Aleksandr Lenderman vs Hikaru Nakamura, King’s Indian, Orthodox, Taimanov (E98)
2018 US Chess Championship, Round 5, 04/22/18
Hikaru Nakamura seems to be unable to convert his positions. After four consecutive draws in the first four rounds of the US Chess Championship, he drew game five as well! He faced Lenderman with the black pieces and went for the fighting King’s Indian Defense. An opening which is slightly dubious for black engine-wise, but it offers a lot of attacking chances and it’s practically equal. The fact that he chose the KID just confirms that he is a strong attacking player with no fear, and that he’s willing to take risks in order to win. I wish all were like that. The Gashimov Memorial is under way, and after four rounds we’ve had only one decisive result! That’s absurd! Round 5 of the US Chess Championship had five draws too. This is partly player’s fault. In that respect, I’d like to highlight the game Jeffery Xiong vs Wesley So, in which Wesley (the tournament leader!) initiated a repetition on move 23! Nakamura drew as well, but his draw is worth a thousand times more.
After the common opening development (black is pushing on the kingside, white on the queenside), they entered a position which was very dangerous for white. Naka had a move which would have surely led to a conversion with him planning the attack, but he missed it. Instead he played far too passively, perhaps thinking that he can hold off the attack for a few more moves. He missed his chance and the soon drew with Lenderman initiation a queen trade. He is almost 200 points lower-rated so I can understand him.
Standings after round 5:
Samuel Shankland 3.5/5
Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian 3.5/5
Wesley So 3.5/5
Fabiano Caruana 3/5
Hikaru Nakamura 2.5/5
Yaroslav Zherebukh 2.5/5
Jeffery Xiong 2/5
Zviad Izoria 2/5
Aleksandr Lenderman 2/5
Ray Robson 2/5
Awonder Liang 2/5
Alexander Vasilyevich Onischuk 1.5/5
Game moves:
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 O-O 6. Be2 e5
7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. Ne1 Nd7 10. Be3 f5 11. f3 f4 12. Bf2
g5 13. Nd3 Nf6 14. c5 Ng6 15. Rc1 Rf7 16. Kh1 Bf8 17. Rg1 Rg7
18. b4 h5 19. Qd2 g4 20. g3 fxg3 21. Rxg3 a5 22. a3 axb4
23. axb4 c6 24. dxc6 bxc6 25. cxd6 Qxd6 26. Bc5 Qd8 27. Bxf8
Qxf8 28. fxg4 Bxg4 29. h3 Bxe2 30. Qxe2 Raa7 31. Rf1 Nf4
32. Rxg7+ Rxg7 33. Nxf4 exf4 34. Qc4+ Qf7 35. Qxf7+ Kxf7
36. Rxf4 Rg3 37. Kh2 Rxc3 38. e5 Ke6 39. exf6 Kf7 40. h4 c5
41. bxc5 1/2-1/2