Game Of the Week: Morozevich vs. Bukavshin - Nutcracker Match of generations

Morozevich vs. Bukavshin - Nutcracker Match of generations

Opening: B48: Sicilian: Taimanov variation

Player(s): Morozevich, Bukavshin

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The Nutcracker Match of generations in Moscow pitted a team of veteran grandmasters against a team of up and coming grandmasters in rapid and classical play. In our feature game, the ever creative Alexander Morozevich is in his element against 20-year-old Ivan Bukavshin. With a sacrificial novelty, Moro challenged his young opponent to calculate though a minefield. The players managed to play accurately for quite a while despite the pressures of the rapid time control. It was a glimpse of the kind of tussle we could have expected to see in the future. Sadly, we will never know what might have been for Bukavshin. Soon after the tournament he died suddenly, apparently a victim of a stroke.