A French Defense Variation That Didn't Work at the US Championship Yesterday

3...dxe4 does not work well for Akaobian
Analysis by Deep Fritz 14

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2015.04.03"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Nakamura, H."]
[Black "Akobian, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C10"]
[WhiteElo "2798"]
[BlackElo "2622"]
[Annotator "Deep Fritz 14 x64 (10m)"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2015.03.31"]
[SourceDate "2015.02.07"]

{C10: French with 3 Nc3: Unusual Black 3rd moves and 3...dxe4} 1. e4 e6 2. d4
d5 {Black threatens to win material: d5xe4} 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 {Black has
a cramped position. Black's piece can't move: c8} 5. Nf3 Ngf6 6. Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.
Bd3 c5 {Black threatens to win material: c5xd4} 8. Be3 Qc7 9. Qe2 Be7 10. O-O-O
O-O 11. dxc5 b6 (11... Bxc5 12. Rhe1 $11) 12. cxb6 $14 axb6 13. Kb1 Bb7 14. Nd4
Ra5 (14... Rfd8 $5 $11) 15. Nb5 $16 {White threatens to win material: Nb5xc7.
A sound move} Qc6 {Black threatens to win material: Qc6xg2} 16. Bd2 {White
threatens to win material: Bd2xa5} Raa8 17. f3 {Consolidates e4+g4} Ba6 18. c4
(18. Nd4 Qa4 19. Bxa6 Rxa6 $14) 18... Rfd8 19. Bc3 Qc5 $2 (19... Bxb5 $142 $5 {
and Black could well hope to play on} 20. cxb5 Qc5 $14) 20. Bd4 $1 $16 {
doomsday} Qc8 (20... Rxd4 21. Nxd4 Qxd4 22. Bxh7+ {Decoy Discovered attack
Double attack}) (20... -- $140 21. Bxc5 {Wins material}) 21. Bxb6 Rd7 22. Bf2
Bc5 23. Bxc5 Qxc5 24. Be4 Rb8 25. Rxd7 Nxd7 26. Rc1 Nf6 (26... g6 27. a4 $18)
27. Bd3 $18 g6 28. Rd1 Bxb5 29. cxb5 Nd5 30. Rc1 Qd4 31. g3 Rd8 32. Bc4 Ne3 (
32... Nb6 33. f4 $18) 33. Bb3 Rb8 34. a4 Nf5 35. Qe4 Qd2 36. Rc2 Qd1+ (36...
Qd8 37. Ka2 $18) 37. Ka2 Qd8 38. g4 Ne7 39. f4 Qd7 (39... Qa5 {hardly improves
anything} 40. Qe5 Qa8 41. Ka3 $18) 40. Qe5 Rb7 41. h4 Qd3 (41... Nd5 {a last
effort to resist the inevitable} 42. Qd4 Ra7 $18) 42. h5 (42. h5 Rd7 43. h6 $18
) 1-0

Anaylsys by Houdini 3. There might have been a better line after  3...dxe4 by Akobian.

[Event ""]
[Site ""]
[Date ""]
[Round ""]
[White "Nakamura, H."]
[Black "Akobian, V."]
[Result "1-0"]
[Eco "C10"]
[Annotator ""]
[Source ""]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 ( 3...dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7 5.Bg5 Be7 6.Bxe7
Qxe7 7.a3 Bc6 8.Ng3 Nf6 9.c4 h6 10.f3 Nfd7 11.Nh3 Nf8 12.Qd2
a5 13.Nf2 Qh4 14.b3 Qg5 15.Qe2 a4 16.b4 $10) 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Nf3
Ngf6 6.Nxf6+ Nxf6 7.Bd3 c5 8.Be3 Qc7 9.Qe2 Be7 10.O-O-O O-O 11.dxc5
b6 {?!} $16( 11...Bxc5 {!?} 12.Bd2 Bd7 13.Bc3 Be7 14.Qe5 Qxe5
15.Nxe5 Be8 16.Rhe1 Nd5 17.Bd2 Rd8 18.a3 f5 19.Nc4 b5 20.Ne5
a6 21.Kb1 $10) 12.cxb6 axb6 13.Kb1 Bb7 14.Nd4 Ra5 15.Nb5 Qc6
16.Bd2 Raa8 17.f3 Ba6 18.c4 {?!} $14( 18.a4 {!?} Qc5 19.Qe3 Nd5
20.Qxc5 Bxc5 21.Bc4 Ne7 22.Bf4 Nf5 23.b3 Rad8 24.Bg5 Ne7 25.Rhe1
h6 26.Bxe7 Bxe7 27.Ka2 Bxb5 $16) Rfd8 19.Bc3 Qc5 {?} $18
( {'better is'} 19...Bxb5 {'better is'} 20.cxb5 Qe8 21.Bxf6 Bxf6
22.Be4 Rac8 23.g3 g6 24.f4 Qe7 25.a3 Bh8 26.Rxd8+ Rxd8 27.Rc1
Qf6 28.Rc7 Qd4 29.Bf3 $14) 20.Bd4 Qc8 21.Bxb6 Rd7 22.Bf2 Bc5
23.Bxc5 Qxc5 24.Be4 Rb8 25.Rxd7 Nxd7 26.Rc1 Nf6 27.Bd3 g6 28.Rd1
Bxb5 29.cxb5 Nd5 30.Rc1 Qd4 31.g3 Rd8 32.Bc4 Ne3 {?!} $20
( 32...Nb6 {!?} 33.Bb3 Qb4 34.Rc6 Qd4 35.f4 Nd7 36.Rc1 Nb6 37.Rd1
Qf6 38.Rxd8+ Qxd8 39.a4 Qa8 40.Qd1 h6 41.Bc2 $18) 33.Bb3 Rb8
34.a4 Nf5 35.Qe4 Qd2 36.Rc2 Qd1+ 37.Ka2 Qd8 38.g4 Ne7 39.f4 Qd7
40.Qe5 Rb7 41.h4 Qd3 42.h5 $20 1-0