Morozevich and Nakamura start with wins in Reggio Emilia

In the first round of the 54th Torneo di Capodanno Hikaru Nakamura won against Nikita Vitiugov with Black while Alexander Morozevich defeated Fabiano Caruana, also with the black pieces. Anish Giri held Vassily Ivanchuk to a draw in Reggio Emilia.

The participants list of the 54th Torneo di Capodanno sees a mixture of young guns and experienced fighters, and promises an exctiting tournament. The first round immediately lived up to the expectations with three good games.

Anish Giri can be satisfied with his start, as he held the great Ukrainian Vassily Ivanchuk to a draw, with Black. The 17-year-old Dutchman 'couldn't resist' (in his own words) going for a complicated line in a Queen's Gambit Declined, against his 25 years older opponent. It involved a short-term exchange sacrifice but a white knight would remain trapped on a8 for a long time. At some point Ivanchuk missed one or two chances for an advantage, and then a forced liquidation led to a drawn endgame.

[Event "54th Reggio Emilia"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia ITA"]
[Date "2011.12.27"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Ivanchuk, Vassily"]
[Black "Giri, Anish"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "D55"]
[WhiteElo "2775"]
[BlackElo "2714"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "84"]
[EventDate "2011.12.27"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. d4 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Bxf6 7. e3 O-O 8. Rc1
c6 9. Be2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nd7 11. O-O e5 12. Ne4 exd4 13. Nxd4 Be5 14. f4 Bc7
$146 ({Only this is the first new move. It wasn't Anish's main line in his
analysis but he told us that during the game he 'couldn't resist playing it'. :
-) Recently} 14... Bxd4 15. Qxd4 Nb6 16. Qxd8 Rxd8 {was played by a Dutch GM
of another generation:} 17. Bb3 Nd5 18. Rfe1 Nc7 19. Kf2 Be6 20. Bxe6 Nxe6 21.
Red1 Kf8 {Cramling,P (2495)-Van der Sterren,P (2514)/Amsterdam 2011}) 15. Bxf7+
$5 {Chuky goes for it. White will win an exchange but his knight on a8 will
remain trapped for a while.} Rxf7 16. Ne6 Qe8 17. Nxc7 Qxe4 18. Nxa8 Qxe3+ 19.
Rf2 Nf6 20. Qe1 Qxe1+ 21. Rxe1 Nd5 (21... Bf5 $5) (21... Kh7 $5) 22. Re8+ Rf8
23. Rfe2 (23. Rxf8+ Kxf8 24. Rf3 {seemed "tricky for Black" (Anish Giri).})
23... b5 (23... Kf7 $2 {allows the knight to escape with} 24. Nc7 $1) 24. R2e5
a6 ({With} 24... Bb7 25. Rxf8+ Kxf8 26. Rxd5 cxd5 27. Nc7 b4 28. Ne6+ Ke7 29.
Nxg7 Kf6 30. Ne8+ Ke7 31. Nc7 d4 {Black might be able to draw.}) 25. f5 ({Both
players missed the strong} 25. g3 $1 {e.g.} Bb7 26. Nb6 $1 Nxb6 27. R5e7 Bc8
28. Rxf8+ Kxf8 29. Rc7 {and White is better.}) 25... Bb7 {Now it's more or
less a forced draw.} 26. Rxf8+ Kxf8 27. Rxd5 cxd5 28. Nc7 Kf7 29. Kf2 d4 30. g4
g5 31. fxg6+ Kxg6 32. Ne6 Bc8 33. Nxd4 Bxg4 34. Kg3 Kg5 35. h4+ Kh5 36. a3 Bd7
37. Nf3 Bc8 38. Ne5 Bb7 39. b4 Bc8 40. Nc6 Bd7 41. Nb8 Bc8 42. Nc6 Bd7 1/2-1/2

Hikaru Nakamura started in the best way possible: a good win with Black. His opponent was Nikita Vitiugov - perhaps least known of all six participants. However, the 24-year-old grandmaster from St Petersburg already boasts a 2700+ rating since March 2010!

Although it started as a 5.Bf4 QGD, soon the middlegame became complicated, especially when Black could create a passed pawn with c5-c4. Vitiugov underestimated a knight move from his opponent and got into trouble. He found a tricky pawn sacrifice to mess up things a little, but Nakamura reacted well and reached a winning endgame.

