The super grandmaster tournament known as the Sinquefield Cup is over in St. Louis. Aronian was all alone in first place with a 6-3 score followed by a 2.-5. tie among Carlsen, Nakamura, Giri, Vachier-Lagrace with 5-4 scores. Anand and Caruana tied for 8-9 with disappointing 3-6 scores. The position today shows that some beginners themes can show up in grandmaster games, although this one takes a little thought. Grischuk has just played his queen from a5 to d8 and Nakamura meets that with a decisive continuation.

Solution:

For the ambitious, here’s the whole game: Nakamura,Hi (2814) - Grischuk,A (2771) [B51] 3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015 Saint Louis USA (9), 31.08.2015 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.0–0 a6 5.Bd3 Ngf6 6.c3 b5 7.Bc2 Bb7 8.Re1 Rc8 9.a4 b4 10.a5 Qc7 11.d3 bxc3 12.bxc3 e6 13.h3 Be7 14.Bf4 0–0 15.Nbd2 Bc6 16.Nc4 Bb5 17.Nfd2 Rfd8 18.Bg3 Ne8 19.Kh2 Rb8 20.Ne3 Ne5 21.Qe2 Nc6 22.Nb3 Ne5 23.Nd2 Nc6 24.Ndc4 Nf6 25.Kh1 Ne5 26.f4 Nxc4 27.dxc4 Bc6 28.Nd1 g6 29.Bh2 Nh5 30.Qe3 Bh4 31.g3 Be7 32.Kg1 Re8 33.e5 Ng7 34.g4 f5 35.exf6 Bxf6 36.Nf2 Bh4 37.Re2 Bxf2+?! 38.Rxf2 Rf8 39.Bg3 Rbe8 40.Kh2 Rf7 41.Rd1 Rd7 42.Rfd2 Qd8 43.h4 Rf8 44.Rf2 Kh8 45.Rb1 Qxa5 46.h5 gxh5 47.f5 exf5 48.gxf5 Qd8?? (See Diagram) 49.f6!+– Ne8 [The old back rank threat: 49...Rxf6 50.Rxf6 Qxf6 51.Rb8+. Grischuk put up a fight, but it was of no use.] 50.Bh4 Rdf7 51.Qh6 Rg8 52.Re1 d5 53.Qxh5 Qd6+ 54.Re5 d4 55.cxd4 Qxd4 56.Re7 Rxe7 57.fxe7 Qd6+ 58.Kh3 Bd7+ 59.Bf5 Qd3+ 60.Rf3 Bxf5+ 61.Qxf5 Qxf5+ 62.Rxf5 Kg7 63.Bg3 h6 64.Be5+ Kh7 65.Rf7+ Kg6 66.Rf8 Kh7 67.Bf4 a5 68.Bxh6 a4 69.Be3 a3 70.Bxc5 a2 71.Bd4 Nc7 72.Ba1 Ne8 73.c5 Nc7 74.c6 Ne8 75.Kh4 Nc7 76.Kh5 Ne8 77.c7 Black Resigned

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