Chessville - New York Masters Game of the Week - Analysis by IM Greg Shahade

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Game of the Week
With Analysis by IM Greg Shahade

July 15th, 2003

We looked set to have another exciting NY Masters, as last week’s young champion, Hikaru Nakamura, was back to defend his title. Gunning for him, would be GM Leonid Yudasin and GM Alex Stripunsky. We also had a gaggle of strong IM’s as Eli Vovsha, Jay Bonin, Dean Ippolito, Altin Cela and myself were all competing as well.

Participant List for 64th NY Masters

1. GM Leonid Yudasin
2. GM Hikaru Nakamura
3. GM Alex Stripunsky
4. IM Greg Shahade
5. IM Altin Cela
6. IM Eli Vovsha
7. IM Jay Bonin
8. IM Dean Ippolito

9. NM Dmitro Kedyk
10. FM Boris Privman
11. FM Erez Klein
12. FM Sunil Weeramantry
13. NM Richard Shtivelband
14. NM Fabrice Fiol
15. Qualifier – Adam Maltese
16. Filler – Laura Ross

ROUND 1 Pairings

1 Yudasin – Cela 1/2-1/2
2 Kedyk - Nakamura LIVE GAME!
3 Stripunsky – Privman 0-1
4 E. Klein – G.Shahade 1-0
5 Vovsha – Shtivelband 1-0
6 Fiol – Bonin 0-1
7 Ippolito – Maltese 0-1
½ pt bye for Weeramantry

It might look like the above results are a mistake but once again it was shown how difficult the NY Masters can be. Yudasin was faced with very stiff resistance from Cela, as the Albanian IM sacrificed an exchange for great compensation. Yudasin tried to use his material advantage, but the position was just too murky and he had to agree to a draw. Things were not so rosy for some of the other top seeds, as Stripunsky declined a draw in a worse position against Boris Privman, and went on to lose a long endgame. Meanwhile I felt that I had a clear advantage against Erez Klein, but he had his pieces around my king, and in the end they made their voices heard, as I was brutally checkmated.

However, the upsets didn’t end here! This week’s qualifier, 16 year old Adam Maltese, knocked off IM Dean Ippolito! The only players to hold up their end of the bargain were IM’s Eli Vovsha and Jay Bonin.

Hikaru Nakamura didn’t want to join the club of Grandmasters that didn’t win the first round, yet he would have a very stiff test in the first round. He was faced with the blazing hot 15 year old youngster, Dmytro Kedyk. Kedyk has literally defeated about 75-80% of GM’s he has faced recently! He played in a Thursday Night Action two weeks ago and defeated Ibragimov, Stripunsky and Blatny, in succession to win the event. Last week in this event he beat Stripunsky in the first round, and 3 weeks ago he knocked off GM Yudasin! His rating of 2360 is very misleading, as it’s clear his rating is soon rising towards the 2500 level.

Nakamura is no slouch either, as he was the clear winner in last week’s NY Masters, with an interesting endgame victory over Wojtkiewicz, and some very resourceful defense to hold off the attack of GM Pavel Blatny. Would Nakamura end the string of upsets, or would all the GM’s go into the second round with their heads hanging down??

(1) Kedyk,D (2361) - Nakamura,H (2656) [B99]
64th New York Masters New York (1), 15.07.2003

[Click here for an interactive JavaScript board]

1.e4

Already Kedyk had the advantage, as Weeramantry and Nakamura got stuck in traffic and thus Nakamura came to the game with 10 minutes off his clock.

1...c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Be7 8.Qf3 Qc7 9.0-0-0 Nbd7 10.g4 h6 11.Bxf6 Bxf6 12.h4 g5

A typical blow in these types of positions, to gain control of the e5 square. However in this particular case, it doesn’t seem to be the most accurate path….

13.hxg5 hxg5 14.Rxh8+ Bxh8 15.f5 Bxd4 16.Rxd4 Qc5 17.Qd1 Ke7 18.Qd2 Nf6 19.Na4!

19...Qe5 20.Nb6 Rb8 21.Nc4

All of the sudden Nakamura’s position is looking very perilous. His pieces are undeveloped, and his king is stuck in the center…..meanwhile his queen is wandering around the board.

21...Nxe4

An attempt to bail out into an endgame, however Kedyk takes the fire out of this plan and emerges with an extra pawn.

22.Qe3 Qf4 23.Qxf4 gxf4 24.Rxe4 d5 25.f6+ Kxf6 26.Rxf4+ Kg5 27.Rxf7 dxc4 28.Bxc4

Kedyk now has a very strong endgame advantage, with an extra pawn and an active rook, compared to black’s rook and bishop that are still undeveloped!

28...b5 29.Bb3 Rb6 30.Rc7 Bb7 31.Bxe6 Rxe6 32.Rxb7 Kxg4 33.Rf7!

The normal reaction in such positions, to cut the king off from the pawns as much as possible. This position is now technically lost, however Nakamura fights on bravely.

33...Kg5 34.b3 Kg6 35.Rf2 b4 36.Kb2 a5 37.c3 Re8 38.a4 bxc3+ 39.Kxc3 Rc8+ 40.Kd4 Rb8 41.Rf3 Kg5 42.Kc4 Rb4+ 43.Kc3 Rb8 44.Rf7 Rc8+ 45.Kb2 Kg6 46.Rb7 Kf6 47.Rb5 Ra8 48.Kc3 Ke6 49.Kc4 Kd6 50.Rb6+ Kc7 51.Kb5 Ra7 52.Ra6 Rb7+ 53.Kc4 Rb4+ 54.Kc3 Rh4 55.Rxa5

Winning the second pawn ….now Nakamura makes a valiant attempt at counterplay and has the white king running all around the board…

55...Kb6 56.Rg5 Ka6 57.Kb2 Rf4 58.Ka3 Rh4 59.a5 Rf4 60.b4 Rf1 61.Rg6+ Kb5 62.Rb6+ Kc4 63.a6 Ra1+ 64.Kb2 Ra4 65.b5 Rb4+ 66.Kc2 Ra4 67.Kd2 Kd4 68.Ke2 Ke4 69.Kf2 Ra2+ 70.Kg3 Ra3+ 71.Kg4 Ra1 72.Kg5 Ke5 73.Kg6 Rg1+ 74.Kf7 Rh1 75.Rb7 Kf5 76.Ke7 Ke5 77.Kd7 Kd5 78.Kc7 Kc5 79.Kb8 Rh8+ 80.Ka7!

The white king concludes his nice stroll, forced by the mate threats. The king traveled from a3 to g6 and back to a7! Now that the king is home, all hope is lost for Nakamura, and another upset is inevitable.

80...Rh6 81.b6 Kb5 82.Rg7 1-0

Perhaps the most amazing first round in NY Masters history! The only higher rated players to survive were IM Eli Vovsha and IM Jay Bonin. Would any of the GMs be able to recover and catch up to the rest of the pack? Surely Yudasin has the best chance, as he managed to at least draw his first round battle.

Return to the New York Masters Index