She forgot to put sugar in the cake

Daniil Dimitriyevich Dubov – Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin
7th Chess World Cup; match game 2; Tbilisi, September 7, 2017
English Opening A29

The “cooked” menu with which Karjakin was served by Dubov was one of the surprises of the day: 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Bc5 7. 0-0 0-0 8. d3 Bb6 9. Nxd5 Qxd5 10. b4 e4 11. Ng5 Qd4 12. Ba3!? It’s not passed much time from 12. Be3 Qxb4 13. Nxe4 Bg4 14. h3 Bh5 15. Rb1 Qe7 16. Qd2 Rad8 17. Nc3 f6 18. Nd5 Qd7 19. Rfc1 Bf7 20. Bxb6 axb6 21. Nb4 Nd4 22. Nc2 Nc6 23. Nb4 Nd4 24. e3 Nf5 25. d4 c5 26. Nc2 cxd4 27. Nxd4 Nxd4 28. exd4 Qxd4 29. Qxd4 Rxd4 30. Rxb6 Bxa2 31. Rxb7 Rdd8 32. Ra7 Be6 33. Re7 Rfe8 34. Rxe8+ Rxe8 ½ : ½ Nakamura – Karjakin, 5th Sinquefield Cup, Saint Louis 2017. Anyway, Dubov did not improvise anything: what follows is a line (engine tested) that should lead to a draw, and of which they both had knowledge! 12. ... e3 13. b5 exf2+ 14. Kh1 Ne5 15. Bxf8 Kxf8 16. a4 a5 17. bxa6 Rxa6

18. a5 Ba7? “I knew that 18. ... Rxa5 is a draw, but over the board got confused and played 18. ... Ba7. I even repeated this line today, but it did not help...“, Karjakin tweeted afterwards. 19. Qc1 Qd8 20. Qf4 h6 21. Ne4 Qe7 22. Nc3 g5 23. Qc1! Back again! 23. ... Ng4. 23. ... c6 is equally met by 24. Nd5! with powerful effect. 24. Nd5 Qxe2 25. Qxc7 Rc6 26. Qd8+ Qe8. After 26. ... Kg7 27. Ne7 White ends up winning the second Exchange, which should be enough for him to sit and eat. 27. Qxe8+ Kxe8 28. d4 Kd8. Or 28. ... Bxd4 29. Ra4 followed by Nd5-b6. 29. h3 Nf6 30. Nb6 Rc2 31. Nxc8 1 : 0.