Nakamura
vs. Polgar
Chess Exhibition
17-year-old U.S. Chess Champion Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura and World Women’s
top-ranked Grandmaster Susan Polgar played a unique exhibition game during the
Millennium Chess Festival on February 26, 2005, in Virginia Beach, Virginia,
USA. It was called the “GM Dinner / Exhibition Match” and featured the two grandmasters
playing each other from separate rooms, each before a live audience with moves
relayed by radio. They played on large demo boards and, between moves, explained
to the audience what they were thinking about and why they are choosing certain
options. The people present had a great opportunity to gain an insight into
mind of a chess grandmaster.
Virgina Beach in Virginia, USA
Close-up of the beach – on a winter morning
Hikaru Nakamura is the current US Champion and the number one ranked US player;
Susan Polgar is the former Women’s World Champion and five-time Olympic Champion,
and the number one ranked woman player in the US.
Crowds line up to get tickets for the event
The game started shortly after 7 p.m. local time. A large crowd of people had
gathered to watch the event. There were still technical details to be managed,
which the two players whiled away in different ways. Young Hikaru went straight
to an Internet terminal to entertain the public on the chess servers, while
Susan spoke to the people in the line, posed for pictures and gave autographs.
Hikaru Nakamura chatting on the Internet
Susan Polgar chatting and signing autographs for the public
Before the start of the game
Susan Polgar playing her game, for the audience's benefit on a demo board
Enthralled: the audience during the Polgar-Nakamura game
The Millennium Chess Festival in full action
The audiences in the two playing halls enjoyed the event tremdously, following
the explanations of the players, their plans and explanations. It was a unique
experience to watch two strong grandmasters maneuvering against each other,
working out tactical possibilities, and explaining all of it to the audience.
The game was carried live on the Playchess.com
server and annotated for this report by Susan Polgar. You can replay all the
analysis by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page. All of the pictures
were provided by Paul Truong.
Polgar,Susan - Nakamura,Hikaru [D08]
Virginia Beach, VA [Commentary by Polgar,Susan]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5. The Albin counter gambit is quite rare in
today's grandmaster practice. Only very few GMs "dare" to play it. The Russian
GM Morozevich is one of the very few who plays it occasionally and with success.
Probably Hikaru is the second strongest player who once in a while surprises
his opponents with it.
Before this game, I anticipated primarily a more solid opening. However, I
psychologically was ready for the Albin. The funny part is that just in the
current (February 2005) issue of Chess Life, I wrote about this very opening!
Therefore, it became a psychological battle too. I was wondering did he read
my article or not?! And if he did, did he find a novelty? As I found after the
game, he did! It is flattering that he is not the only GM who reads my article.
3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.g3 Nge7. In earlier years, Black used
to play 5...Be6 or 5...Bg4 instead. This is the new idea of Morozevich.
6.Bg2 Ng6 7.Bg5. Protecting the Pawn with 7.Bf4 allow 7.Nxf4
ruining White's Pawn structure on the Kingside. [In some games, White returned
the Pawn with 7.0-0 Ngxe5 8.Nxe5 Nxe5
7...Qd7. A strange looking move but the best choice. After
7...Be7 8.Bxe7 Black has problems to get the sacrificed Pawn back.
8.e6. With this timely Pawn return, White forces Black's f-pawn
to the e file.
8...fxe6 9.0-0 e5 10.Nbd2. Also interesting was 10.Qa4 first
as I suggested in my article. Apparently, that is what my opponent was hoping
for but I surprised him with Nbd2.
10...h6 11.Bh4 Bd6. In the Krasenkow-Morozevich game, Black
developed the Bishop to e7. I don't think that the game continuation is an improvement.
12.c5! fine tactical way to use the Black Knight's unprotected
position.
12...Bxc5. This came to me as a pleasant surprise. It also
shocked the audience. A lot safer was the retreat with 12...Be7. It shows that
Hikaru is not afraid of sharp games and he is not afraid of a challenge.
13.Qc2. This move forks the Black's Bishop on c5 and the Black
Knight on g6.
13...Nxh4. The only way to avoid losing a piece.
14.Nxh4 Bb6. I did not even consider this retreat, only to
d6, b4 or e7.
15.Ng6 Rg8. Rook could not go to h7 because of a discovery
"Knight jump".
White is clearly better here. The dilemma is which of the tempting continuations
to choose.
16.Qc4. This the only idea I considered (along with a different
execution with 16.Qb3). However, I found an additional interesting continuation
after the game with 16.Nc4 for example 16...Qf5 17.Be4 Qf6 18.Bxc6+ bxc6 19.Ngxe5.
