Hikaru Nakamura Vs Peter Svidler – 2011 Tal Memorial – Round 3

♕ ARTICLE: www.onlinechesslessons.net ♕ facebook.com ♕ twitter.com This round 3 encounter at the 2011 Tal Memorial Chess Tournament between US chess star Hikaru Nakamura and the winner of the 2011 World Chess Cup, Peter Svidler, featured an exciting display of the important positional concept: the transformation of advantages. Peter Svidler is a very elite chess player who is somewhat unique in his approach to opening preparation, in that he prefers to prepare and employ an opening repertoire devoid of diversity. In this game, Nakamura was apparently trying to find a whole in Svidler’s famous Grunfeld Defense with 16. Dxc5!? – giving up control of the center to create imbalances by quickly snatching a pawn. Svidler responded accurately with 17. …e5! to break open white’s center and achieve excellent piece-play. Svidler’s 19. …Rac8 and 20. …Qxc5! led to a very deep exchange sacrifice that enabled black to attack white’s center with excellent coordination. Nakamura elected for an interesting defensive set-up with 25. Rf3?! and 26. Rb4 – sacrificing the exchange back to Svidler in an attempt to release much of the tension in the center. In time pressure, Nakamura miscalculated the end of the combination and Svidler was able to accurately emerge from the complications with an extra pawn due to 30. …Bxa2! Nakamura tried to fight back in a difficult endgame, however Svidler’s technique was just too good – forcing Nakamura to resign after 48. …Kd3 PGN available at