Hikaru Nakamura wins against Danil Dubov on Magnus Final Tour tournament

 Hikaru Nakamura played a quite instructive game against Daniil Dubov and scored a key win in his match.

This is a rapid game played online in the chess24.com chess24 Magnus Finals tournament, in August 2020.

The Sveshnikov Variation has become very popular in master level chess

Hikaru is White, and Dubov is Black.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7

Nakamura continued with 10Bf6

They reached the following position after Black played 19..Qe8 to prevent b4-b5

White has a passed pawn on the b column and played 20 Be2. Dubov started counterplay with f7-f5 which is standard in this sicilian opening.

Eventually, they reached the following with white to play 

Hikaru played 31 Ne3! the best move of the game. It deprives black from the bishop pair and targets the d6 pawn. Also the knight will jump to c4-a5-c6 which will be hard to defend against, as the dark square bishop is weaker than White's knight

and here is the final key moment, White to Play

Here Hikaru played 38 Rdc1! with the idea Nc6. Black tried 38..Bf4. Hikaru continued 39 Qc8+ Rd8 40 Qxd8 queen sacrifice with advantage but either 39 Qc7 or 39Nc6 was winning on the spot .

Here's the full replay

and the game notation (PGN)

[Event "Carlsen Tour Final 2020"]

[Site "chess24.com INT"]

[Date "2020.08.10"]

[Round "1.23"]

[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]

[Black "Dubov, Daniil"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "B33"]

[WhiteElo "2736"]

[BlackElo "2699"]

 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4

cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6

Bxf6 11. c3 Rb8 12. Nc2 Bg5 13. a4 bxa4 14. Ncb4 Nxb4 15. cxb4 Bd7 16. Bxa6 O-O

17. b3 axb3 18. Qxb3 Kh8 19. O-O Qe8 20. Be2 f5 21. exf5 Bxf5 22. b5 Be6 23.

Ra6 Qf7 24. Bc4 Rfd8 25. Rd1 e4 26. b6 Rf8 27. Ra2 Bd8 28. Rb2 Qh5 29. Qc2 Bf5

30. Qd2 Be6 31. Ne3 Bxc4 32. Nxc4 Bf6 33. Rbb1 Rfd8 34. b7 d5 35. Na5 Be5 36.

g3 Qg6 37. Qc2 Rd6 38. Rdc1 Bf4 39. Qc8+ Rd8 40. Qxd8+ Rxd8 41. Rc8 Qe8 42.

Rxd8 Qxd8 43. gxf4 1-0

Nakamura-Dubov Chessable chess24.com GroupA analysis

Round 10 : Hikaru wins against Dubov and qualifies on June 22, 2020.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Bc4 O-O 8. Bb3 Re8 9. f4 d6 10. Qf3 Bd7 11. O-O Ng4 12. Nxc6 bxc6 13. Bd2 d5 14. f5 Ne5 15. Qf2 e6 16. f6 Ng4 17. Qf3 Qxf6 18. Qxg4 Qd4+ 19. Rf2 f5 20. Qf3 fxe4 21. Qf7+ Kh8 22. Qxd7 Rad8 23. Qxc6 Rf8 24. Be1 Qe3 25. Qxe6 Bd4 26. Nxd5 Qe2 27. Qe5+ 1-0

Great Attacking skills by Hikaru who deviated from previous games with 9.f2-f4!?

Dubov-Nakamura Round 10: Chessable Group A

also available

Previous Game on this opening: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/lindores-abbey-rapid-challenge-2020-final-8/3/3/4

Novelty prepared by GM Riazantsev, " Game 4 was actually a very important moment, and first of all I want to praise my friend and coach Sasha Riazantsev, who managed, while I was losing like an idiot with White, to come up with this completely new idea of c5, so it was just prepared by him between the games and I think he did a brilliant job"

chess24.com Dubov Interview Lindores Abbey with links to sicilian dragon opening

Chessable Chess24.com Round 1 : Group A and Group B highlights

Key positions focus Round 1 Group A and B


Official Website here



Games featuring Magnus Carlsen, Vladislav Artemiev, Daniil Dubov, Maxime Vachier Lagrave
chess24.com chessable rapid online tournament

Armageddon Dubov-Nakamura chess24 LindoresAbbey #Heritage Chess Key Moments with Analysis

Dubov is white and must win. Nakamura is Black and must draw or win. Opening was 1e4 e5 2Nc3 Vienna Opening. 

