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Fabiano Caruana – Magnus Carlsen
3rd Sinquefield Cup; Saint Louis, August 24, 2015
Spanish C78

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. 0-0 b5 6. Bb3 Bb7 7. d3 Be7 8. Nc3 0-0 9. a3 d6 10. Re1 Qd7 11. Ne2 Nd8 12. Ng3 Ne6 13. Ba2. For 13. c3 c5 14. d4 see Shirov – Tomashevsky, Russian Team Chess Championship, Dagomys 2008. 13. ... Rfe8 14. Ng5. As a matter of fact this is a theoretical novelty. 14. ... d5. “14. ... d5 from Magnus Carlsen looks extremely ambitious. And a little risky. Odd choice in such a comfortable position”, Grandmaster Einar Johan Gausel said. 15. Nxe6 Qxe6 16. Bg5 h6 17. Bxf6 Bxf6 18. Qf3 c6. “If Caruana doesn’t play 19. c4, he will be in big trouble”, Grandmaster Jon Ludvig Nilssen Hammer said. 19. c4 Rad8 20. cxd5 cxd5 21. Nf5 Bg5 22. h4 Bd2 23. Re2 dxe4. “[...] very nice by Magnus, took me a while to see it”, thirteenth World Chess Champion Garry Kimovich Kasparov said. 24. dxe4 Qf6 25. g3 Kf8 26. h5. “I’d play 26. Bd5 for Caruana vs. Magnus here, should be draw even with little time”, Kasparov said. 26. ... Bg5 27. a4 b4 28. a5 Kg8 29. Bc4 Rd7? “Wow, 29. ... Rd7, I don’t get it. 29. ... Kh8 with ... g7-g6 coming was a real threat for Black. Now Magnus could be back in trouble. Still play for ... g7-g6“, Kasparov asserted. 30. Ra4. Fabi has finally achieved a clear advantage, but he has no time left. The rest is just a mad time scramble. “Hard to criticize quality of play with seconds left. Could have gone either way. Any win is a good win for Magnus after losing yesterday!“, Kasparov said. 30. ... Kh8 31. Rxb4 g6 32. hxg6 fxg6 33. Qb3 Bc6 34. Ne3 Bxe4 35. Bd5. Another modus operandi was 35. Bb5! Rb8 (35. ... Qf3? is met by 36. Rxe4!) 36. Rxe4 Rxb5 37. Qc3 when White stands quite better. 35. ... Bxd5 36. Nxd5 Qc6 37. Nc3 Qf3 38. Qc2 Red8

39. Rbe4? Fabiano misses his great chance in a mad scramble of moves and clock punching. 39. Qe4 would have ensured him an everlasting superiority. 39. ... Rd2 40. Rxd2?? Caruana on his losing move, played with a second or so on his clock: “I didn’t even think about it”. After 40. Qb1 White still survives: 40. ... R8d4! 41. Rxe5 Rh4! 42. gxh4 Qg4+ 43. Kf1 Qh3+ with perpetual check. 40. ... Rxd2 0 : 1. “With my situation and my recent form I’ll take any win I can get!”, then Magnus said.

Fabiano Caruana vs. Magnus Carlsen
Photo: Nyhetspressen