GM Shulman (2623) – GM Nakamura (2697) [E15]
24.08.2008 – Montreal – Round 1
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.b3 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 c6 8.Bc3 d5 9.Ne5 0–0 10.Nd2 Nfd7 11.Nd3 b5 12.c5 e5 13.dxe5 Nxc5 14.Nxc5 Bxc5 15.b4 Bb6 16.Nb3 Qe7 17.f4 Rd8 18.Nd4 Bc8 19.0–0 a5 20.a3 f5 21.Kh1 axb4 22.axb4 Rxa1 23.Qxa1 Bxd4 24.Bxd4 Be6 25.Bc5 Qb7 26.g4 Nd7 27.Bd6 Nb6 28.Qb1 Qd7 29.Bh3 fxg4 30.Bg2 Bf5 31.e4 dxe4 32.Bxe4 g6 33.Re1 Qe6 34.Bc7 Rd2 35.Bxb6 g3 36.Kg1 Bxe4 37.Qxe4 Qh3 38.hxg3 Game drawn ½–½
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Round 1 results:
Varuzhan Akobian 1-0 Igor Zugic
Yury Shulman ½-½ Hikaru Nakamura
Anton Kovalyov ½-½ Igor Nataf
Sébastien Mazé 0-1 Mark Bluvshtein
Thomas Roussel-Roozmon 0-1 Pascal Charbonneau
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Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
Something can’t be right…seems that Naka can win the game with 38…Qh2+ 39.Kf1 Rd1+ 40.Qe1 (only move) Rxe1+, wins Shulman’s queen! What is wrong here?
OK! I see now…Shulman’s R on e1 disappeared (bug)!
Go Yury!!!
Nadal, Federer, or Djokovic?
This from Nakamuras Blog
Well, hmm, where to start? I arrived in Montreal the afternoon before yesterday on a surprisingly short flight from New York (1 1/2 hours). Overall the first day was nice as I am staying with the Charbonneau’s, his great sisters and mum who I have not seen in years. So I had a pretty good day to start, but that was before the tournament began. Yesterday, I was paired with Black against fellow American Grandmaster and current US Champion Yury Shulman. Although I was feeling good for most of the day, I proceeded to play the game like a total beginner. It started when I simply forgot a move order in the opening by playing 9…0-0? instead of 9…Nfd7 which was correct. Unfortunately for me, Yury found the right idea by playing 10.Nd2 Nfd7 11.Nd3! The point being that unlike the main variation with 9…Nfd7 10.Nd3 dxc4 where I am up a pawn, here the knight on d2 protects c4. However, despite my horrible mistake, I proceeded to find some play with 10…b5 11.c5 e5!?. Later on, I got a slightly worse position and was worse until Shulman decided to become overly aggressive (after declining a draw offer) by playing 26.g4?! following it up with 27.Bh3 which was even worse. After this I obtained a completely winning position only to overlook that in the final set of moves with 33…Qe6 followed by 34…Rd2 and 35…g3, that it leads to absolutely nothing as in the final position Qh2 Kf1 Qf2?? Bxf2 seems to win a free queen. Alas, not a very inspiring game for either of us, but a fair result. Today I will play GM Akobian, so hopefully I can play better and have a good result.
Until next time!
Hikaru
Getting to 2000