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Hikaru Nakamura vs Viswanathan Anand
World Championship Candidates (2016), Moscow RUS, rd 12, Mar-25
English Opening: King's English. Four Knights Variation Fianchetto Lines (A29)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 14 OF 15 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Mar-26-16  RookFile: I guess Anand took a gamble in this game and it didn't work out.
Mar-26-16  dynamica: After move 10.......g5
11.b4!
12.Bb2!!
Mar-26-16  activechess55: Anyway black had already made 10...g5 error. So he could try 13...Nb8 winning knight on h4. I guess due black's weakened k-side and black's lack of development, white would get upper hand anyway. That way at least, black has some material.
Mar-26-16  mkrk17: <John Abraham: Even though I am a devout Anand fan I must admit that he does not deserve to win this tournament after losing three games (vs Karjakin, Caruana, and Nakamura).>

Carlsen similarly lost 2 games in the candidates 2013.

Mar-26-16  rogge: <thickhead: <rogge:<P in Giri's territory> That's rude.> What is so rude about it?>

All right, it's a bad joke if I have to explain it.

Mar-26-16  Hesam7: I have seen people suggest 13...Ne5?! as an improvement over <13...Nd4>. However analysis shows that Anand's chosen move was in fact better. The problem is that he did not follow up with the best defense. After <14 d3> he had to play <14...ed3!>


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White's problem is that he has to avoid the doubled pawn pair on d4 & d5: 15 ed4? gh4 16 Qd3 Qg5 and those two bishops look really bad (White is worse here). 15 Bd4 is better but after 15...Bd4 16 ed4 gh4 17 Qd3 Qf6 the game is about equal. Finally 15 Nf3?! runs into 15...Nc2!. So White's only move here is <15 Qd3> and Black keeps the pressure on d4 by <15...Qf6!>


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Still using the positional threat of creating the d4-d5 doubled pawn pair. <16 Rfd1 > Natural. <16...gh4 17 Bd4 Qg5>


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Black is worse but he is far from lost.

Mar-26-16  Ulhumbrus: One good reason for not attacking White's knight by 10...g5 is that Nakamura has allowed it.

10...g5 traps White's knight. The reason it is not good is that Black is not able to accept the knight as White gains a winning attack. The exposure of Black's game is of greater value to White than the knight.

In his book <Chess fundamentals> Capablanca says of the move 10 Nd5 in the game W Winter vs Capablanca, 1919 <White falls into the trap. Only lack of experience can account for this move. White should have considered that a player of my experience and stregth could never allow such a move if it were good.>

With reference to the game W Winter vs Lasker, 1936 William Winter said < His attitude to chess is well exemplified by a game which I played against him in the Nottingham International Tournament of 1936. After over half an hour's thought I placed a Knight on a square on which it could be taken by a pawn. Lasker replied instantaneously with a quiet defensive move and I soon found that all I had gained by my "brilliancy" was the loss of valuable thinking time.

After the game was over a spectator asked him what would have happened had he taken the Knight. "I do not know," he replied. "I was playing a strong master and if a strong master thinks for half an hour and then plays a piece where I can take it, I think that it will not be healthy for me to take, and I let it alone."> (William Winter, Kings of Chess)

Anand probably knew this piece of wisdom but it may be that in the nervous tension of the concluding rounds he did not remember it.

Mar-26-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <blue wave> <Hesam>. Thanks for your posts. Nakamura made quite a few good moves in this game, but the two best, two I would never ever find were 14.d3 and 23.Qc4.
Mar-26-16  CowChewCud: The English Four Knights Kingside Fianchetto has been used on many occasions in this tournament. I think the choice favors people who feel at home in both dynamic and closed positions as the game can transition from one to another rather easily.
Mar-26-16  CowChewCud: <The Focus> <Nakamura is Anand's "difficult opponent.">

Yes, it seems like just as Anand was beginning to overcome his previous "difficult opponent" Aronian, a new one emerged on to the scene.

It seems to happen to him frequently. It used to be so with him and Morozevich, then with Nepomniatchtchi, then Aronian, and now Nakamura.

Mar-26-16  not not: Anand keeps playing the same opening setup in the same stubborn way with the same results: he keeps giving either bishop pair or center, or both - and loses;

Kasparov would understand, adapt and change whole opening setup after first or second loss; Kasparov always showing great pragmatism like Fisher who dropped sicilian as black straight after first defeat to Spassky

Anand just getting farmed

Mar-26-16  CowChewCud: 1. c4 seems to be the surprise weapon of choice for people in need of a desperate win and who mostly open with e4 or d4, as the game can metamorphose easily to accommodate fluid playing styles.

Kasparov vs Karpov, 1987

Mar-26-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  tamar: <keypusher:...Nakamura made quite a few good moves in this game, but the two best, two I would never ever find were 14.d3 and 23.Qc4.>

I agree. Fantastic transformation out of nowhere, which obviously stunned Anand, who had pinned his hopes on the otherwise ingenious 13...Nd4.

Nakamura was proud of finding 14 d3. He said he tried to make 14 f3 work, and couldn't, then discovered 14 d3.

The pawn which had blocked his development continues its remarkable career with dxe4-e5-exd6.

Mar-26-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  Domdaniel: <CowChewCud> You have opened one of your first nine posts with the dreaded - and pretty much unforgivable - term "lol".