Position 1

Here the normal variation should be 12Nf4 Nf4 12Bf4 0-0 13 Qh5 with a += assessment. white's a bit better but the game goes on. Instead, Daniil Dubov chose 12.Bd5! after thinking for 30 seconds which brings us here 

Position 2 

 Now Black had to play 12..fg3+ 13 Ng3 Bd5 14 Qh5 Ne7 with White being better. the point of white's play is that Bd5 and Bc5 are hanging while Black hasn't castled yet. 15 Nd5 Qd5 16 Qd5 Nd5 17Rf5! 0-0-0 18c4! wins the bishop in c5. Black has only two pawns for a piece. But Nakamura doesn't sense the danger and replied 12..Bd5 instantly . He is definitely trying to play fast the opening. Logically the game goes on as this from diagram 12..Bd5?? 13 Nf4 

 Position 3 

 White is attacking the bishop in d5. if you retreat: 13..Be6 14 Ne6 fe6 15Qh5+ Kd7 16 Qc5 wins a piece. The bishop on c5 is loose. So Hikaru spent 15 seconds and played 13..Ne7 on which Dubov replied 14 Qh5 c6 15Ncxd5 cd5 which brings us to the final position 

Position 4 

Can you spot the winning move ? with simple moves, Dubov achieved a winning position in 16 moves. Answer is 16Ne6!

Position 5

 Black is lost here. 16..Qd6 17Ng7+Kd7 18 Rf7! and White converted easily. Replay full game here.

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=yCQrbjry9upl44yoJtmIS6Si6WRQRfF9UrjdPyKspFJnpYXHqRk7LTjHFqt++hk7

Dubov won because he sensed this was a critical position at move 12 and invested 30 seconds to calculate and choose a dangerous move. Nakamura played instantly the obvious reply but this is lost by force. Speed is important but speed at all cost wasn't the right strategy. 

Kudos to Dubov who won the event, after Nakamura eliminated Carlsen in the semi-finals. Dubov had to win against Sergey Karjakin who was also very strong in this format.

Armageddon Game: Dubov wins against Nakamura #LindoresAbbey # Heritagechess

Lindores Abbey Heritage Chess Final Game 5 : Dubov upsets Nakamura by winning Armageddon Game.

 He tried 1e4 e5 2Nc3 Vienna Opening and reached a winning position after 16 moves.

 

Nakamura tried to play too quickly and spent no time on 12..Bd5?? which loses by force. Instead Dubov invested 30 seconds into playing 12Bd5! which was a strong move and not the natural and obvious 12Nf4. 

He saw this would cause problems for Black who hasn't castled. Nakamura failed to sense this was already a key moment and had to solve his issue around being behind in development.

 

Dubov-Nakamura Final Game 5- 3/6/2020

also available here

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=yCQrbjry9upl44yoJtmIS6Si6WRQRfF9UrjdPyKspFJnpYXHqRk7LTjHFqt++hk7

Match2 HeritageChess Lindores Abbey Rapid: Nakamura-Dubov Game 1 June 2nd 2020

Lindores Abbey Heritage Chess Final Game 1 : Dubov upsets Nakamura by winning first game with Black. Sicilian Alapin B22

Dubov-Nakamura Final Game 1- 2/6/2020

also available

Dubov-Nakamura Game 4 (1/2-1/2) on Match 2 : Dutch Opening By Hikaru

Lindores Abbey Heritage Chess Final Game 4 : Hikaru must win with Black but was held to a draw by Dubov

Dubov-Nakamura Finale Game 4- 2/6/2020

also available