A Long Way to Go

Fabiano Caruana – Magnus Carlsen
5th GRENKE Chess Classic; Karlsruhe, March 31, 2018
8/p1r5/5Pk1/8/3p2P1/P1p5/7P/5RK1 w - - 0 40

Position after 39. ... Rb7xc7

Fabiano Caruana has today experienced how much hard work and study he will need to be competitive in the next World Chess Championship match against Magnus Carlsen. After suffering for the past 39 moves, Fabiano got into the extremely difficult Rook endgame position shown in the diagram. One feels that whatever White does, mighty Magnus will find the way to win, but fortunately one may still cling to Savielly Tartakower’s old saying that “all Rook endgames are drawn”. Of course it isn’t always true, but it isn’t always untrue. 40. Kf2 c2 41. Rc1 d3 42. Ke3 Rd7 43. Kd2 Kxf6 44. h4 Ke5 45. Rf1 Kd4 46. h5 Re7 47. Rf4+ Kd5 48. Rf1 Kc4 49. Rf4+ Kd5 50. Rf1 Kc4 51. Rf4+ Kb3 52. Rb4+ Kxa3 53. Rc4 Kb3 54. Rc8 a5? Carlsen apparently misses the only winning move 54. ... Rh7! 55. Rb8+ Ka2 56. Rc8 a5 57. Ra8 (or 57. Kxd3 Kb1−+) 57. ... Rc7 58. Rxa5+ Kb3 59. Ra1 Kb2 60. Rg1 Rg7 61. Kxd3 Rxg4 62. Rxg4 c1=Q with a technical win for Black. 55. h6 Re2+ 56. Kxd3 Rh2 57. g5 Rh3+ 58. Kd2 Rh2+ 59. Kd3 ½ : ½.

Fabiano Caruana (right) vs. Magnus Carlsen (left). Photo: Georgios Souleidis/GRENKE Chess Classic.