White to Play

Pete Tamburro on Oct 29, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

I’m taking a game from my latest Openings for Amateurs book—the last in a trilogy. Openings for Amateurs: Theory vs. Practice won Book of the Year (instructional category) from the Chess Journalists of America for 2025. The explanatory notes took almost five pages, so I’m just giving one of the key positions; however, here is the whole game with one key paragraph of notes. If you want all the notes, you have to go to Amazon! Nakamura,Hikaru - VanWely,Loek B94 4th Annual NH Tournament Amsterdam (5), 2010 It's worth noting that Nakamura's opponent was Loek Van Wely, a grandmaster who was ranked 10th in the world a mere nine years prior to this game.1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nbd7 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.Bxf6! One note from the book: Excellent! Take out a defender and follow with a pawn thrust hitting the knight taking his partner's place. Think about it for a second, though. If you didn't know about this game, wouldn't you feel the tendency to play Be2 and 0–0? With all due respect to these time-honored moves founded in the principles of good chess teaching, moves like that give Black a chance. The kings won't castle in this game as some moves of immediate necessity for White must be played--and admired!!Thus, the Sicilian Najdorf oftens makes you think outside the box and sometimes leads you to positions where playing a routine developing move is insufficient and seizing the moment with another sharp move meets the requirements of the position. And sometimes the sharp move doesn't work! 10...Nxf6 11.e5! dxe5 12.fxe5 Nd7? SEE DIAGRAM

The queen chase at the end is classic. 13.Nd5!! Qc5 14.Nb3 Qc6 15.Na5 Qc5 16.Nxb7 Qc6 17.Rb6 1–0

Send questions and comments to PTamburro@aol.com.