Wesley So vs Hikaru Nakamura, Queen’s Gambit Declined, Lasker Defense D56
2018 Altibox Norway, Round 3, 05/30/18
Wesley and Hikaru have played three draws each in the first rounds of Altibox despite the Sofia rule which prohibits talking during the game, virtually prohibiting draw offers. Hence, a draw can only be reached by insufficient material, stalemate, threefold repetition, or the fifty-move rule. This didn’t seem to reduce the number of draws, as there have been 13 draws and only two decisive games in the first three rounds (both won by Magnus Carlsen; rd. 1 vs Caruana: https://youtu.be/M7o8UifeKhI , rd.2 vs Aronian: https://youtu.be/-n_lo2Jxohw).
In this game, after a seemingly boring Lasker Defense in the Queen’s Gambit Declined, Wesley So went for a hyper aggressive continuation with g4. He didn’t castle or develop, he decided to attack Nakamura early on. The position was unique and interesting, and Wesley won a pawn temporarily, but, unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for a conversion. At move 22 they reached a dead position and found a three-fold repetition soon after.
Standings after round 3:
Magnus Carlsen 2.5/3
Hikaru Nakamura 1.5/3
Wesley So 1.5/3
Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 1.5/3
Viswanathan Anand 1.5/3
Ding Liren 1.5/3
Sergey Karjakin 1.5/3
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 1.5/3
Levon Aronian 1/3
Fabiano Caruana 1/3
Game moves:
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 O-O
7. e3 Ne4 8. Bxe7 Qxe7 9. Rc1 c6 10. g4 Rd8 11. Qc2 Nd7
12. Nxe4 dxe4 13. Qxe4 Qb4+ 14. Ke2 e5 15. Qc2 exd4 16. Nxd4
Ne5 17. h3 c5 18. Nf5 Bxf5 19. gxf5 b5 20. Qc3 Nxc4 21. Qxb4
cxb4 22. b3 Nb6 23. e4 Rac8 24. Rxc8 Rxc8 25. Kd2 a6 26. Bd3
Kf8 27. f4 f6 28. Rc1 Rxc1 29. Kxc1 Ke7 30. Kd2 Kd6 31. Be2
Kc5 32. Kd3 Nc8 33. Bh5 Ne7 34. Be8 Nc8 35. Bd7 Ne7 36. h4 Kd6
37. Be8 Kc5 38. Ke3 Nc8 39. Bd7 Ne7 40. Kd3 Kd6 41. Be6 g6
42. Ke3 a5 43. Kd4 Nc6+ 44. Kd3 Ne7 45. Kd4 Nc6+ 46. Ke3 Ne7
47. Kd4 1/2-1/2