Nakamura Knocked Out in Hamburg

The 2019 FIDE Grand Prix continues this week with a stop in Hamburg, Germany. From November 5th through 17th, 16 of the world’s elite will compete in knockout play, with the winner taking home €24,000 and a total prize fund of €130,000. Players are also competing for Grand Prix points, with an additional €280,000 distributed on the basis of overall standings. The top two Grand Prix finishers are seeded into the 2020 Candidates Tournament, which will determine the challenger to Magnus Carlsen in a match to be played later in 2020. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Alexander Grischuk are at the head of the table heading into Hamburg. Each knockout round is contested over three days. The competitors play two classical time control games (40/90, G/30, with a 30 second increment from move one), and if no winner is determined, they move to a tiebreak round on day three. Two G/25+10 games are followed by two G/10+10 and two G/5+3 games, and if the players are still tied after those six games, an armageddon blitz game is played. Round 1.1 Results: Maxime Vachier-Lagrave - Wei Yi: 1-0 Hikaru Nakamura - Veselin Topalov: 0-1 David Navara - Nikita Vitiugov: 1/2-1/2 Radoslaw Wojtaszek - Alexander Grischuk: 1/2-1/2 Teimour Radjabov - Daniil Dubov: 1/2-1/2 Peter Svidler - Pentala Harikrishna: 1-0 Dmitry Jakovenko - Yu Yangyi: 1/2-1/2 Jan-Krzysztof Duda - Ian Nepomniachtchi: 1-0 Veselin Topalov continues to be a difficult opponent for Hikaru Nakamura in Grand Prix events. Topalov knocked Nakamura out of the Riga Grand Prix earlier this year, and with his Round 1.1 win in Hamburg, Nakamura must win on demand in Round 1.2 to survive to the tiebreak round.

[pgn]

[Event "Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Hamburg GER"]
[Date "2019.11.05"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C65"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[BlackElo "2736"]
[PlyCount "132"]
[EventDate "2019.11.05"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. h3 Nd7 7. Bg5 f6 8.
Be3 Bxe3 9. fxe3 Qe7 10. Nc3 b6 11. O-O Bb7 12. Nh4 g6 13. Qe1 O-O-O 14. a3 Kb8
15. b4 c5 16. Na4 Bc6 17. Nb2 Rhg8 18. Rd1 Rdf8 19. c4 f5 20. b5 Bb7 21. exf5
gxf5 22. Rd2 Qg5 23. e4 fxe4 24. Rxf8+ Nxf8 25. dxe4 Ne6 26. Nf3 Qh5 27. Kh2
Nd4 28. Qe3 Bc8 29. Ne1 Qg6 30. Ned3 Re8 31. Nd1 Qg8 32. N3b2 Be6 33. Qd3 Rd8
34. Qc3 h5 35. Rf2 h4 36. a4 Qg6 37. Qe3 Rg8 38. Kh1 Qh5 39. a5 Kc8 40. Qe1 Rg3
41. Qf1 Kd7 42. Nd3 Ke7 43. N1b2 Rg8 44. a6 Qg5 45. Qg1 c6 46. bxc6 Nxc6 47.
Rf1 Qg3 48. Qf2 Qxf2 49. Nxf2 Rd8 50. Nfd1 Rd2 51. Rf2 Rxf2 52. Nxf2 Na5 53.
Kh2 Nxc4 54. Na4 Kd6 55. Nc3 Kc6 56. g3 hxg3+ 57. Kxg3 b5 58. Nd3 b4 59. Na4 b3
60. h4 Bf7 61. Kg4 Bg6 62. Nc3 b2 63. Kf3 Kd6 64. Nb5+ Kd7 65. Nxb2 Nxb2 66.
Nxa7 Bh5+ 0-1

[/pgn]

Maxime-Vachier Lagrave is in fourth place in the Grand Prix Standings as Hamburg begins, and he got off to a great start with this precise win over Wei Yi.

