1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 This game once again shows what a powerful weapon the Dragon can be, unless Black gets crushed in 25 moves (which happened to a certain other player in Mainz). Rainer Polzin is a great expert on this opening. 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 Nc6 8. Qd2 O-O 9. Bc4 Two rounds later Polzin faced 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Qe1 against Nakamura. Once again he got an excellent game, although, once again, he somehow managed to lose. 9... Bd7 10. h4 Rc8 11. Bb3 h5 12. O-O-O Ne5 13. Bg5 Rc5 14. Kb1 b5 15. g4 Almasi always goes for very principled lines. 15... a5 16. gxh5 Nxh5 17. Nd5 Re8 18. a3 Nc4 19. Qg2 I'm afraid I can't explain all the finesses here, but according to Dearing this is the recommended setup for White, which is supposed to lead to an advantage. 19... Rxd5!? Don't count the material in the Dragon, it's all about king safety and piece activity (not only in the Dragon, by the way). 20. exd5 Qb6 21. Qg1 A novelty that doesn't look terribly impressive. 21.c3, as played before, is probably preferable.

21... Nxb2! Black immediately seizes the initiative. Being a rook down is not an unusual situation for a Dragon player. Nothing to worry about. 22. Kxb2 a4 23. Ka2 Almasi realizes that he has to give back a piece. In case of 23. Ba2 b4 24. Ka1 (24. axb4 Qxb4+ 25. Kc1 Qa3+) 24... bxa3 25. Bc1 there is the very strong 25... Ng3! followed by Nf5 and, if c3, Rc8. White is completely toast here. Note the beautiful harmony of the black pieces. 23... Qc5! Another excellent move, eyeing the a3-pawn. The bishop isn't running away. 24. Rh2 Ra8 25. Bc1 b4! Opening the position even further. White is in trouble. 26. Bb2 bxa3 27. Ba1 Nf4? Giving up the blockade too early and apparently not noticing White's idea 28.Nc6 either. Black doesn't necessarily have to checkmate here; he just has a very nice positional advantage. He can slowly improve his position (starting with 27...Be5, for instance), take on b3 at some moment and play against White's pawn weaknesses.With a pawn for the exchange and such raking bishops one can hardly talk about a material disadvantage. 28. h5!? Not bad, although 28.Nc6, forcing some exchanges, might have been evenstronger. 28... Nxd5 29. Bxd5 Qxd5+

30. Nb3! Now White's already playing for an advantage. 30... axb3+ 31. cxb3 Qf5 32. hxg6 fxg6 33. Bxg7 Kxg7 34. Qd4+ Qf6 35. Re2 Qxd4 36. Rxd4 Black might still have some chances with best play, but in time trouble he lost quickly. A pity, but I really appreciate his play up to move 26. 36... Kf7 37. Rf4+ Bf5 38. Ra4 Rc8 39. Ra7 Rc2+ 40. Rxc2 Bxc2 41. b4 Kf6 42. b5 Bd1 43. Rxa3 Be2 44. b6 Bc4+ 45. Kb2 Bd5 46. Kc2 g5 47. Kd2 e5 48. Rd3 1-0

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. g4 Another Almasi game, another super-aggressive line. 7... h6 7... e5 8. Nf5 g6 leads to the craziest stuff. 8. Bg2 g5 Does this look weird to you? Welcome to modern chess... 9. Qe2 Nbd7 10. O-O-O Ne5 11. h3 Ng6 12. Rhe1 Qc7 13. Nf5!? Here we go. Judging from Nakamura's raised eyebrows, he had never seen this move before, although it had been played in Fernandez Garcia - Kogan (Olala Chess!), Solsona 2003. 13... Bd7 Just like Kogan, Nakamura doesn't want to take the knight at once. 13... exf5 14. exf5 Ne5 15. h4!? is probably the idea, similarly to the game. It's all very complicated, but I like White's chances.

14. Qd2 Almasi's new idea, forcing Black to take the knight, after all. In the stem game 14.Bd4 was played and Black eventually won. 14... exf5 15. exf5 Ne5 16. h4! Almasi was bly still in his preparation, as he played all these moves very quickly. 16... Bc6 But this seemed to be new to him. 16... O-O-O is probably what his preparation was focussed on. One sample line: 17. hxg5 hxg5 18. Bxg5 Nfxg4 (not 18... Bg7 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Nd5 Nc4 21. Qe2 Bxb2+ 22. Kb1 Qc5 23. Qxc4!) (18... Nexg4 19. f3) 19. Nd5 Qc5 20. Rxe5!? Nxe5 21. b4 Qa7 22. Be3 Qb8 23. Nb6+ Kc7 24. Nd5+ and draw. If you have any further questions, please ask your favourite engine or Mr. Almasi... 17. Bxc6+ 17. hxg5 is also great fun. Robert Hübner could probably write a whole book about this position. 17... Qxc6 18. hxg5 Nfxg4 19. f4 Nf3 20. Bd4+ Nge5 21. Qe3 O-O-O 22. fxe5 Nxe1

