An uncharacteristic blunder from Wesley So handed tournament victory to Hikaru Nakamura at the American Cup, which finished at the St Louis Chess Club last weekend. The event was held with an unusual ‘double elimination knockout’ format, in which players who lost a match would continue playing in the ‘elimination bracket’, and only a second loss would see them exit the tournament.
Nakamura won their first encounter, which shunted So into the elimination bracket. But since So triumphed in the elimination bracket, he was resurrected to face Nakamura in the final, where he took his revenge. Each player having lost one match, they were left to fight it out one more time.
The first three games were drawn, and the fourth game saw Nakamura advance his knight into the centre, opening the file for his rook, whereupon So decided it was safe to snatch the pawn on d2 with his queen.
Hikaru Nakamura-Wesley So
American Cup, March 2023
But 17…Qxd2? was a fatal blunder. Nakamura pounced with 18 Rfd1 Qb2 19 Nc4!, and So’s queen was trapped, so Black resigned. It is a mysterious fact that simple knight retreats are occasionally overlooked even by the world’s best players.
The creative highlight of their matches was this game, from the match that was won by Wesley So.
Hikaru Nakamura-Wesley So
American Cup, March 2023
The rook on f1 is attacked, and 31 Rxf4 Qd1+ is not convincing. Nakamura came up with an inventive solution. 31 h4! The beautiful point is that 31…Nxf1 32 Rg5! attacks the queen and prepares Ba1-g7 mate. After 32…Qf7 33 Bg7+ Qxg7 34 Rxg7 Kxg7 35 d7 White wins. Qd3 32 Rxf4 Qd1+ 33 Kf2 33 Kh2! was stronger, as 33…Qxa1 34 Re7 favours White, whose king is safer. One crucial detail is that the alternative 33…Qxd6 loses to 34 Rf7 Nd5 35 Bg7+ Kg6 36 h5+ Kxh5 37 Be5! Qxe5 38 Rf5+ winning the queen. Qxa1 34 Rg5 Black still faces serious problems, as the queen must guard against Rf4-f6 mate, while simultaneously dealing with the passed d-pawn Nd5 35 d7 Qh8 36 Re4 Qf6+ 37 Kg1 Qd6 38 d8=Q Qxd8 39 Re6+ Nf6 40 Kh2 Even with the pawn eliminated, Black’s queen is not easily freed from the defence of f6. But this natural step to secure the king was a mistake, since 40…Qc7+ 41 g3 Qf7! 42 Rd6 Qe7 shakes off the rook, when Black should win. For that reason, 40 Kf2! was stronger. Qd4 41 Kg3 In this strange situation, neither side can make progress, so the game is bound for a draw. But there is one more surprise in store. b6 42 Rxc6 Qe3+ 43 Kh2 Qf4+ 44 Kh3 Qf1 45 Re6 Qf2 46 Rc6 Qe3+ 47 Kh2 Qd4 48 Kg3 Qxh4+ Not essential, but it brings about a pretty stalemate 49 Kxh4 Draw agreed
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