Strolley

Fabiano Caruana – Levon Grigori Aronian
7th Sinquefield Cup; Saint Louis, August 20, 2019
Spanish Game C65

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 0-0 6. 0-0 Re8 7. d4 Bb6 8. d5 Ne7. 8. ... Nb8 9. Bd3 d6 turned out to be quite fine for Black in Tokhirjonova – Laxman, 25th International Chess Festival, Abu Dhabi 2018 — but maybe White could play differently at his 9th move. 9. Nxe5 Nxe4 10. Qf3 Nf6 11. d6! Caruana pulls out from his suit a positional Pawn sacrifice which may well remind of something that his fellow countryman Paul Charles Morphy created many years ago: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. c3 Nge7 5. 0-0 0-0 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 Bb6 8. d5 Nb8 9. d6! cxd6 10. Bf4 with a powerful bind, P. C. Morphy – Schulten, New York 1857. 11. ... cxd6 12. Nc4 d5 13. Nd6 Rf8 14. Bg5 Ne4. Black has to return the Pawn at once in order to avoid the worst. 15. Nxe4 dxe4 16. Qxe4 f6 17. Be3 d5 18. Qf3 Ng6 19. Na3 Bc7 20. Rad1 Ne5 21. Qe2 a6 22. Ba4 Bg4 23. f3 Be6 24. Bb3 Re8 25. f4 Nc6 26. Qf3 Bb6 27. Nc2 Na5 28. Bxd5 Bxd5 29. Rxd5 Bxe3+ 30. Nxe3 Qb6 31. Rd3 Nc4. Aronian is rightly seeking dynamic compensation rather than mere material equality, for after 31. ... Qxb2 32. Qd5+! Kh8 33. Nf5 Black would fall into some trouble (instead 33. Qxa5? Qe2 leads nowhere). 32. Qd5+ Kf8 33. Qxc4 Rxe3 34. Rxe3 Qxe3+ 35. Kh1 Rd8 36. h3 b5 37. Qc6 Qe2 38. Rf3 Qxb2. The engines prefer the immediate ... h7-h5-h4, but, whatever it is, it should be noted that Aronian was defending a difficult position in severe time pressure. 39. Qxa6 h5 40. Kh2 h4 41. Qa7 Kg8 42. Qe7 Qd2 43. Re3 Qd6 44. Qe4 Qd5 45. Qb4 Rc8 46. a4!

Having defended very well so far, Aronian now cracks due to his crisis of time: 46. ... Qc5?? With 46. ... bxa4 Black still have a tough fight ahead. 47. Re8++− Kh7 48. Rxc8 Qxc8 49. axb5 Qf5 50. b6 Qd3 51. c4 Qg3+ 52. Kh1 Qd3 53. c5 1 : 0.

Eventually, Caruana won his battle against Aronian. Photo © Tori (@golddusttori).