Hikaru Nakamura wins Cap d'Agde

by ChessBase
11/2/2008 – The twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov and the world's number three player GM Vassily Ivanchuk were in contention, likewise the youthful GMs Magnus Carlsen, 17, number four in the world, and Fabiano Caruana, 16, of Italy. But in the end it was the 21-year-old American GM Hikaru Nakamura who snatched victory in the French Mediterranean invitational. Europe Echecs report.

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Eighth Cap d'Agde Rapid Chess Tournament

This event took place from October 26 to November 1 2008 in Cap d'Agde, a seaside resort belonging to the town of Agde. It is one of the largest leisure ports on the French Mediterranean. The event was a closed rapid chess tournament in two groups, with the winners playing in quarter-finals, semi-finals and then finals.

As previously reported the following eight players qualified for the second stage of the tournament.

Group A
Rtng Pts  
Group B
Rtng Pts
Fabiano Caruana 2640 5.5   Magnus Carlsen 2786 5.5
Vassily Ivanchuk 2786 5.0   Hikaru Nakamura 2704 5.5
Max. Vachier Lagrave 2716 4.5   Teimour Radjabov 2751 5.0
Bu Xiangzhi 2704 4.5   Anatoly Karpov 2651 3.5
Ivan Cheparinov 2696 4.0   Hou Yifan 2578 3.5
Alexandra Kosteniuk 2525 2.0   Humpy Koneru 2618 2.0
Katerina Lahno 2488 2.0   Sebastien Feller 2526 2.0
Marie Sebag 2533 0.5   Almira Skripchenko 2455 1.0

Average Elo 2636

 
Average Elo 2634

The quarter-finals

Vassily Ivanchuk
½-½
Teimour Radjabov
Teimour Radjabov
½-½
Vassily Ivanchuk
Vassily Ivanchuk
1-0
Teimour Radjabov
Teimour Radjabov
0-1
Vassily Ivanchuk
Winner: Vassily Ivanchuk

Fabiano Caruana
0-1
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
0-1
Fabiano Caruana
Anatoly Karpov
½-½
Fabiano Caruana
Fabiano Caruana
½-½
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
½-½
Fabiano Caruana
Fabiano Caruana
0-1
Anatoly Karpov
Winner: Anatoly Karpov
 
Bu Xiangzhi
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
1-0
Bu Xiangzhi
Winner: Magnus Carlsen
Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
M. Vachier Lagrave
M. Vachier Lagrave
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura
1-0
M. Vachier Lagrave
M. Vachier Lagrave
0-1
Hikaru Nakamura
Winner: Hikaru Nakamura

The semi-finals

Magnus Carlsen
½-½
Vassily Ivanchuk
Vassily Ivanchuk
½-½
Magnus Carlsen
Vassily Ivanchuk
1-0
Magnus Carlsen
Magnus Carlsen
½-½
Vassily Ivanchuk
Winner: Vassily Ivanchuk
 
Anatoly Karpov
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura
½-½
Anatoly Karpov
Anatoly Karpov
0-1
Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura
1-0
Anatoly Karpov
Winner: Hikaru Nakamura


US grandmaster Nakamura knocked out the 12th World Champions in the semis


Vassily Ivanchuk vs Magnus Carlsen in the semi-finals (Ivanchuk won)

The finals

Vassily Ivanchuk
½-½
Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura
1-0
Vassily Ivanchuk
Winner: Hikaru Nakamura


Hikaru Nakamura faces Vassily Ivanchuk in the final

Nakamura,Hikaru (2704) - Ivanchuk,Vassily (2786) [E15]
Trophee CCAS FRA Finale Cap Agde FRA (14.2), 01.11.2008
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Be7 7.Bg2 0-0 8.0-0 c6 9.Bf4 d5 10.Nbd2 Nbd7 11.Rfc1 c5 12.Qa4 Bb7 13.Ne5 cxd4 14.cxd5 Nxe5 15.Bxe5 Bxd5 16.Qxd4 Bc5 17.Bxf6 Bxd4 18.Bxd8 Rfxd8 19.Bxd5 Rxd5 20.Rc2 Rad8 21.Rac1 h6 22.Nf3 Bf6 23.e4 R5d7 24.b3 g5 25.h3 Kg7 26.Kf1 Bd4 27.b4 Bf6 28.Ke2 h5 29.g4 hxg4 30.hxg4 Be7 31.a3 a5 32.bxa5 bxa5 33.a4 Bd6 34.Rd1 Be7 35.Rxd7 Rxd7 36.Ne5 Rd4 37.Rc4

At this point Black decides to trade rooks and finds himself in an endgame that Nakamura wins convincingly: 37...Rxc4 38.Nxc4 Bb4 39.Ne5 Bc3 40.Nc6 f5 41.Kd3 Be1 42.f3 Kf6 43.Kc4 fxe4 44.fxe4 Bd2 45.e5+ Kf7 46.Kc5 Ke8 47.Kd6 Kf7 48.Nd8+ Ke8 49.Nxe6 Bb4+ 50.Kd5 Bd2 51.Ke4 Ke7 1-0.

Video reports from Europe Echecs


All videos and pictures by courtesy of the French chess magazine Europe Echecs

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