Facing Up

Fabiano Caruana – Ian Alexandrovich Nepomniachtchi
Candidates Tournament 2020; Yekaterinburg, March 21, 2020
Grünfeld Defence D87

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8. Ne2 0-0 9. 0-0 Nc6 10. Be3 b6 11. Qd2 Bb7 12. Rfd1 cxd4 13. cxd4 Rc8 14. Rac1 Na5 15. Bd3 Qd7 16. h4!? Rxc1. Pawn hunting is obviously no good: 16. ... Qg4? 17. f3 Qxh4? 18. Bg5 Qh5 19. Bxe7 with great advantage to White. 17. Rxc1 Rc8 18. h5 Rxc1+ 19. Qxc1 Qc8!? A novelty. An older game between two chess legends continued as follows: 19. ... e6 20. h6 Bf8 21. Bg5 Qa4 22. Qb1 Nc6 23. Bc2 Qc4 24. Bd3 Qa4 25. Bb5 Qa5 26. Be3 ½ : ½ Hort – Chiburdanidze, 21st International Chess Festival, Biel/Bienne 1988.

20. h6 Bf8 21. d5 e6 22. Nc3 Nc4 23. Bxc4 Qxc4 24. Qd2 exd5 25. Nxd5 Bxd5 26. exd5 Qb4. Silly is 26. ... Bd6? for after 27. Qb2 Bf8 28. Qf6 Black just gets bottled up. 27. Qd3 Qa3. 27. ... Bd6= was certainly better; there might follow: 28. g3 Kf8 with more or less equal play. 28. Qc2. 28. Qd1(!) at once may give rise to consequences somewhat similar to those of the game: Black would have probably replied 28. ... Qd6 29. g3 f6 with a laborious defence. 28. ... Qa5 29. Qd1 Bd6 30. g3 Kf8

31. Qf3. 31. Qd4! could make Black’s defence a little more unpleasant, though after 31. ... Ke7 there’s no obvious way for White to progress. 31. ... Qe1+ 32. Kg2 f5 33. g4 Qb1 34. Bd4 Kf7 35. Qe3 Qe4+ 36. Qxe4 fxe4. The most White’s got is a drawish Bishop endgame. 37. f3 exf3+ 38. Kxf3 Ke7 39. Ke4 Kd7 40. a4 Bc7 41. Be3 a6 42. Bd2 b5 43. axb5 axb5 44. Kd4 Bb6+ 45. Kd3 Bc5 46. Bc3 Ba3 47. Bg7 Bc5 48. Bc3 Bf8 49. Bg7 Be7 50. Kd4 Bd6 51. Bf6 Kc7 52. Bg5 Kb6 53. Bd8+ Ka6 54. Kd3 Bf8 55. Kd4 Bd6 ½ : ½. “I pushed hard on my opponent, but I missed the best continuation at move 31. Apparently, I underestimated Black’s defensive resources, and after that he managed to equalise”, Caruana eventually said.

Nepomniachtchi (standing) could only relax after the game: “Obviously, I must have done something wrong somewhere in the opening, so I am pleased with the result”, he said. Photo © Lennart Ootes.