London Rd7: Gelfand leads, Mamedyarov a half point behind

[Event "FIDE Grand Prix - London 2012"] [Site "London"] [Date "2012.09.28"] [Round "7"] [White "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E68"] [WhiteElo "2729"] [BlackElo "2783"] [Annotator "Ramirez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "85"] [EventDate "2012.??.??"] [EventCountry "ENG"] {Mamedyarov and Nakamura are two players that have been featured a lot in the game of the days of this tournament. The reason is simple: some players play more interesting chess than others. And when they clash, usually something exciting will happen.} 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d6 6. O-O Nbd7 7. Nc3 e5 8. e4 exd4 9. Nxd4 Re8 10. h3 Nc5 11. Re1 h6 {The point of this move is not obvious. In some ways it is simply a waiting move. b4 is not immediately a threat, so a5 is not necessary right away, and b5 has not been weakened.} (11... a5 12. Ndb5 $5 {Has been giving Black headaches.}) (11... Bd7 {is interesting.}) 12. Kh2 {White simply responds with a waiting move.} Bd7 13. Rb1 a6 14. a3 Qc8 15. f4 Rb8 (15... Nh5 $5) 16. b4 Ne6 17. Nf3 {This position is, at least to me, very aesthetically pleasing. Notice that White has a strong space advantage, but that comes with many weaknesses. For this reason Black wants to trade some pieces to be able to open lines to take advantage of those weaknesses. If Mamedyarov manages to not trade any pieces at all, it will become difficult for Hikaru to find moves - a typical Fianchetto Variation in the KID!} c5 $5 {Somewhat committing, Black instantly looks for counterplay.} (17... Ng4+ 18. hxg4 Bxc3 19. Bd2 $14 {Has the disadvantage that the pawn going from h3 to g4 is actually something White welcomes.}) 18. e5 $1 dxe5 19. Nxe5 cxb4 20. axb4 Nf8 21. Bb2 Be6 22. Nd5 {In many ways, White has gotten exactly what he wanted. His powerful knights in the center are obviously better than their counterparts. Black would love to eliminate this knights as soon as possible, but doing so right now would mean that White would have a powerful passed pawn on the d-file. Notice that some of the preparation moves that Black has done have been relatively futile. The major pieces are discoordinated and the minor pieces have no activity. It's difficult to get Hikaru in such a passive position!} Qd8 23. Qb3 h5 24. Rbd1 Bxd5 25. cxd5 h4 {Nakamura tries to complicate matters, but Mamedyarov doesn't fall for this.} 26. d6 $1 (26. g4 $6 {I think many masters would try to avoid complications by pushing the pawn forward - however} Qd6 $1 {emphasizes the weaknesses left by g4. Now Nc4 is not an option, and the pawn is at least temporarily blockaded.}) 26... hxg3+ 27. Qxg3 {The intruder must be taken} Nh5 28. Qg4 f5 29. Qf3 Qh4 30. d7 Red8 (30... Re6 $5 {is an unnatural suggestion by the computer. d8 is still defended, and in some ways many threats have been parried, and it's up to white to make progress. The computer suggests the insane Nxg6, which leads to a bunch of complex variations not easily seen by a human.}) 31. Rf1 Kh7 32. Qe3 Qe7 33. Qc5 Qxc5 (33... Bf6 {was maybe a bit more resilient, but Black's position is obviously bad.}) 34. bxc5 Ne6 35. Ba3 Nhxf4 36. Nf7 Rf8 (36... Nxg2 37. Nxd8 Rxd8 38. Kxg2 Nd4 39. Rd3 Rxd7 40. Bb2 $18 { wins easily for White since the knight cannot be rescued.}) 37. Rxf4 $1 { Without this tactic, White would have had very little. The knight is stuck defending d8, so the overload works.} Rxf7 38. Rh4+ Kg8 39. Bd5 {The coup de grace. The rest is very easy. A very powerful game by the Azeri. Hikaru has just not been allowed to create play and complications in this tournament, and this has cost him a bunch of points. However he is known to rebound furiously, so watch out for him going for the throat in the next few games!} Nd8 40. Re1 Bf6 41. Re8+ Kg7 42. Rhh8 Be5+ 43. Rxe5 1-0