16...Qe6. The only way to save the Rook! After 16...Ne7, White
would trade Knights and then simply capture the Rook on g8.
17.Bxc6+. This is one of the critical positions of the game.
I had the opportunity to win an exchange with 17.Bd5 Qxg6 18.Bxg8 but with the
short time control I did not want to give Hikaru counter play with 18…Bh3. Then
Black has a Pawn for the exchange and the light squares around my King’s castling
position are missing my Bishop (which is stranded on g8). Another option was
after 17.Bd5 Qxg6 to play then 18.Bxc6, I decided against it because of 18…Kf8.
To my amazement, my opponent told me after the game that he planned to sacrifice
the exchange anyway with 18…bxc6. If I had known that, I would have played the
Bd5 variation.
17...bxc6 18.Nxe5 Qxc4 19.Ndxc4. This is the position I was
hoping for. White has better Pawn structure and the Black Bishop on b6 is really
out of play.
19…c5 20.Rfc1 a5. Perhaps better was 20…Be6. On the other
hand, 20…Bb7 is not good because of 21.a4 (threatening to trap the Bishop with
22.a5) 21…a5 22.Nxb6 cxb6 and 23.Nc4 winning a Pawn.
21.e3! dxe3 22.Nxe3 Be6 23.Nd3? This was the mistake that
lets most of the advantage fall out of my hands. The more accurate move was
23.Rd1 not allowing Black to castle.
23...0–0–0. I was so glad to win a Pawn that I underestimated
Black’s counter play. 24.Nxc5.
24...Bh3. This Bishop is becoming like an “annoying monster”
constantly setting up back rank checkmate traps.
25.Rc2. Also 25.Rc3 was good.
25...Rge8 26.Rac1 Kb8 27.a3. Preparing b2-b4.
27…a4! A very good move! After 28.Nxa4, Black answers with
28…Rxe3 29.fxe3 Bxe3+ 29.Kh1 Bxc1 30.Rxc1 Rd2.
28.Rc3. According to Fritz better was 28.Rc4 Rd2 29.Rb4.
28...Rd2 29.Nxa4. A blunder would be 29.R1c2, because of checkmate
in two after 29…Rd1+!.
29…Bxe3 30.Rxe3 Rf8 31.Rb3+ Ka8 32.g4! Giving up a pawn to
force to bishop away from its powerful position!
32…Bxg4 33.Rxc7 Rfxf2 34.Nb6+ Kb8 35.Nd5+ Ka8 and Black offered
a draw ½–½ (White had 2’25” left and Black had 4’31” left)
White is still better after 36.Ne3 Bh3 37.Rc5 Rf7 38.Ra5+ Ra7 39.Nc4] ½-½
Click
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Note that you can click on the notation to follow the moves.
GM
Susan Polgar was a child prodigy in her native Hungary, and became
the first woman to earn the men’s chess Grandmaster title. She taught her two
younger sisters how to play and they also became grandmasters (the youngest,
Judit, now ranked #9 on the world men’s rankings list.).
Susan won her 4th World Championship title in 1996 before retiring to have
a family. Now a U.S. citizen she returned to chess in 2004 to lead the USA to
a first-ever medal in the prestigious World Chess Olympiad. In addition to the
team Silver medal, Susan also captured two additional individual Gold medals
and one Silver medal including best overall performance of the Women’s Olympiad
bringing her total medal count to 10 (5 Gold, 4 Silver and 1 Bronze).
In addition, she has a 56 consecutive Olympiad game scoring streak without
a single loss (this is comparable to Joe DiMaggio's incredible 56-game hitting
streak in baseball). In fact, she has never lost a single game in the Olympiads.
GM
Hikaru Nakamura last month won the U.S. Chess Championship, at just
age 16. He is now ranked in the world's top 100 and last year also reached the
round of 16 in the 2004 FIDE World Championship matches. Nakamura broke Bobby
Fischer's record of the youngest U.S. grandmaster by four months, at age 15
years 2 months. Known for his aggressive and imaginative play, many experts
regard him as the first home-grown American since Fischer to have a chance to
one-day challenge for the world championship.
The GM Dinner / Exhibition Match took place on Saturday, February 26, 2005,
at 7:30pm, at the Millennium Chess Festival at the Ramada Plaza Oceanfront Resort,
57th & Atlantic Street, in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
The Millennium Chess Festival (Feb 25–27) was sponsored by the consulting firm
of Booz Allen Hamilton and is presented by Beach Events and the city of Virginia
Beach. The Festival also included the main tournament, in which many GMs and
other players of all strengths competed in various class sections, plus other
special events including a lecture by Susan Polgar and a “Fischer-Random Chess”
blitz tournament.
