Again three decisive games in Reggio Emilia, Nakamura leads

In a direct encounter between the tournament leaders, Hikaru Nakamura beat Vassily Ivanchuk on Saturday in Reggio Emilia to reach 11 points out of 5 games. Alexander Morozevich is in second place after beating his compatriot Nikita Vitiugov while Anish Giri won his first game, against Fabiano Caruana.

Nakamura beats Ivanchuk, with some luck | Photo © Reggio Emilia

Sometimes you just need a bit of luck. Hikaru Nakamura is the sole leader after five rounds in Reggio Emilia after his opponent and co-leader Vassily Ivanchuk outplayed him but then missed the winning move (and then also the drawing move).

[Event "54th Reggio Emilia"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia ITA"]
[Date "2011.12.31"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Black "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A22"]
[WhiteElo "2758"]
[BlackElo "2775"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "113"]
[EventDate "2011.12.27"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. g3 Bb4 4. Nf3 Bxc3 5. bxc3 d6 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Re8 8.
Ne1 c6 $146 (8... Nc6 9. e4 Nd7 10. d3 Nc5 11. f4 exf4 12. Bxf4 f5 {1-0 (25)
Sengupta,D (2563)-Bryzgalin,K (2469)/Pardubice 2011}) 9. d3 h6 10. Rb1 d5 11.
Qb3 b6 12. cxd5 cxd5 13. Nc2 Nc6 14. h3 Bb7 15. Nb4 {This might be inaccurate.}
Na5 $1 16. Qb2 d4 $1 {A strong response.} 17. c4 ({Also after} 17. Bxb7 dxc3
18. Qxc3 Nxb7 {Black looks slightly better due to White's odd knight on b4 and,
more importantly, his weakened kingside.}) 17... Rc8 18. Bxb7 Nxb7 19. e4 (19.
Bd2 e4 {is no fun either.}) 19... dxe3 20. Bxe3 Qd7 21. Kh2 Nd6 22. Rbc1 Nf5
23. Rfd1 h5 $1 {Going for the king.} (23... Nxe3 24. fxe3 a5 25. Nc2 e4 {was
also strong.}) 24. Qe2 h4 25. Nc2 (25. g4 {basically drops a pawn after} Nxe3
26. Qxe3 Qd6 $1 27. Rb1 e4+ 28. Kg2 exd3 29. Qxd3 Qxd3 30. Rxd3 Rxc4) 25... b5
$5 {Playing on both sides of the board.} ({Putting the queen on the h2-b8
diagona with} 25... Qc7 {was another option.}) 26. Qf3 bxc4 27. dxc4 hxg3+ 28.
fxg3 Qe6 29. c5 Red8 30. Bf2 e4 31. Qb3 Qe5 32. Ne3 Rxd1 33. Qxd1 Rxc5 34. Nc4
$2 (34. Rxc5 Qxc5 35. Qc2 $1 Qxc2 36. Nxc2 {offers serious drawing chances.})
34... Qc7 35. Bxc5 Qxg3+ 36. Kh1 Qxh3+ 37. Kg1 Qg3+ $2 ({Winning was} 37... Ng4
$1 38. Qe2 Nh4 39. Nd2 {and now the important check} Qg3+ $1 40. Kh1 {and then}
Nf3 41. Nxf3 exf3 42. Qe8+ Kh7 {and there's nothing better than} 43. Rc2 f2 44.
Rxf2 Nxf2+ 45. Bxf2 Qxf2 $19) 38. Kf1 Ng4 39. Qd8+ Kh7 40. Qd5 Qf3+ $2 ({There
was still a (very difficult) way to draw:} 40... Nh2+ 41. Ke2 Nd4+ $1 42. Qxd4
(42. Bxd4 Qf3+ 43. Kd2 (43. Ke1 Qf1+ 44. Kd2 Qd3+) 43... Qd3+ 44. Ke1 Qf1+)
42... Qg4+ $1 43. Ke3 (43. Kf2 $2 Qf3+ 44. Ke1 (44. Kg1 Qg3+ 45. Kh1 Nf3 46.
Qxe4+ g6) 44... Qf1+ 45. Kd2 Nf3+) 43... Qg3+ 44. Kxe4 Qf3+ 45. Ke5 Qf6+ 46.
Ke4 $11 (46. Kd5 $2 Qe6#)) 41. Ke1 {Now White can defend.} Ng3 42. Rc2 f5 43.
Kd2 Nf6 44. Qd8 Ne2 45. Ke1 f4 46. Rxe2 Qc3+ 47. Kd1 Qxc4 48. Qd4 Qb5 49. Rh2+
Kg6 50. Kc2 a5 51. Be7 Qc6+ 52. Qc5 Qa4+ 53. Kc1 f3 54. Bxf6 Kxf6 55. Rd2 g6
56. Rd6+ Kg7 57. Rd8 1-0

The American tweeted about the game:

Terribly played game by both of us, but great for the fans. This video pretty much sums up how I feel as 2011 ends!

It's really nice to have players tweeting during tournaments as it's such an easy way to get closer to the fans. Anish Giri sent something out too, after his game against Fabiano Caruana:

A victory with Petroff to conclude the year- what can be better! Happy New Year! :)

To lose a game one needs to make at least one mistake, and the more so with White against the Petroff. Somehow things went wrong for Caruana very quickly - like against Ivanchuk, his opening was very unsuccessful.