[pgn]

[Event "Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Hamburg GER"]
[Date "2019.11.05"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"]
[Black "Wei, Yi"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B91"]
[WhiteElo "2777"]
[BlackElo "2724"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2019.11.05"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. g3 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Bg5
Nbd7 9. a4 h6 10. Be3 b6 11. Bc4 Bb7 12. Nd2 O-O 13. O-O Qc7 14. Qe2 Rfc8 15.
Rad1 Nc5 16. Bxc5 Qxc5 17. Rfe1 g6 18. Bb3 Kg7 19. Qc4 Qxc4 20. Nxc4 Rc6 21.
Nd5 Nxd5 22. exd5 Rc7 23. Nxe5 dxe5 24. d6 Rd7 25. dxe7 Rxe7 26. Rd6 b5 27. a5
Rc8 28. c3 Bf3 29. Rxa6 Rd8 30. Rb6 Rd2 31. Rxb5 Rxb2 32. a6 Rc7 33. Bc4 Rxb5
34. Bxb5 Rxc3 35. Bf1 Rc5 36. Ra1 Ba8 37. Be2 e4 38. Kf1 Kf6 39. Ke1 Ke5 40.
Kd2 f5 41. Rb1 g5 42. Rb5 Kd4 43. Rxc5 Kxc5 44. Ke3 Bc6 45. Bh5 Kd5 46. a7 Ke5
47. f4+ 1-0

[/pgn]

Things did not go as well for the player currently in third place. Ian Nepomniachtchi lost to Jan-Kryzsztof Duda in 44 moves.

[pgn]

[Event "Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Hamburg GER"]
[Date "2019.11.05"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"]
[Black "Nepomniachtchi, Ian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2748"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2019.11.05"]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Bg2 Nb6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. a3 Be7 8. b4
O-O 9. e3 a6 10. Qc2 Be6 11. O-O Bc4 12. Rd1 Bd3 13. Qb2 Qd7 14. Ne1 Bg6 15. d3
Rad8 16. Ne4 Nd5 17. Nc5 Bxc5 18. bxc5 Rb8 19. Qb3 Rfd8 20. Bb2 Nf6 21. Rac1
Qe7 22. Qc3 Bh5 23. Rd2 e4 24. Bxe4 Rd7 25. Bf5 Rd5 26. e4 Rxf5 27. exf5 Rd8
28. Qc4 Nd5 29. Qe4 Qg5 30. f4 Qh6 31. h3 f6 32. Ng2 Bf7 33. Kh2 Nde7 34. g4
Nd5 35. Re2 Re8 36. Qf3 Rxe2 37. Qxe2 g6 38. fxg6 hxg6 39. Kg3 Nd8 40. Qe4 c6
41. Bxf6 Nxf6 42. Qe7 Nh5+ 43. gxh5 Ne6 44. hxg6 1-0

[/pgn]

The fourth decisive result of the day belonged to Peter Svidler, who defeated Pentala Harikrishna in an interesting Italian Game.

[pgn]

[Event "Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Hamburg GER"]
[Date "2019.11.05"]
[Round "1.1"]
[White "Svidler, Peter"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C50"]
[WhiteElo "2719"]
[BlackElo "2731"]
[PlyCount "93"]
[EventDate "2019.11.05"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. c3 a6 7. a4 h6 8. a5 O-O
9. h3 Ba7 10. Be3 d5 11. exd5 Nxd5 12. Bxa7 Rxa7 13. Re1 Nf4 14. Nxe5 Qg5 15.
Ng4 h5 16. Ne3 Bxh3 17. Qf3 Ne5 18. Qg3 Bg4 19. Nd5 Nxc4 20. Qxf4 Qxf4 21. Nxf4
Nxb2 22. Ra2 g5 23. Rxb2 gxf4 24. Re5 Rd8 25. d4 Rd6 26. f3 Bd7 27. Nd2 b6 28.
Ne4 Rg6 29. Re7 Bb5 30. d5 f5 31. axb6 Rxb6 32. Nc5 Kf8 33. Rh7 Kg8 34. Rxh5
Bc4 35. Rd2 Rd6 36. Rxf5 c6 37. Ne4 Rxd5 38. Nf6+ Kg7 39. Nxd5 cxd5 40. Rd4 a5
41. Rdxf4 Kg6 42. Rf8 Kg7 43. Rb8 a4 44. Rff8 d4 45. cxd4 Bd5 46. Rfd8 a3 47.
Rxd5 1-0

