fpawn chess blog: Nakamura Draws Anand with Dutch Defense!

Wednesday, January 20

Nakamura Draws Anand with Dutch Defense!

(Nakamura and Anand analyze after the game. Photo from Chessbase website.)

The brash American kid faces the polished World Champion. Such was the contrast earlier this week when US Champion Hikaru Nakamura squared off against World Champion Viswanathan Anand at the famous Corus tournament in Wijk aan Zee, Holland. The stage was set for the veteran to teach his young challenger a painful lesson.

Alas, that was not to be! Nakamura, playing with the black pieces, surprised his opponent on move 1 with the Dutch Defense 1.d4 f5, playing the Leningrad variation. Theory said that such a bold opening was suspicious at the highest levels, except in rapid or blitz games. The Dutch is a rare bird at the Grandmaster level. However, I beg to differ with the theoretical assessment after about ten years of experience. Apparently, so does Nakamura. In fact, he has already essayed the Dutch quite a few times in American weekend tournaments, but facing Anand is certainly a step upwards!

How did he do? Play through the game below to find out! Black chose a setup of d5, Nc6 and Ne4 to combat White's double fianchetto. The computers gave White a modest advantage around move 15, but by move 19 the pressure had dissipated. Definitely a 33 move draw with Black against a player of Anand's caliber counts as a success.

Nakamura will face more challenges at the Corus tournament. He plays against top rated Magnus Carlsen on Thursday, early leader Alexei Shirov on Saturday and former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik on Sunday. Watch the games live on ICC ChessFM beginning at 4:30am PST; if you wake up at 7:00am, you'll still get to see the climax of the round.

Corus, Wijk aan Zee
Anand, Viswanathan (2790) vs. Nakamura, Hikaru (2708)


1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

h

g

f

e

d

c

b

a

0

(white to move)

1.	d4	f5
2.	g3	Nf6
3.	Bg2	g6
4.	Nf3	Bg7
5.	O-O	O-O
6.	b4	Nc6
7.	a3	d5
8.	Bb2	Ne4
9.	Nbd2	Be6
10.	e3	a5
11.	b5	Na7
12.	Qe2	a4
13.	Rfc1	c6
14.	bxc6	bxc6
15.	c4	Nc8
16.	Bc3	Ncd6
17.	cxd5	Nxc3
18.	Rxc3	Bxd5
19.	Ne5	Bxg2
20.	Kxg2	Bxe5
21.	dxe5	Qa5
22.	Rac1	Qxe5
23.	Rxc6	Qb2
24.	Qd3	Rfd8
25.	Rc1c2	Qb5
26.	Qxb5	Nxb5
27.	Nb1	Rd3
28.	Nc3	Nxc3
29.	Rc2xc3	Rdd8
30.	Rb6	Kf7
31.	Rb4	Rd2
32.	Rcc4	Rd3
33.	Rxa4	Rxa3