[Event "FIDE World Cup 2023"] [Site "Baku"] [Date "2023.08.06"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Black "Gledura, Benjamin"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2787"] [BlackElo "2637"] [Annotator "Lang,JJ"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C84"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez: Closed, Martinez Variation"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/QLPThvQV/9apDy3hj"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. Bd2 O-O 9. h3 Bb7 10. Re1 Qd7 11. a3 Nd8 12. c4 (12. Nc3 { has been trendier, and certainly follows the logic of pushing a2-a3 to give the light-squared bishop a flight square without taking the c3-square away from the knight. }) 12... Ne6 13. Nc3 c6 $146 (13... c5 { was played in the two games from 2019 to reach this position, and it would be interesting to see what Nakamura had prepared. }) 14. Ba2 Bd8 15. b4 { What follows is a perfect encapsulation of what makes Nakamura such an excellent player. Through artful maneuvering and no perceptible errors from his opponent, his advantage just slowly grows and morphs over the next dozen moves. } 15... Bb6 16. Rb1 Nd4 17. Nxd4 Bxd4 18. Ne2 Bb6 19. Ng3 a5 20. Bg5 Ne8 21. Bb3 axb4 22. axb4 g6 23. cxb5 cxb5 24. Nf1 Kh8 25. Be3 Bxe3 26. Nxe3 Nf6 27. Qd2 Rfe8 28. Qb2 Kg8?! { Finally, a genuine error. Black understands the threat of f2-f4, but fails to address it adequately. } (28... Qe7 29. f4 Nh5 30. Rf1 f6 31. f5 Nf4 32. Rbd1 d5 $44) 29. f4! Nh5 { This must have been the linchpin of Black's calculation, but now, on a dime, Nakamura morphs from a finesse player into a fearsome attacker. } (29... exf4 30. Qxf6 fxe3 31. Rxe3 d5 32. Rf1 Re6 33. Qd4 $16) 30. Ng4! Re7 (30... exf4 31. Nh6+ Kf8 32. Qh8+ Ke7 33. Qxh7 $18) 31. fxe5 dxe5 32. Nxe5 Qd6 33. Ng4 (33. Nxf7 Rxf7 34. Rf1 { was more convincing: } 34... Rf8 35. Rxf7 Rxf7 36. Rf1 Nf4 37. Bxf7+ Kxf7 38. g3 $18) 33... g5 34. Rf1 Bc8 35. Ne3 Nf4 36. Nd5 Nxd5 37. Bxd5 Bb7 38. Rf5! Qg6 39. Bb3 { There's something satisfying about White conducting his attack without any sacrifices or even particularly forcing moves. Pure positional domination from Nakamura in his only classical win of the tournament. } 1-0