[/pgn]

The remaining games were drawn, including a complex theoretical battle in the Catalan between Wojtaszek and Grischuk, and a toothless 12 move draw between Radjabov and Dubov. Round 1.2 Results: Wei Yi - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: 1/2-1/2 Veselin Topalov - Hikaru Nakamura: 1/2-1/2 Nikita Vitiugov - David Navara: 1/2-1/2 Alexander Grischuk - Radoslaw Wojtaszek: 1/2-1/2 Daniil Dubov - Teimour Radjabov: 1/2-1/2 Pentala Harikrishna - Peter Svidler: 1/2-1/2 Yu Yangyi - Dmitry Jakovenko: 1/2-1/2 Ian Nepomniachtchi - Jan-Krzysztof Duda: 1/2-1/2 All eight games were drawn in Round 1.2. Dubov made Radjabov wait six more moves, 18 in all, before their game was drawn. Grischuk and Wojtaszek shared their point after just 15 moves. Grischuk explained his draw offer to his opponent, well known for his opening preparation, by saying that he “didn't want to continue playing against a computer.” Hikaru Nakamura drew against Veselin Topalov in 27 moves, eliminating Nakamura from the tournament. Nakamura tried to create some complexity, but the final position favors White and so the draw was agreed.

[pgn]

[Event "Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Hamburg GER"]
[Date "2019.11.06"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D27"]
[WhiteElo "2736"]
[BlackElo "2741"]
[PlyCount "50"]
[EventDate "2019.11.05"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. e3 Nf6 4. Bxc4 e6 5. Nf3 a6 6. O-O c5 7. Bb3 Nbd7 8. e4
cxd4 9. e5 Ng4 10. Re1 Nc5 11. h3 Nh6 12. Nxd4 Nxb3 13. axb3 Nf5 14. Be3 Nxd4
15. Bxd4 Bd7 16. Nc3 Bc6 17. Re3 Qh4 18. Bb6 Be7 19. Rg3 Bd8 20. Bc5 Bc7 21.
Rg4 Qh5 22. Bd6 Rd8 23. Rxg7 Qxd1+ 24. Rxd1 Bxd6 25. exd6 Rd7 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Perhaps the most interesting game of the round was the battle between Yu Yangyi and Dmitry Jakovenko. The game did not look that exciting from the start, but after Yu won a pawn in the late middlegame, a sharp ending transpired that Jakovenko was lucky to save.

[pgn]

[Event "Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Hamburg GER"]
[Date "2019.11.06"]
[Round "1.2"]
[White "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitry"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "145"]
[EventDate "2019.11.05"]

