Uppercut

Fabiano Caruana – Magnus Carlsen
2nd Vugar Gashimov Memorial; Shamkir, April 19, 2015
Dutch Defence A90

1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. c4 c6 5. Nf3 d5 6. 0-0 Bd6 7. b3 Qe7 8. Bb2. For 8. Ne5 0-0 (if 8. ... b6 might follow 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Nc4 as in the game van Wely – Carlsen, 74th Tata Steel Chess Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 2012) 9. Nd2 a5 see Anand – Carlsen, GRENKE Chess Classic, Baden-Baden 2015. 8. ... b6 9. Ne5 Bb7 10. Nd2 0-0 11. Rc1 a5 12. e3 Na6 13. Nb1. “Interestingly, Caruana’s second Chuchelov has played this position after 12. ... Na6 responding 11. Qe2 twice – in 1994 and 1992!”, Tarjei J. Svensen pointed out. After 12. Qe2 might follow 12. ... Bxe5 14. dxe5 Ne4 15. Rfd1 a4 16. Nb1 Nb4 17. Ba3 axb3 18. axb3 c5 as in the game Alekseev – Moiseenko, Russian Club Cup, Sochi 2006. 13. ... Bxe5 14. dxe5 Ne4 15. Qe2 a4. A novelty. Previously Black had played 15. ... Nc7 16. f3 Ng5 17. h4 Nf7 18. e4 fxe4 19. fxe4 dxc4 20. Qxc4 c5 21. Rfd1 ½ : ½ Komarov – Gleizerov, Leeuwarden 1995. 16. Nc3. Hardly good, and certainly not best. “16. Ba3 c5 17. f3 Ng5 18. cxd5 exd5 19. bxa4 followed by Nb1-c3 turns out to be quite good for White”, Dennis Monokroussos said. 16. ... axb3 17. axb3 Qb4 18. Nxe4 dxe4 19. Qc2 Nc5 20. Bc3 Qxb3 21. Qxb3 Nxb3 22. Rb1 Nc5 23. Rxb6 Na4 24. Rxb7 Nxc3 25. Re7 Rfe8 26. Rxe8+. “It was all heading pretty much for a draw – he could just repeat with 26. Rc7 [Rec8] 27. Re7. I was very surprised by the way things happened.”, then Magnus said. 26. ... Rxe8 27. Ra1. Magnus then argued that 27. f3 “was an immediate draw”. 27. ... Rd8 28. Bf1 c5 29. Ra3 Nb1 30. Ra1? Very surprisingly, Caruana doesn’t take a draw with 30. Ra5 or 30. Ra6. He was probably thinking it was a draw anyway, instead... 30. ... Nd2 31. Be2. Otherway White drops a Pawn after 31. Kg2 Nf3 32. Ra5 Rc8. 31. ... Nf3+ 32. Bxf3 exf3. Now White’s endgame starts to become like a nightmare. 33. h3 h5! 34. g4 fxg4 35. hxg4 h4! 36. Kh2 Rd2 37. Kh3 g5

38. e4. “Pretty stalemate-trick by Caruana! 38. ... Rxf2 allows a crazy-Rook with 39. Ra8+”, Grandmaster Erwin l’Ami said. 38. ... Rd4 39. Ra8+ Kf7 40. Ra3 Rxc4 41. Rxf3+ Ke7 42. Re3 Rd4 43. f3 c4 44. Ra3 Rd3 45. Ra7+ Kd8 46. Kg2 c3 47. Ra4 c2 48. Rc4 Rd2+ 49. Kh3 Kd7 50. Rc5 Rf2 51. f4 Rf3+ 52. Kh2 Rxf4 0 : 1. “I was thinking it was a draw pretty much whatever I did and I just drifted”, then Caruana said.

Fabiano Caruana vs. Magnus Carlsen
Photo: Shamkir Chess 2015

Simon Kim Williams (@ginger_gm)