A Round of Applause

Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mamedyarov – Fabiano Caruana
6th Chess World Cup; match game 1; Baku, September 20, 2015
King’s Indian Defence E60

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Bg5 Ne4 4. Bf4 c5 5. Qc2 Qa5+ 6. Nd2 f5 7. f3 Nf6 8. d5 d6. Another try is 8. ... Bg7 9. Be5 (White probably can improve his play here) 9. ... d6 10. Bc3 Qc7 11. e4 0-0 12. Bd3 e6 with rough equality, Barsov – Vareille, Val Thorens 1995. 9. e4 Na6 10. Ne2 fxe4 11. fxe4 Bg7 12. Nc3 0-0 13. Be2 Nh5 14. Bg5 Qd8? Caruana starts to drift into a very passive position. Much better was 14. ... Nf4 15. 0-0 Nxe2+ 16. Nxe2 Bg4 with satisfactory play for Black. 15. Bxh5 gxh5 16. Nf3 h6 17. Be3 Bg4 18. 0-0 e6 19. Qd2 Kh7 20. Rad1 e5 21. Rf2 Nc7 22. Rdf1 Rb8. Black is coming up too late for counterplay. 23. h3 Bd7 24. Ne2 h4 25. Kh2 b6

26. g3 hxg3+ 27. Nxg3 Rg8 28. Nh5 Ne8 29. Nxg7 Nxg7 30. Bxh6 Nh5 31. Ng5+ Kg6. But not 31. ... Kxh6 on account of 32. Nf7++ and mate next move. 32. Rg1 Qe7 33. Nf7+. Unsurprisingly, here 33. Bf8! wins on the spot. 33. ... Kh7 34. Bg5 Qe8 35. Qe2 Ng7 36. Rf6 Rf8 37. Rh6+ Kg8 38. Bf6 Rxf7. Or 38. ... Qxf7 39. Qh5! and mate in two moves. 39. Qh5 1 : 0.

Mamedyarov. Photo: Eteri Kublashvili.