Speed of light

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Brief notes by King Lear

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Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – Fabiano Caruana
2nd Sinquefield Cup; Saint Louis, September 3, 2014
Queen’s Gambit Declined D31

1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Be7 4. Bf4 Nf6 5. e3 0-0 6. Rc1 Nbd7 7. c5 Ne4. Vachier-Lagrave’s mode of play was a bit unusual (without Ng1-f3) but, after 7. ... Ne4, Caruana leads back the game into known patterns. 7. ... 8. Bd3 f5 9. Nf3 c6 10. Ne5 Nxe5 11. Bxe5 Bf6 12. Bxf6 Qxf6 13. Ne2 e5 14. Qa4? Garry Kimovich Kasparov asks: “I will be interested in hearing Vachier-Lagrave explain 14.Qa4 later. Take on e5, play Qc1-c2 and maybe Black is better but no threats!”. 14. ... Qh4. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave answers: “14. Qa4 was designed to take on e5, put Queen on d4 then f2-f3 and Ke1-d2. I missed 14. ... Qh4 15. 0-0 Nf6 at first and panicked then!”. Possibly stronger was 14. ... Qg6! 15. 0-0 f4! 16. exf4 exf4 17. Nxf4 Nxc5! 18. dxc5 Qxd3 and Black is a Pawn up. 15. g3? Magnus Carlsen later said that he could not see anything wrong with 15. 0-0 f4 (after 15. ... Nf6 16. Bc2 e4 17. Qa5 White is quite fine) 16. Bxe4 dxe4 17. dxe5, e.g. 17. ... f3 18. Ng3 fxg2 19. Rfd1 Bg4 20. Rd2. 15. ... Qg4! 16. Rf1. On 16. dxe5 Nxf2! is destructive. Probably sounder was 16. Qd1 exd4 17. exd4 Ng5 18. f4 Ne4 when Black may have a small plus. 16. ... Ng5 17. Kd2? As noted by Grandmaster Ian Rogers: “After Vachier-Lagrave missed the ingenious defensive idea 17. f4! Nf3+ 18. Rxf3 Qxf3 19. dxe5 Qxe3 20. Qd4 – suggested by Carlsen at his post-game analysis session at Lester’s Sports Bar, next door to the host venue Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis – White was soon a pawn down with nothing to show for it”. 17. ... Nf3+ 18. Kc3 Nxh2. Black is a Pawn up and ready to launch the assault against His Majesty. 19. Rh1 Nf3 20. Qa5 Qg5 21. dxe5 Qe7 22. Nd4 Nxe5 23. b3? As noted by Grandmaster Ben Finegold: “White did not put up much resistance in this losing position but, to be fair, he was in some time trouble!”.

23. ... b6! The decisive coup, forcibly opening up the position. 24. cxb6 c5! 25. Nb5 Bb7 26. bxa7 d4+ 27. exd4 Nxd3 28. Kxd3 Bxh1 29. Rxc5 Qe4+ 30. Kc4 Qe2+ 31. Kb4 Qd2+ 32. Rc3 Bc6 33. a4 Bxb5 34. Kxb5 Qxd4 35. Rc7 Rfd8. Chess engines prefer 35. ... Rfb8+! 36. axb8=Q+ Rxb8+ 37. Kc6 (or 37. Ka6 Ra8+) 37. ... Qf6+ 38. Kd5 (else 38. Kd7 Rd8 mate) 38. ... Rd8+ with an easy win. 36. Qb6 Rd5+ 37. Ka6 Rd6 38. a5 Qd3+ 39. Kb7 Qd5+ 0 : 1. “It keeps getting weirder”, said Caruana. “I played a solid line, and then I just took over – it happened so suddenly”.

Fabiano Caruana
Photo: U.S. Chess Champs