The Firebird

Aleksandr Lenderman – Fabiano Caruana
60th U.S. Chess Championship; Saint Louis, April 23, 2016
Queen’s Gambit Declined D31

1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 Be7 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bf4 c6 6. e3 Bf5 7. g4 Be6 8. h4 Nd7 9. g5. For 9. h5 Qb6 10. Rb1 Ngf6 11. f3 h6 see Botvnnik – Spassky, 75th Jubileum Vierkamp, Oegstgeest 1970. 9. ... h6 10. g6

10. ... f5!? Fabi’s Copernican novelty. “A long time ago I looked at it, like two years ago. And then I kind of stopped playing this variation. It’s not a great idea, doesn’t give Black anything special, just a slightly worse position. White can play h4-h5, f2-f3, Bf1-d3, Ng1-e2. [...] I had a feeling that the position would be complicated enough that I wouldn’t have so much to worry about. And it’s very difficult for White to keep control and improve his position. In my old analysis with Rustam Kasimdzhanov we decided Black should be able to defend. And if White gets ambitious, which I thought he might, then Black gets chances to win. [...] I had noticed that a few times in these closed maneuvering positions, [Lenderman] sometimes struggles. Just a thought”, then he said. For 10. ... fxg6 11. Bd3 Nf8 12. Nf3 Bf5 13. Ne5 Nf6 14. Rg1 see Caruana – Melkumyan, 11th Aeroflot Open, Moscow 2012. 11. Bg3 Ngf6 12. Nh3 Nb6 13. Nf4 Bd7 14. f3 0-0 15. Kf2 Rc8 16. Bd3 c5 17. Kg2. It is not easy to discover when Alex actually started going wrong. Maybe now he should have played 17. Nce2. 17. ... cxd4 18. exd4 Bd6 19. Qb3 Kh8. “It looks like his King is chronically weak, and he has some tactical problems to solve”, Fabi said in the confessional. Indeed, Black is strongly threatening ... Nf6-e4 and it is not clear how to prevent it. 20. Bb5. Of course, this makes things worse, but 20. h5 Ne4! would cause White serious trouble anyway. 20. ... Bxf4 21. Bxf4 Nh5 22. Be5 Bxb5 23. Qxb5 Qf6 26. Kf2 Qxg6 27. Rg1. Desperation, but for Alex the situation was past recovery. In fact, White’s King is too exposed to survive the assault. 27. ... Qf6 28. Rh1 Nf4 29. Ke3 Ng6 30. Rxd5 Nxh4 31. Rd7 Qg5+ 32. Kd3 Nxf3 33. Rd1 Qg2. Intending ... f5-f4 followed by ... Rf8-e8-e3 mate. 34. Rxb7 Rfe8. Or vice versa. 35. Rc7. Afterwards Caruana said he was praying for 35. Qxf5 Qd2+!! 36. Rxd2 Ne1 mate. 35. ... Rb8 36. Qc6 Red8. The threat is 37. ... Rxd4+ 38. Ke3 f4 mate. 37. Kc4 Rxd4+ 38. Kc5 Rxd1 39. Nxd1 Qg1+ 40. Kc4 Qd4 mate.

Fabiano Caruana
Photo: Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (@CCSCSL)