either, however, his position has relatively less weakness.} Qc7 16. Bb2 hxg5 17. hxg5 Rxh1+ 18. Bxh1 g6 (18... Nce5 19. fxe5 Qxc2 {is an attractive combination} 20. exd6 Qxb2 21. dxe7 Qxb3 22. g6 Kxe7 $17) 19. Qh3 Na5 20. Qh8+ Nf8 21. Nxa5 Qxa5+ 22. Bc3 Qc5 23. Qh3 e5 $1 24. Rb1 Bc6 25. Bb4 Qc4 26. Rb3 Bb5 27. Bf3 a5 28. Bd2 Bd7 { The c2 pawn falls by force. Slowly, White's numerous weaknesses tell and his position begins to fall apart.} 29. f5 Qxc2 30. Rc3 Qb1+ 31. Rc1 Qb3 32. Nc3 Rc8 {[#]} 33. Qf1 $4 {The decisive mistake, and the defining moment. White loses too many pawns.} (33. Bg4 $142 gxf5 34. Bxf5 Qxa3 35. Bxd7+ Nxd7 36. Rb1 Rxc3 37. Bxc3 Qc5 38. Bd2 Qc2 $15) 33... Bxg5 34. Bxg5 Rxc3 35. Rxc3 Qxc3+ 36. Kf2 gxf5 {Black is a clear three pawns up. The rest is a matter of technique.} 37. Qb1 Ne6 38. Bf6 Nd4 39. Be2 Qc2 40. Qxc2 Nxc2 41. exf5 Bxf5 42. a4 Bd7 43. Bd1 Nb4 44. Bg5 Nd3+ 45. Kg3 Nb2 46. Be2 Nxa4 47. Bd2 Nc5 48. Bxa5 Ke7 49. Bb4 f5 50. Ba3 Kf6 51. Bc4 Be6 52. Bb5 f4+ 53. Kf3 Kg5 54. Bc6 Bg4+ 55. Kg2 e4 56. Bxc5 dxc5 57. Bxe4 Kf6 58. Kf2 Ke5 59. Bg6 0-1
Vishy continued from where he had left, with a solid performance. He was firm with black, and took his opportunity against Yannick.
With the White pieces, he continued to play like in his olden days, sticking to 1.e4. He managed to play fast and maintain a decent level, and when his opponent’s made mistakes like 19…h5 in the following game, it took him only a few seconds to pounce savagely.
[Event "Kortchnoi ZCC 2017-Blitz"] [Site "Zurich"] [Date "2017.04.17"] [Round "5"] [White "Anand, Viswanathan"] [Black "Gelfand, Boris"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B67"] [WhiteElo "2786"] [BlackElo "2724"] [Annotator "Srinath,Narayanan"] [PlyCount "107"] [EventDate "2017.??.??"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventCountry "SUI"] [SourceTitle "playchess.com"] [Source "ChessBase"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O Bd7 9. f4 b5 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Kb1 Qb6 12. Nce2 (12. Nxc6 Bxc6 {is the mainline.}) 12... Rc8 13. h4 Rg8 14. f5 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 e5 16. Ne2 b4 17. Rh3 d5 $6 18. Rg3 Rh8 19. Rf3 h5 $2 (19... d4 $142 20. g4 a5 21. g5 a4 $132 {with a comfortable position for Black.}) 20. exd5 Rc4 21. Ng3 $1 Rxh4 22. Qe1 Rg8 23. Ne4 {[#]} Rxe4 (23... Rhg4 24. d6 Bg7 25. g3 $18) 24. Qxe4 Rg4 25. Qe1 Bd6 26. Bd3 Rxg2 27. Rg3 {Simplest way: Exchange opponent's most active piece.} Qf2 28. Rxg2 Qxg2 29. Qh1 Qg4 30. Rg1 Qd4 31. Rf1 (31. Rg8+ Ke7 32. Qxh5 {just wins the pawn.}) 31... a5 32. Qe4 {Again, just chop off opponent's most active piece.} Qb6 {Black has to keep the queens on the board at any cost.} 33. Be2 a4 34. Bxh5 a3 35. Be2 axb2 36. Kxb2 Qc5 37. Bc4 Ke7 38. Kb1 Ba4 39. Bb3 Bb5 40. Rh1 Qf2 41. Bc4 Ba4 42. Bd3 Bd7 43. Rf1 Qc5 44. Qc4 Qe3 45. Rh1 Qf2 46. a3 bxa3 47. Ka2 Bxf5 48. Bxf5 Qxf5 49. Rh8 Qd7 50. Qb3 Qc7 51. Qa4 f5 52. Re8+ Kf6 53. Qh4+ Kg7 54. Qh8+ 1-0
The final blitz was of a much better quality than the opening blitz. Apart from the fact that the players had warmed up, the time control was also much higher – 10+5. In the ‘new classical’ version, initially the quality of play was impacted by time, but the play only got better as the tournament progressed.
I think this sort of reduced time control should be experimented more with and would be especially ideal for events that are traditionally organised with two rounds per day, a format that is held in many parts of the world.
More Impressions
Vishy paying homage to the great Viktor?
Oh my God! Naka already drew?!
Eugeny Atarov started journalism in 1992. He is a writer, photographer, bookmaker, graphic designer, etc. Two years ago he even started work with video and has the technical and production support to create the real TV-quality video. You can check his team Exciting Chess' channel on YouTube. He started to publish the videos just two weeks ago but already has 100 videos in the works now!
(Readers should note the Gallery at the top of the article where we introduce you to Marie-Laure Kramnik!)
Replay all the blitz games
Final blitz standings
Replay all the New Classical games (45 min. + 30 sec increment)
Final New Classical standings
(Note: the New Classical games are worth double the blitz, which is not reflected in the crosstable above)
According to the rules of the Zurich Chess Challenge 2017 the winner of a classical game is awarded two points for the overall standings. A draw gives each player one point, and the loser gets zero points. In the final Blitz tournament on Monday, 17 April, the winner is given one point, a draw gets a player half a point, and the loser gets zero points.
Combined scores
| Rk |
Name |
ELO |
Pts |
SB |
| 1. |
Hikaru Nakamura (USA) |
2793 |
15.0 |
44.25 |
| 2. |
Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS) |
2751 |
14.0 |
40.75 |
| 3. |
Viswanathan Anand (IND) |
2786 |
13.5 |
39.25 |
| 4. |
Peter Svidler (RUS) |
2747 |
12.0 |
38.25 |
| 5. |
Vladimir Kramnik (RUS) |
2811 |
11.0 |
37.75 |
| 6. |
Boris Gelfand (ISR) |
2724 |
9.0 |
24.25 |
| 7. |
Grigoryi Oparin (RUS) |
2604 |
5.5 |
16.75 |
| 8. |
Yannick Pelletier (SUI) |
2541 |
4.0 |
12.25 |
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