You are hereby consigned to outer darkness, along with all your sockpuppets, ruminants, and stomachs.

Don't hurry back.

Mar-26-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  Domdaniel: <Ulhumbrus> - <10...g5 traps White's knight. The reason it is not good is that Black is not able to accept the knight as White gains a winning attack. The exposure of Black's game is of greater value to White than the knight.>

This is a case, I think, where it is better to offer concrete analysis than precepts and principles. *Why* exactly is the exposure of Black's game of greater value to White than the Knight?

<"I was playing a strong master and if a strong master thinks for half an hour and then plays a piece where I can take it, I think that it will not be healthy for me to take, and I let it alone."> I made precisely this mistake against IM Alex Lopez in a tournament game a couple of years ago. In a sharp position - I was Black in a French Tarrasch - I could see a line that apparently won a piece for two pawns. But I refused to believe it -- I thought there had to be something bad for me in the complications. But there wasn't. Sadly, I played a 2nd-best move which should have been equal, and wound up losing the ending by a single tempo.

The moral? Don't trust your opponent, no matter how strong they are.

Mar-26-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  Domdaniel: <Ulhumbrus> Capablanca and the other leading players from the early years of the 20th century were immensely strong players. But - and it's a very big 'but' - chess has changed (fundamentally) in recent years.
Mar-26-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  tamar: Nakamura at the press conference:
<I prepared this line before the game. I was essentially gambling that Vishy would not be prepared for it and would play more human-looking moves.

Because already...in this position


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it is already critical and here Vishy played 11...Bb6, and I think after this, it is probably already close to lost.

I know already the computer is already giving only this move 11...gxh4 as okay, 12 Bb2 and something like this 12...Nxd5 13 cxd5 Ne5 14 bxc5 and 14...Bg4 and it is a very strange position- 15 Qc2 Nf3+ 16 Bxf3 Bxf3 and something like 17 h3 or 17 cxd first-I think it's about equal.>

Mar-26-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  Domdaniel: <I was essentially gambling that Vishy would not be prepared for it and would play more human-looking moves.>

... which is true of many elite games now.

Mar-26-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <tamar: <keypusher:...Nakamura made quite a few good moves in this game, but the two best, two I would never ever find were 14.d3 and 23.Qc4.> I agree. Fantastic transformation out of nowhere, which obviously stunned Anand, who had pinned his hopes on the otherwise ingenious 13...Nd4.>

Yes, as Hesam pointed out, ...Nd4 was a terrific idea that deserved a better fate.

Mar-26-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: keypusher: <Ulhumbrus> <DomDaniel>

Also, here are a couple of examples of Lasker accepting piece sacrifices obviously prepared in advance.

Steinitz vs Lasker, 1896

Schlechter vs Lasker, 1899

Mar-27-16  Hesam7: <Nakamura: I know already the computer is already giving only this move 11...gxh4 as okay, 12 Bb2 and something like this 12...Nxd5 13 cxd5 Ne5 14 bxc5 and 14...Bg4 and it is a very strange position- 15 Qc2 Nf3+ 16 Bxf3 Bxf3 and something like 17 h3 or 17 cxd first-I think it's about equal.>

I am not sure about equality Black is better at the end of the line given by Nakamura. Here is the position after 16...Bf3:


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17 h3 hg3 18 fg3 (forced) 18...Qg5 19 Kh2 (forced) 19...Qd5


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This is better for Black. Note that his other suggestion is hardly an improvement: 17 cd6 cd6 18 h3 hg3 19 fg3 Qg5 20 Kh2 Qd5. You get the same diagram with the c-pawns removed.

Mar-28-16  Ulhumbrus: The move 11...Bb6 is the move that attempts to win a piece and which, according to Nakamura, gives Black an almost lost game. An immediate capture 11...gxh4 does not win a piece as Black's bishop is attacked.

Nakamura indicated that Anand walked into his computer preparation and got a position where human moves were insufficient and computer moves were necessary.

Lasker's and Capablanca's advice is valid: Anand needed to consider the possibility that he was walking into Nakamura's computer preparation by playing 10...g5

Mar-29-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <Lasker's and Capablanca's advice is valid: Anand needed to consider the possibility that he was walking into Nakamura's computer preparation by playing 10...g5>

Some questions for you, Ulhumbrus: Do you think Anand is @#$%* retarded? Do you really think it didn't occur to him that he was walking into prep? Just like Capablanca did against Marshall -- and won? Just like Lasker did against Steinitz and Schlechter -- and won?

Why do you write about GMs if you think they're such morons?

Mar-29-16  SetNoEscapeOn: <Domdaniel>

<The moral? Don't trust your opponent, no matter how strong they are.>

That's it. Moreover: "trusting" in general, rather than thinking, is one of the hallmarks of a weak chess player. Not beginners, but many of those who never break out of the 1200 - 1800 range. They often make moves based on something they "learned" one way or another: "doubled pawns are bad," "each piece should move once in the opening before any other," "don't move the pawns in front of your king's castled position." Etc. etc.

And the result is that they never find truly strong moves (which always stem from the specifics of the position, not a "lookup"). They may have tactical skills, they may execute sensible plans and calculate decently and know openings, but they never beat strong players.

Mar-29-16  SetNoEscapeOn: Mind you, better players make moves for those reasons too. The difference is that they know when to use them flat out, when to take them into consideration, and when to ignore them completely because of something more important.
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