Cover Story / Millionaire Chess 2
the organizers
GM Maurice Ashley (left) and Amy Lee (right) present GM Hikaru Nakamura with his winner’s check. Their huge financial gamble has now experienced two successful years of player popularity. Lee observed, “It is a matter of exposure now. We know we can put on a world class event.”
ENGLISH OPENING,
FLOHR-MIKENAS SYSTEM (A18) GM Hikaru Nakamura (2884) GM Wesley So (2829)
Millionaire Chess Open 2 (Tiebreak 8), Las Vegas, Nevada, 10.12.2015
1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. e4 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. e5 Ne4 6. d4 Nc6 7. Bb5
Wesley played the opening quickly but here sunk into thought as if figuring out the move order.
7. ... Be7 8. Nge2 0-0 9. 0-0 Bf5 10. Be3 Na5 The alternative 10. ... Nb4 would have generated
more threats, taking advantage of White’s weak white squares and awkward white bishop.
11. Nxe4 Bxe4 12. Ng3 a6 13. Bd3 Bxd3 14. Qxd3 Nc4 15. Bc1 f6 16. b3 Nb6
(see diagram next column)
17. e6 Going for the win. The g3-knight has great
scope, aiming for the strong f5-square. 17. ... Qd6 Only helps White support the e6-pawn and
30 January 2016 | Chess Life
practically invites Nf5. 18. Re1 g6 19. Bh6 Rfe8 20. f4
Black played a series of disjointed moves that left his pieces paralyzed. 20. ... Kh8 21. f5 g5 22. Nh5 Rg8 23. h4 Relentless.
23. ... g4 24. Rf1 Qd8 25. Qe2 Qe8 26. Nf4 Bd6 27. Rae1 c6 28. e7 Nc8 29. Qe6 Bxe7 30. h5 b5
Black collapses under the pressure. White can now execute a sly plan to blast open the h-file.
31. Ng6+ (see diagram next column)
31. ... hxg6 32. hxg6 Ra7 33. Kf2 g3+ 34. Kf3 Rxg6 35. fxg6 Qxg6 36. Qxc8+ Kh7 37. Rh1, Black resigned.
Compared to the rest of the tournament,
Millionaire Monday was relatively smooth sailing for Nakamura. After two draws against Yangyi in the initial Game/25 matches, he won in the deciding Game/15 match. He advanced to play Le for first place, while Yu and Lenderman battled it out for third. Nakamura beat Le 11
⁄2 - 1 ⁄2 to earn
the $100,000 grand prize. According to Nakamura, his opponents definitely had chances, but he took advantage of opportunities when presented with them. Nakamura credits his spec tacular 2015 chess year to not worrying as much as he used to, and taking a more relaxed approach to results.
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