Barcelona, 19 October 2007. A 19-year-old Hikaru Nakamura, already an American No. 1 in the making, produced the game he still names as his finest. After Krasenkow grabbed a knight on f6, Nakamura answered with the shocking 21...Qxf2+!!, throwing his queen into the fire to drag the white king out. The king was hunted from f2 all the way up to h5, where it was caught in a mating net. Krasenkow resigned with his monarch helplessly exposed.
A king dragged into the open is worth far more than a queen. Nakamura's sacrifice was a calculated king hunt: every check forced the king one square further from safety, and once it reached h5 there was no escape. When you can give material to expose the enemy king with forcing checks, count the checks, not the points.
Yes. In interviews and in ChessBase features, Nakamura has named this win over Krasenkow at the Casino de Barcelona as the best game he has ever played — a rare queen sacrifice and king hunt executed in a serious tournament against a strong grandmaster.
Yes — it is a forcing king hunt. After 21...Qxf2+ 22.Kxf2, every black check pushes the king further up the board until it is mated near h5. There is no way for White to consolidate, which is what makes the sacrifice correct rather than merely flashy.
Yes — take the board as Nakamura just after White captures on f6 and try to find the queen sacrifice, or replay the whole king hunt move by move, no sign-up.
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