23. e6! After a series of very logical or even forced moves, the game once again becomes wild and fascinating. White is a whole rook down, but his threats are very dangerous. 23... Ng2 24. Qg3? The wrong square, unfortunately. Correct was 24. Qf2! Rg8 (24... Rh7 25. g6 (25. e7!? Bxe7 26. f6 Bf8 27. Qf5+ is also a cute idea) 25... fxg6 26. fxg6 Re7 27. Bf6) 25. exf7 Rxg5 26. Bf6 and White will pick up not only an exchange but also the knight on g2. Of course, these are computer lines which are hard to calculate, especially in a rapid game. 24... Rg8 25. g6? Too optimistic. 25. Bf6 had to be tried. 25... fxe6 26. f6 e5! Now Black is on top. 27. Qg4+ Kb8 28. f7 Rxg6 29. Qxg6 exd4 30. Rxd4 Qf3 31. Re4

31... Qf1+?! In a completely winning position, Nakamura makes a series of mistakes and even ends up losing. We won't delve into this phase too deeply. 31... Rd7 was an easy win. 32. Nd1 Nf4? 33. Qg4? h5? 34. Qg5 Rc8?? 35. Rxf4 Qe2 36. c3 Qe6 37. Qf5 Qe2 38. Qf6 d5 39. Rf2 Qe4 40. Rf4 Qe2 41. Rf2 Qe4 42. Rf4 Qe1? It's crazy not to take the draw here. 43. Kc2 Qe2+ 44. Kc1 Ka7 45. Qd4+ Bc5?? 46. Qxc5+ Rxc5 47. f8=Q Rc6 48. Qg7 Rc8 49. Qd4+ Ka8 50. Rf2 Qe7 51. Ne3 h4 52. Nxd5 Qg5+ 53. Kc2 Rd8 54. Rd2 Rg8 55. Nb6+ Kb8 56. Nd7+ Ka8 57. Nb6+ Kb8 58. Qd6+ Ka7 59. Nd7 h3 60. Qd4+ Ka8 61. Qe5 Qg6+ 62. Kb3 Rd8 63. Qd4 Qe6+ 64. c4 Rg8 65. Nb6+ Ka7 66. Nd5+ Kb8 67. Qf4+ Ka7 68. Rf2 Rg4 69. Qc7 Rg8 70. Rf7 Qc8 71. Qxc8 Rxc8 72. Rh7 1-0

1. d4 e6 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 d5 4. Nf3 dxc4 5. Bg2 c6 6. Ne5 Bb4+ 7. Nc3 Nd5 8. O-O!? A wild gambit line instead of the usual 8.Bd2. It had only been played once before in a game of two German amateurs, Schmidt-Brauns - Sechting, Harburg 2005. 8... Nxc3 9. bxc3 Bxc3 10. Ba3 The point. It somehow reminds me of the Möller Attack in the Italian Game, which I played extensively in my youth. 10... Qxd4 11. Qxd4!? White calmly exchanges queens, relying on his positional compensation. The stem game saw the even wilder 11. Nxc4!? Qxc4 12. Qd6 Bf6 13. Rfd1 Qxe2 14. Re1 Qa6 15. Rad1 with a strange position, in which White was loads of material down without any clear threats, but Black didn't find a way to get his pieces out. White eventually won. 11... Bxd4 12. Nxc4 Bxa1 13. Rxa1 # An intriguing position. White is an exchange and two pawns down, but all black pieces are on their initial squares. It's hard to come to a definite judgement, but for a rapid game this line was obviously a dangerous weapon. 13... f6 14. Nd6+ Kd7 15. Rd1 Kc7 16. Nf7 Re8 17. Bd6+ Kb6 18. Rd3

Here White could go for a perpetualwith 18. Rb1+ Ka6 19. Rb3 but either he didn't see it or he wanted more. 18... a5! Now I wonder whether White has really enough. 19. Rb3+ Ka6 20. a4 e5 It might have been more precise to cover c5 first. 21. Bc5 Nd7 22. Be3 Now the bishop is very well placed. 22... Rb8 23. Nd6 Re6? The decisive mistake! After other rook moves the computer can't find more than a draw for White. 24. Nb5! Now this threatens not only mate but also a knight fork. Black is simply unable to cover the c7-square. 24... Nc5 25. Bxc5 b6 26. Nd6? This is an amazingly serious mistake. 26. Nc7+ Ka7 27. Ba3 was simple enough; the rook has nowhere to go.

26... Bd7? 26... bxc5!! would suddenly have turned the tables! 27. Rxb8 Rxd6 28. Rxc8 Rd1+ 29. Bf1 Kb7 30. Rg8 g5 It may sound crazy, but it seems that Black is even winning here! His c-pawn(s) is/are just marching through. 27. Nc4 Now White is back on track. Further mistakes follow, but since time-trouble was involved, I'll leave the players in peace. 27... b5 28. Bh3 Rbe8 29. axb5+ cxb5 30. Nxa5 b4 31. Bxb4 R6e7 32. Bg2 Ba4 33. Ra3 Rc7 34. Be4 Kb5 35. Bd2 Bd1 36. Bd3+ Kc5 37. Ra1 e4 38. Rc1+ Kd6 39. Bf4+ 1-0