I think you will find playing an OTB game whilst having access to a laptop is not allowed.

Hi Conrad (not Holt)

"All black had to do was keep exchanging until he reached a R + R vs. B + R endgame. He would have stood better, even with doubled pawns"

So here with White to play...

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I have to assume you would play 29. Bxe5 to maintain being the exchange up and win the ending....

Have a good look at the diagram before you reply. I'm not trying to make a fool of you.

Just a wee reminder that before the won ending you have to go though a messy middlegame against one of the best OTB problem setters in the game. (2nd only to Carslen, his problems are more subtle, Nak's are right in your face.)

Smashing OTB game by Nakamura and very typical of him.

----

You don't need any books on how to play The Dragon, it's easy.

That person is still pretending that he is Holt.

Here, in the main thread for the championship.

<Conrad93: <Congrats Conrad on your first win of the tournament. Since you are a regular poster here, I'm rooting for you to be at least in the top 5. :-)>

Thanks for the support.>

He said in the interview about that sac "I decided to be practical and sac the exchange". Hmmm, doesn't sound like saying "It was a desperate tactic" and added that "over the board is it hard to find the right plan" (e.g. for the opponent).

But to make you feel better Conrad, he did add that he moved his pawn backward from G4-G3. LOL.>

Did you not watch the interview?
At no time did Nakamura claim it's part of theory.

I am aware of the Rxc3 sacrifice, but it does not happen in this position.

Nakamura said he did not deserve to be congratulated, because he played the opening badly.

Open the c-file, fianchetto the KB and sac the exchange on c3. Preferably you sac the King's Rook so your King has f8 to run to whilst White is doing his thing on the Kingside.>

Again...

THE SACRIFICE IS IS DUBIOUS IN THIS SPECIFIC GAME.

Open the c-file, fianchetto the KB and sac the exchange on c3.>

That's excellent. I like it.

I guess the Dragon appeals to me not just for the chaotic positions that can emerge, but because the basic themes are clear and easy to absorb. There's yards of theory - it seems inexhaustible - but the same ideas crop up again and again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ET...

"Watch the freaking interview, you freaking morons."

Rarely watch them, what you get is two tired men, one depressed the other releived being asked banal questions by some experienced player who knows how they feel and what they are going though. Under such circumstances you are hardly going to get the quote of the century.

If you need an interview to tell why Nak played Rxc3 and an engine to find out why Naroditsky sacced back the exchange on move 29 then I'd refrain from jumping all over GM games of this nature. You don't have a clue what happened

It's your comments that are the only 'dubious' .thing on this page.

"All black had to do was keep exchanging until he reached a R + R vs. B + R endgame."

Actually it was WHITE who was the exchange up with doubled pawns (I let it pass first time around as I tend not to make merry of a typo - or did you have the board around the wrong way.- but the uncalled for 'freaking morons'...well I just had to nit-pit.)

Hi disasterion:,

I thought Eddie's first book on the Dragon was just a quagmire of variations with very little prose. The 2nd one looks much better.

I don't have it. I have Miles 1980's book on the Dragon. You see every tactical trick in action and loads of good fun 'I must play through another' games.

Also Freddy Reinfeld's 'How to Think Ahead in Chess' one of the first (if not the first) Rep book. Got put onto that by a good player when I was starting out. Never bothered with the Stonewall or the Laker's Defence but the Dragon and what to look for....that went into the weapons lcker..

Anti - Dragon.

Well there is always 4.Qxd4

click for larger view

or 6.Nd5!?

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Nd5

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Scored OK OTB in the 80's and 90's with this. No losses, a few draws, some better player on the day wins and a couple of under 10 move mates.

If they take e-pawn then Bb5+ and Qe2. and I've mated a few OTB (two in serious games!) and quite a few more in blitz with the Nf6. v the pinned e7 pawn pattern.

The basic trap being....

6.... Nxe4 7. Bb5+ Bd7 8. Qe2 Nc5 9. Nf6.

click for larger view

Fair comment about Dearing's book (I wasn't aware he'd done a follow up). I haven't worked through much of the mass of variations, but the introductory chapter is very good: the thematic ideas clearly laid out, and some entertaining games to illustrate. I'll seek out Miles's book - that sounds great.

Yes, I saw the interview, and I re-watched it and gave you the exact quotes.

1. I never said anything about him saying it was or wasn't theory.

Apparently you are either deaf or dumb, because this is what Nakamura claimed after the game.

If he thought the sacrifice was sound and as excellent as you claim he would have been ecstatic after the game; but he said he did not deserve praise, and seem relieved rather than excited.

Check the database. See how many games with that exact position have a rook sacrifice.

Yes, that's why Nakamura, a far stronger player, was adamant about giving praise to the sacrifice...

Cheers, K>

Bg5 is a main line
The normal reply is ..Rc5, protecting the Q on a5 against the positional threat