Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp

Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mamedyarov – Fabiano Caruana
80th Tata Steel Chess Tournament; Hilversum, January 17, 2018
Queen’s Gambit Declined D30

Unlike Wesley So, who is silently climbing the ladder to the top, Fabiano Caruana did not seem neither lucky nor in good shape here (there) in the Netherlands. But I wouldn’t trust appearances. Most likely he’s just covering all of the fireworks he’s gonna show in Berlin next March. 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Bg5 Bb4+ 5. Nbd2 dxc4 6. e3 b5 7. Be2. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov does not dare to hope again for 7. a4 c6 8. Be2 Nb7 9. 0-0 Qb6 10. Qc2 Bb7 11. b3 c3 12. Nb1 c5 13. Nxc3 cxd4 14. Nxb5 Rc8 15. Qb2 a6 16. a5 Qc5 17. exd4 Qf5 18. Bd2 Be7 19. Nc3 0-0?? (only in Switzerland such a thing could happen!) 20. Nh4 1 : 0 Mamedyarov – Inarkiev, FIDE Grand Prix 2017, 3rd stage, Geneva 2017. 7. ... Bb7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. b3 c3 10. a3 Be7 11. Nb1 c5 12. Nxc3 a6 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. Qc2 Nbd7 15. Rfd1 Rc8 16. Bxf6 gxf6 17. b4 Be7 18. Rac1 Qe8 19. Qb1 Nb6 20. Nd4 Kh8 21. Bf3 Bxf3 22. Nxf3 Nc4 23. Ne4! “I think my opponent played quite correctly. I didn’t get anything special from the opening. A playful, dynamic position in which Fabiano seems to have missed White’s idea of 23. Ne4! and 24. Nfd2. Black’s problems began after the exchange of Knights, only to then become more and more serious”, then Mamedyarov told Chess-New.ru. 23. ... Qc6 24. Nfd2 Qb7 25. Nxc4 Rxc4 26. Rxc4 bxc4 27. Qc2 Rc8 28. h3 Qc6 29. Rd4 a5 30. Nd2 Rg8 31. g3 axb4 32. Rxc4 b3. It doesn’t seem the best way to bury the doomed Pawn, but Caruana was also in serious time trouble. 33. Nxb3 Qf3 34. a4 Bd6 35. Rc8 Rxc8 36. Qxc8+ Kg7 37. Qc2 Bb4?

38. Qc4! Threatening both the Bishop and to exchange Queens by Qc4-g4+. The rest is easy. 38. ... Qb7 39. a5 Bd6 40. a6 Qb6 41. Nd4 Qa5 42. Kg2 Qa3 43. Qc6 1 : 0.