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 e6 4. e4 Nc6 5. Be2 d5 6. exd5 exd5 7. d4 cxd4 8.
Nxd4 dxc4 9. Be3 Nxd4 10. Bxd4 Be6 11. O-O Be7 12. Qa4+ Qd7 13. Qxd7+ Nxd7 14.
Bxg7 Rg8 15. Bd4 Bc5 16. Bxc5 Nxc5 17. Rfd1 Rd8 18. Rxd8+ Kxd8 19. Rd1+ Kc8 20.
f4 a6 21. f5 Bd7 22. Bxc4 Bc6 23. Bd5 Kc7 24. Bxc6 Kxc6 25. b4 Nd7 26. Ne4 Ne5
27. Rd6+ Kc7 28. Rd5 Nc6 29. a3 Rg4 30. Nf6 Rd4 31. Rxd4 Nxd4 32. Nxh7 Nxf5 33.
Ng5 Nd6 34. Kf2 Kd7 35. Ke3 Nc4+ 36. Kd3 Nxa3 37. Nxf7 Nb5 38. h4 b6 39. Ne5+
Ke6 40. Nc4 Kf5 41. h5 Kg5 42. g4 Na7 43. Nxb6 Nc6 44. Nd5 Ne5+ 45. Kd4 Nxg4
46. Nc7 Nf6 47. Nxa6 Nd7 48. Nc5 Nb6 49. Ne4+ Kxh5 50. Kc5 Nd7+ 51. Kc6 Ne5+
52. Kc7 Nc4 53. b5 Kg6 54. Nd6 Nb2 55. Kc6 Na4 56. Ne4 Nb2 57. Kd5 Na4 58. Kc6
Nb2 59. Nd2 Na4 60. Nb3 Kf7 61. Nc5 Nb2 62. Kd5 Ke7 63. b6 Kd8 64. Na6 Nd3 65.
Kc6 Ne5+ 66. Kb5 Kc8 67. Nc5 Kb8 68. Ka6 Ka8 69. Kb5 Kb8 70. Ka6 Ka8 71. Ne6
Nd7 72. b7+ Kb8 73. Nd4 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Round 1.3 Results: Nikita Vitiugov - David Navara: 0-2 Alexander Grischuk - Radoslaw Wojtaszek: 1.5-0.5 Daniil Dubov - Teimour Radjabov: 3.5-2.5 Yu Yangyi - Dmitry Jakovenko: 1.5-0.5 Only one match went beyond the first tiebreak round, and surprisingly, it was the match between Dubov and Radjabov. After two insipid draws in the classical games, the two Russian players had to go all the way to the final set of blitz games before Dubov advanced. The players drew the first four games, three of them fighting, before Dubov won the first G/5+5 matchup.

[pgn]

[Event "Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Hamburg GER"]
[Date "2019.11.07"]
[Round "1.7"]
[White "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B06"]
[WhiteElo "2767"]
[BlackElo "2676"]
[PlyCount "74"]
[EventDate "2019.11.05"]

1. e4 g6 2. Nf3 d6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. h3 c5 5. Bc4 Nc6 6. O-O Nf6 7. d3 O-O 8. a4 b6
9. Nd5 Bb7 10. c3 Nxd5 11. Bxd5 e6 12. Ba2 d5 13. Bg5 Qd7 14. Qc1 d4 15. Rd1
Rae8 16. h4 f5 17. exf5 Rxf5 18. Nh2 Ne5 19. f3 Ba6 20. c4 Bb7 21. a5 Nf7 22.
Bf4 Qd8 23. Bg3 Bf6 24. axb6 axb6 25. Qd2 Bxh4 26. Qf2 Bg5 27. Nf1 h5 28. Re1
h4 29. Bh2 h3 30. Ng3 Be3 31. Rxe3 dxe3 32. Qxe3 hxg2 33. f4 Rf6 34. Bb3 e5 35.
Ne4 Bxe4 36. dxe4 exf4 37. Bxf4 Qd4 0-1

[/pgn]

Radjabov nearly won the return game, which would have forced the match to the Armageddon round, but he stumbled right at the finish line.

[pgn]

[Event "Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Hamburg GER"]
[Date "2019.11.07"]
[Round "1.8"]
[White "Dubov, Daniil"]
[Black "Radjabov, Teimour"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "E17"]
[WhiteElo "2676"]
[BlackElo "2767"]
[Annotator "Hartmann,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "8/8/8/2Bn4/1p6/3Kpk2/8/8 b - - 0 57"]
[PlyCount "2"]
[EventDate "2019.11.05"]

57... b3 $4 (57... e2 58. Kd2 b3 $19) 58. Bxe3 (58. Bxe3 Nxe3 59. Kc3 $11
) 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

David Navara advanced by defeating World Cup hero Nikita Vitiugov 2-0 (3-1 overall), while both Alexander Grischuk and Yu Yangyi moved on to the second round by scores of 1.5-0.5 (2.5-1.5 overall). Yu’s win over Jakovenko came when he cashed in his attacking position for a winning endgame.

