Eighteen Dialogues

Magnus Carlsen – Fabiano Caruana
1st FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament 2019; Santon, October 19, 2019
English Opening A28

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e4 Bc5 5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. d4 Bb4 7. dxe5 Nxe4 8. Qf3 Nxc3 9. bxc3 Ba5. If, instead, 9. ... Be7 there may follow 10. Qg3↑ with Kingside initiative; for instance: 10. ... g6 11. Bh6 d6 12. Be2 Be6 13. Rd1 Qd7 14. exd6 cxd6 15. 0-0 0-0-0 16. Be3 Qa4 17. Qf3 (17. Rb1 d5 18. Qf3 Qc6 19. Bxa7 dxc4 20. Qe3 Rhe8 21. Rb6 Qd7 22. Bf3 Bd5 23. Qe5 Qc7 24. Qxc7+ Kxc7 25. Bxd5 Rxd5 26. Rfb1 Ra8 27. Rxb7+ Kd8 28. g3 Rd7 29. Rxd7+ Kxd7 30. Rb7+ Ke6 31. a4 Bd8 32. Kg2 h5 33. Kf3 Bf6 34. Rb6+ Kf5 35. Rb7 Ke6 36. a5 Bxc3 37. a6 Ba5 38. Ke2 c3 39. Kd3 Rd8+ 40. Kc2 Rd6 41. Rb3 Rxa6 42. Bd4 Rd6 43. Bxc3 Rc6 44. Kd3 Bxc3 45. Rxc3 Rxc3+ 46. Kxc3 Kf5 47. f3 g5 48. Kd4 Ke6 49. Ke4 f6 50. h4 f5+ 51. Ke3 f4+ 52. gxf4 gxh4 ½ : ½ Carlsen – Nepomniachtchi, 5th Grand Chess Tour, 1st stage, Côte d’Ivoire Blitz, Abidjan 2019) 17. ... Qc6 18. Qf4 b6 19. a4 Rd7 20. a5 bxa5 21. Rb1 Rc7 22. c5 dxc5 23. Bf3 Qd6 24. Qe4 Rd8 1 : 0 Carlsen – Giri, 7th World Blitz Chess Championship, Saint Petersburg 2018. 10. Bf4. Now 10. Qg3 can be answered by 10. ... 0-0 11. Bh6 Bxc3+! 12. Qxc3 gxh6 13. f4 d6 14. 0-0-0 Bf5 15. Bd3 Qd7 16. Rhe1 Rfe8 17. Re3 ½ : ½ Grigoryan – Rublevsky, 11th Serbian Team Chess Championship 1st League, Ruma 2017. 10. ... 0-0

11. 0-0-0!? A bold “castling” move, and likely a computer-analysed drawing line as well. 11. ... Qe7 12. Kb2 Rb8 13. Bd3 b5! 14. cxb5 Bb7 15. Qh3 g6 16. Qe3 Rfe8 17. Rhe1 Bc6 18. a4 a6 19. Bg5 Bxc3+! This is the most neat way of forcing a draw, even though also after 19. ... Qf8 20. Bh6 Qe7 21. Bg5 Qf8 White seems to have nothing better than repeating moves. 20. Kxc3 Qa3+ 21. Kd2 Qb4+ 22. Ke2 Qg4+ 23. Kd2 Qb4+ 24. Ke2 Qg4+ 25. Kd2 Qb4+ ½ : ½.

Today’s draw raised to 18 the number of consecutive classical draws between Carlsen and Caruana. Photo: John Saunders.