MCT Finals: Nakamura knocks out Dubov

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
8/12/2020 – Hikaru Nakamura needed only three sets to knock out Daniil Dubov in their best-of-5 semifinal match. ‘Naka’ will get two rest days before the final, where he will face either Ding Liren or Carlsen, with the latter now the favourite to advance after scoring a second consecutive 2½:½ victory over his Chinese colleague. | Photo: Justin Kellar

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Avoiding mistakes

Hikaru Nakamura was true to the style he has been using these last years — one that prioritizes solidity — to take down Daniil Dubov with a dominating 3:0 victory in the semis of the Magnus Carlsen Tour Finals. The outspoken grandmaster confessed afterwards:

I very strongly felt that in the match we played in the final of the Lindores Abbey event that I sort of beat myself. I thought that there were many positions where I was a little bit better and pressing, and then when the advantage slipped away from me I would keep trying to win and in turn I would turn it into a loss.

Acknowledging the fact that his rival strongly prefers dynamic positions, in which his creative abilities come to the fore, Nakamura explained:

I decided to try to make it as boring as possible, and try to make the positions dry, where it’s very technical and you kind of just have to play normal-looking moves but there’s very little room for creativity.

His approach seems to function well against most players, with a big exception:

For the most part, I’ve felt that, if I don’t lose games, opportunities will come to me. [...] With the exception of one player, that tends to work very well (smiles). The problem is that there’s one player who is capable of not losing even more so than me and being slightly more precise.

Of course, he was referring to Magnus Carlsen, who for a second day in a row needed only three games to beat Ding Liren. The Chinese now needs to win back-to-back sets on Wednesday and Thursday to knock out the world champion.

Magnus Carlsen Chess Tour Finals

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Nakamura 2½ : 1½ Dubov

A rather uneventful first game was followed by Nakamura failing to make the most of a small advantage, while the one decisive result of the set was seen in game 3 — Dubov was actually a pawn up with a better position in the middlegame:

 
Dubov vs. Nakamura - Game 3
Position after 30...h6

Nakamura explained that by playing 31.b5 here Dubov failed to notice that after 31...Rb3 32.Rc6 Qf7 White cannot protect the b-pawn with 33.Qc4 due to 33...Rb4. Soon after, Black not only recovered the pawn but gained an extra pawn himself, entering a better endgame that nonetheless required technical precision to be converted into a win.

Dubov was duly outplayed and resigned in the following position:

 
Position after 68...Rd4

The Russian went all-in with black in game 4, but it was his cold-blooded opponent who got attacking chances in the early middlegame. Nakamura was true to his pragmatic approach and forced a draw from a clearly better position to get the pass to the final.

 
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1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Nb6 7.0-0 Be7 8.b3 0-0 9.Bb2 Re8 10.Rc1 Bf8 11.Ne4 f6 12.d3 a5 13.Nc5 a4 14.Nxa4 Nxa4 15.bxa4 Be6 16.Nd2 Bxa2 17.Nb3 Rxa4 18.Ra1 Ra6 19.Na5 Rxa5 20.Rxa2 Rb5 21.Bc3 Nd4 22.Rb2 Rxb2 23.Bxb2 Kh8 24.Bxb7 Qb8 25.Bxd4 Qxb7 26.Be3 Bd6 27.Qc2 Rb8 28.Rc1 Qb2 29.Kg2 Qxc2 30.Rxc2 Rb5 31.f4 Kg8 32.Kf3 Kf7 33.f5 g6 34.g4 Rb1 35.Rc1 Rb4 36.Rc4 Rb1 37.Bc1 Ra1 38.h3 Rb1 39.Be3 Rf1+ 40.Kg2 Re1 41.Kf2 Rh1 42.Kg2 Re1 43.Rc2 Ke7 44.Bf2 Ra1 45.Rc4 Kd7 46.fxg6 hxg6 47.h4 Ra8 48.h5 Rh8 49.hxg6 Rg8 50.Kf3 Rxg6 51.Rc1 Rh6 52.Kg2 Rg6 53.Kf3 Rh6 54.Rg1 Rh3+ 55.Kg2 Rh7 56.Rh1 Rxh1 57.Kxh1 e4 58.Kg2 exd3 59.exd3 Ke6 60.Kf3 f5 61.gxf5+ Kxf5 62.Bg3 Bxg3 63.Kxg3 Ke5 64.Kf3 Kd4 65.Ke2 c5 66.Kd2 c4 67.dxc4 Kxc4 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Dubov,D2699Nakamura,H2736½–½2020A29Carlsen Tour Final 20203.1
Nakamura,H2736Dubov,D2699½–½2020B67Carlsen Tour Final 20203.2
Dubov,D2699Nakamura,H27360–12020A29Carlsen Tour Final 20203.3
Nakamura,H2736Dubov,D2699½–½2020B67Carlsen Tour Final 20203.4

Carlsen 2½ : ½ Ding

A 22-move draw in game 1 was followed by two consecutive victories by the world champion. In game 2, Carlsen got an advantage after Ding misplayed the opening in a sharp Sicilian. On move 27, the Norwegian decided not to go for a tactical continuation that could have led to a spectacular win:

 
Carlsen vs. Dubov - Game 2
Position after 26...Qc7

White had 27.Rxf7 Kxf7 28.Qe6+ Kg7 29.Ne7 Qxc4 30.Qxg6 Kf8 and the killer 31.Nf5, when Black is busted. Carlsen chose 27.Rf3 instead and, when Tania Sachdev asked him if he had considered the rook sacrifice, he explained:

Obviously, that’s what I was looking at, but I just felt that my position was so good that there was no reason to go for it unless I was sure it was winning.

Indeed, White kept his advantage throughout, although the computer shows some defensive resources that Ding did not find while in time trouble. In the end, Carlsen showed his great endgame technique to get a 55-move win.

Carlsen played the Open Sicilian with black in game 3 and, unlike in the previous encounter, went for an attack when given the chance:

 
Ding vs. Carlsen - Game 3

Ding’s 20.c3 weakened his king decisively — there followed 20...Bxa3 21.f5 b4 22.c4 Nc3+ (the onslaught gains strength) 23.Ka1 Bxc4 24.fxe6 0-0 and White’s counterattack is shut down. Six moves later, Ding resigned.

 
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1.Nf3 Nf6 2.g3 g6 3.Bg2 Bg7 4.c4 0-0 5.d4 d6 6.Nc3 c6 7.0-0 Bf5 8.Ng5 d5 9.Qb3 Qb6 10.cxd5 Qxb3 11.axb3 cxd5 12.Nxd5 Nxd5 13.Bxd5 Nc6 14.e3 h6 15.Ne4 Rfd8 16.Nc3 e5 17.dxe5 Bxe5 18.e4 Bh3 19.Rd1 Bg4 20.Rf1 Bh3 21.Rd1 Bg4 22.Rf1 Bh3 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ding,L2791Carlsen,M2863½–½2020E62Carlsen Tour Final 20203.1
Carlsen,M2863Ding,L27911–02020B90Carlsen Tour Final 20203.2
Ding,L2791Carlsen,M28630–12020B90Carlsen Tour Final 20203.3

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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