[pgn]

[Event "Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Hamburg GER"]
[Date "2019.11.07"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Yu, Yangyi"]
[Black "Jakovenko, Dmitry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A30"]
[WhiteElo "2753"]
[BlackElo "2691"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2019.11.05"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 c5 3. g3 e6 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 d5 8. d4
dxc4 9. e4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 O-O 11. e5 Bxg2 12. Kxg2 Nd5 13. Qg4 Kh8 14. Rd1 Na6
15. Nf5 exf5 16. Qxf5 Nab4 17. Nxd5 Nd3 18. Nf4 g6 19. Qg4 Nxe5 20. Qe2 Nd3 21.
Nxd3 cxd3 22. Rxd3 Qc7 23. Bh6 Rfe8 24. Qf3 Bf8 25. Rc1 Qe7 26. Re3 Qd7 27. Rd1
Qc7 28. Bxf8 Rxf8 29. Qf6+ Kg8 30. Re7 Qc2 31. Rdd7 Qf5 32. Qxf5 gxf5 33. Rxa7
Rxa7 34. Rxa7 Rd8 35. Ra6 Rd6 36. Kf3 Kg7 37. Ke3 Re6+ 38. Kd3 f4 39. a4 Rh6
40. a5 Rxh2 41. Rxb6 Rxf2 42. gxf4 Rxf4 43. b4 h5 44. a6 Rf3+ 45. Ke2 Ra3 46.
b5 f6 47. Rb7+ Kg6 48. a7 Ra2+ 49. Kd3 h4 50. b6 h3 51. Rb8 1-0

[/pgn]

Grischuk bamboozled Wojtaszek in a scrappy, messy game. Wojtaszek’s decision to trade queens may have been the key error.

[pgn]

[Event "Hamburg FIDE Grand Prix"]
[Site "Hamburg GER"]
[Date "2019.11.07"]
[Round "1.4"]
[White "Grischuk, Alexander"]
[Black "Wojtaszek, Radoslaw"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2764"]
[BlackElo "2728"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2019.11.05"]

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. g3 c5 3. Bg2 Nc6 4. O-O e5 5. d3 d5 6. e4 d4 7. a4 Bd6 8. Na3 h6
9. Nh4 g6 10. f4 exf4 11. gxf4 Ng4 12. Nf3 g5 13. e5 Be7 14. Qe2 gxf4 15. Bxf4
Rg8 16. Nc4 Be6 17. Kh1 Qd7 18. Nfd2 O-O-O 19. a5 Bd5 20. Ne4 Qe6 21. Rae1 Kb8
22. Ncd6 Ne3 23. Bxe3 dxe3 24. Qxe3 Nxe5 25. Nf5 Rg6 26. Re2 Ka8 27. Neg3 Bxg2+
28. Rxg2 Bf8 29. a6 bxa6 30. Re1 f6 31. Qe4+ Qd5 32. Rf2 Qb7 33. Qxb7+ Kxb7 34.
Ne4 c4 35. d4 Nc6 36. c3 Kc7 37. Ne3 a5 38. Ref1 a4 39. Nxc4 Be7 40. Ne3 a5 41.
Ra1 a3 42. bxa3 a4 43. Rf5 Rb8 44. Nd5+ Kd7 45. Nb4 Nd8 46. Ra5 Rg4 47. Re1 Rb6
48. Ra7+ Rb7 49. Rxa4 Ne6 50. Ra6 Rb5 51. Rxe6 1-0

[/pgn]

Pairings for Round 2 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Veselin Topalov David Navara – Alexander Grischuk Daniil Dubov – Peter Svidler Yu Yangyi – Jan-Krzysztof Duda

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