Day Two of Year Zero

Fabiano Caruana – Kirill Alexeyevich Alekseenko
Candidates Tournament 2020; Yekaterinburg, March 18, 2020
Nimzo-Indian Defence E20

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 d5 5. a3 Be7 6. e4 dxe4 7. fxe4 c5 8. d5 exd5 9. exd5 0-0 10. Be2 (10. Nf3 Bd6 11. Be2 Bg4 12. 0-0 Nbd7 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Rxf3 Qe7 15. Bg5 Rae8 16. Qd2 Qe5 17. Bf4 Qe7 18. Bg5 Qe5 19. Bf4 ½ : ½ Goryachkina – Oparin, 16th Aeroflot Open, Moscow 2018) 10. ... Re8 11. Nf3 Bg4 12. 0-0 Nbd7 13. d6!? Caruana’s move constitutes a new way to unbalance the play somewhat. A recent game went 13. Bg5 h6 14. Bh4 Bd6 15. Qc2 Qb8 with reasonable prospects for equality, Lombaers – Schoppen, 80th Noteboom Open, Leiden 2020. 13. ... Bf8 14. h3 Bh5 15. Nb5 Re6. Dancing on the razor’s edge. 16. Bf4 a6 17. Nc7 Re4 18. Bh2. 18. Nxa8 Rxf4 19. Nc7 Nb6! looks quite unclear. 18. ... Rc8 19. g4 Bxg4. Black is forced to give up the Bishop for a few Pawns, after which, Caruana said, he felt very good about his prospects, besides having time advantage. 20. hxg4 Nxg4 21. Bd3 Nxh2 22. Bxe4 Nxf1 23. Qxf1

23. ... Bxd6? The decisive mistake. Black first ought to play 23. ... Nf6! and only then pick up the third Pawn. 24. Nd5 g6 25. Qh3 Kg7 26. Kh1 Ne5 27. Nh4 h5. In serious time pressure, Alekseenko isn’t able to defend himself effectively. On the other hand, after 27. ... Rc6 28. Rg1 Black’s position was also quite discouraging. 28. Rg1 Bf8. Black is short of time and moves: if 28. ... Rc6 then 29. Nf5+! Kf8 30. Nh6! and finis. 29. Nf4 (29. Nxg6!+−) 29. ... Ng4

30. Nxh5+! gxh5 31. Bf5 Be7 32. Bxg4 hxg4 33. Qxg4+ Bg5 34. Qh5 1 : 0.

Caruana kept up his mating attack until Alekseenko’s resignation handshake offer. Photo © Lennart Ootes.