[Event "54th Reggio Emilia"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia ITA"]
[Date "2011.12.27"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Vitiugov, Nikita"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[WhiteElo "2729"]
[BlackElo "2758"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "76"]
[EventDate "2011.12.27"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. Be2 c5 8. cxd5
Nxd5 9. Nxd5 exd5 10. O-O c4 $146 (10... Qb6 11. Qc2 Nf6 12. Rfc1 c4 13. b3
cxb3 14. Qxb3 Qxb3 15. axb3 Ne4 16. Bd3 f6 17. Rc7 Bd8 18. Rc2 {Diamant,A
(2497)-Akobian,V (2628)/Bursa 2010}) 11. b3 Nb6 12. bxc4 dxc4 13. Qc2 Be6 14.
Rab1 Rc8 15. a4 a5 16. Ng5 Bxg5 17. Bxg5 f6 18. Bh4 c3 19. Bd3 h6 20. Bb5 $6 {
Now the knight can (threaten to) run to b4.} (20. Rfc1) (20. Bg3) 20... Nd5 21.
Qe4 Qd6 22. Bg3 Qe7 23. Rbc1 Nb4 {Black is better. Vitiugov now tries his best
chance with a pawn sacrifice, but Nakamura responds accurately.} 24. d5 $1 Nxd5
25. Rfd1 Rfd8 26. Rd4 f5 27. Qe5 Qf6 $1 28. Qxf6 gxf6 29. h3 Kf7 30. Bc4 Ke7
31. e4 $6 {This fails tactically.} Nf4 $1 {A great move.} (31... fxe4 32. Rxe4
Kf7 33. f3 {is playable for White.}) 32. Rxd8 Rxc4 33. Bxf4 Kxd8 34. exf5 Bxf5
35. Be3 c2 36. g4 Be4 37. Bb6+ Kd7 38. Bxa5 $6 (38. Kf1 Rxa4 {is also
completely lost.}) 38... Rd4 0-1

Video interview with Nakamura by the organizers

The third game of the round was a dramatic affair for Fabiano Caruana of Italy. The 19-year-old local hero more or less outplayed Alexander Morozevich in the absolute main line of the Zaitsev Ruy Lopez, but just when he could decide the game he blundered material. The Italian was in timetrouble and the winning moves were not easy to spot.

[Event "54th Reggio Emilia"]
[Site "Reggio Emilia ITA"]
[Date "2011.12.27"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Morozevich, Alexander"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C92"]
[WhiteElo "2727"]
[BlackElo "2762"]
[Annotator "ChessVibes"]
[PlyCount "98"]
[EventDate "2011.12.27"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Re8 10. d4 Bb7 11. Nbd2 Bf8 12. a4 h6 13. Bc2 exd4 14. cxd4 Nb4 15.
Bb1 c5 16. d5 Nd7 17. Ra3 {The main line of the Zaitsev Ruy Lopez.} c4 18. axb5
axb5 19. Nd4 Ne5 20. Rxa8 Qxa8 21. Nxb5 Rc8 22. Re3 Ba6 23. Nc3 Ned3 24. Bxd3
$146 (24. Na2 Nxa2 25. Bxa2 Be7 26. Nxc4 Nxc1 27. Nb6 Nxa2 28. Nxa8 Rc1 29.
Qxc1 Nxc1 30. Ra3 Bd3 31. Nb6 Bf6 {1/2-1/2 Das,A (2411)-Babu,N (2298)/
Hyderabad 2005}) 24... Nxd3 25. Nf3 Qb7 26. Re2 Be7 27. Nd4 Bf6 28. Nf5 Qb3 29.
Rc2 Rd8 30. Be3 Nxb2 31. Qd2 Nd3 32. Bd4 Be5 33. Bxe5 dxe5 34. Ra2 Bb5 35. Ra1
Bd7 36. Ne3 Rc8 37. Ra7 Nc5 38. Qc1 Qb6 39. Qa3 Qb3 40. Qa1 Kh7 41. Kh2 Qb6 42.
Nxc4 Qf6 43. Qf1 Be8 44. d6 Qd8 45. Nd5 Bb5 46. Rxf7 Nxe4 47. Nc7 $4 (47. Qe2
$1 Rxc4 (47... Ng5 48. Rc7 $1) 48. d7 $1 {would have been killing.}) 47... Bxc4
48. Qxc4 Nxd6 49. Ne6 Nxc4 0-1