[Event "54th Reggio Emilia"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia ITA"]
[Date "2011.12.31"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C42"]
[WhiteElo "2727"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "66"]
[EventDate "2011.12.27"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. c4 {A rare
move.} (7. O-O {is the main line.}) 7... Bb4+ 8. Nbd2 O-O 9. O-O Bf5 10. Nb3 $6
$146 {An unsuccessful novelty.} ({Better are} 10. a3 $5 {or}) (10. c5 Bxd2 11.
Bxd2 Nc6 {1/2-1/2 Schmittdiel,E (2435)-Keitlinghaus,L (2500)/Germany 1995/
GER-chT}) 10... dxc4 11. Bxc4 Nc6 {Black has equalized comfortably.} 12. Bd3
Bg6 13. a3 Bd6 14. Re1 f5 15. Qc2 Kh8 16. Be3 Qf6 17. Nc5 Bxc5 18. dxc5 Rae8
19. Rad1 Bh5 20. Be2 f4 21. Bc1 {With 22.b4 and 23.Bb2 things would be quite
alright for White, so Black prevents just that.} ({Perhaps} 21. Bd4 Nxd4 22.
Nxd4 Bg6 23. Qc4 Re5 24. b4 {was a better try.}) 21... a5 $1 {Now White lacks
a good plan.} 22. Qc4 Re7 23. h3 Rfe8 24. Kf1 $6 (24. Rf1 {was in fact the
only move in the position!}) 24... h6 (24... Nxf2 $1 {was already possible,
and winning, but White can hardly do anything against it.}) 25. Qc2 Nxf2 $1 {
Devastating.} 26. Kxf2 Bxf3 27. gxf3 (27. Bxf3 Qh4+ {and mate follows soon.})
27... Qh4+ 28. Kf1 Qxh3+ 29. Kf2 Qg3+ 30. Kf1 Re5 31. Bxf4 Qxf4 32. Qc4 Re4 33.
Qb5 Qg3 0-1

Alexander Morozevich is in sole second place after beating his compatriot Nikita Vitiugov. He always kept pressure on his opponent's position and a temporary pawn sac by Vitiugov didn't help either.

[Event "54th Reggio Emilia"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia ITA"]
[Date "2011.12.31"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Black "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E39"]
[WhiteElo "2762"]
[BlackElo "2729"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "81"]
[EventDate "2011.12.27"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 c5 5. dxc5 O-O 6. a3 Bxc5 7. Nf3 b6 8. e4
Nc6 9. b4 (9. Bd3 Ng4 10. O-O Qc7 11. Nb5 Qb8 12. h3 Nge5 13. Nxe5 Nxe5 14. Be2
a6 15. Nc3 Qc7 16. Kh1 Bb7 17. f4 Nc6 18. Bd3 Nd4 19. Qd1 f5 20. b4 Be7 21. Bb2
fxe4 22. Bxe4 Nf5 {Morozevich,A (2747)-Jakovenko,D (2671)/Pamplona 2006}) 9...
Nd4 10. Qd2 $146 (10. Qd3 Nxf3+ 11. gxf3 Be7 12. e5 Ne8 13. Rg1 Bb7 14. Ne4
Bxe4 15. Qxe4 a5 16. b5 f5 17. Qe2 Rc8 18. Bb2 {Marcetic,N (2295)-Cabrilo,G
(2475)/Mataruska Banja 1997}) 10... Nxf3+ 11. gxf3 Be7 12. Rg1 Kh8 13. Bb2 a5
14. b5 d6 15. O-O-O Rg8 16. Kb1 Bb7 17. h4 Qc7 18. h5 h6 (18... Nxh5 19. Rh1
Nf6 20. Bd3 {looks dangerous.}) 19. Na4 e5 20. Qe3 Bd8 21. Bd3 Nd7 22. f4 Bf6
23. fxe5 Bxe5 ({After} 23... dxe5 24. Bc2 $1 {(threatening 25.Rxd7)} Rad8 {
White might still go} 25. Rxd7 $5 Rxd7 26. Nxb6 Rdd8 27. c5 {with nice
compensation.}) 24. Bxe5 Nxe5 ({Sacrificing a pawn, but here} 24... dxe5 {
might have been better.}) 25. Nxb6 Rae8 26. Nd5 Bxd5 27. exd5 Nxd3 28. Qxd3 Re5
29. Rde1 $1 {Control is more important than material.} Rxh5 30. Qd4 {White
keeps the advantage thanks to his protected passed pawn.} Qc8 31. Kb2 Kh7 $6 (
31... Rh3 $5) 32. Re7 $1 Rf5 33. f4 g5 34. fxg5 Rgxg5 35. Rge1 Rg4 36. Qd3 Kg7
37. Qc3+ Kg6 38. b6 Qc5 ({Black should have tried} 38... Rf2+ 39. Ka1 (39. Kb3
$4 a4+) 39... Rgg2 {but maybe he foresaw the tactic} 40. R1e6+ $1 fxe6 41. Rg7+
Kf5 42. Rxg2 Rxg2 43. Qf3+ {and the queen ending is winning.}) 39. b7 Rg2+ 40.
Ka1 Rf3 41. b8=Q (41. b8=Q Rxc3 {allows mate, starting with} 42. Qg8+) 1-0

New Year's Day is a rest day for the participants, who will continue their tournament at 15:00 CET on January 2nd.