Back in Time

Garry Kimovich Kasparov – Fabiano Caruana
3rd Fischerandom Chess (Online) Showdown; Lichess, September 12, 2020
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Position #496

Last year Kasparov was severely defeated by Caruana in an individual chess960 match, in spite of him having often outplayed his younger opponent. He hopes for a better luck this time with a different format. 1. c4 c5 2. b3 b6 3. Ngf3 Nef6 4. d4 e6 5. 0-0 Ne7 6. Qd2 Ng6 7. Nd3 Qe7 8. Rfd1 cxd4 9. Nxd4 0-0 10. Qb4 Bd6 11. Qc3 Rfe8 12. Nb5 Bb8. No doubt something’s gone wrong with White’s opening. Maybe they both were thinking of a classical two Bishops sacrifice, but Black, by virtue of his better placed Knights, is the only one who has any real chances of attack.

13. Qb4? An oversight that loses a Pawn. In any event, also after 13. f3 a6 14. Nd4 d5 White has reasons not to be content. 13. ... d6? Caruana graces his illustrious opponent’s débâcle: 13. ... Bxh2+! 14. Kf1 (not 14. Kh1? Rc5!! 15. Nxc5 Ng4−+ nor 14. Kxh2? Ng4+ 15. Kg1 Qh4 16. e3 e5!−+ with an irresistible attack in both cases) 14. ... d6 leaves Black with a Pawn up and the attack retained. 14. f3 a6 15. Nd4 a5 16. Qe1 d5 17. cxd5 Nxd5 18. Rxc8 Rxc8 19. Rc1 Rd8 20. Nc6 Bxc6 21. Rxc6 Qg5 22. g3 h5 23. Qc1 Qe7 24. Rc8 h4 25. f4 Bd6 26. Qc6 Qf8 27. Rxd8 Qxd8 28. Qc4 Bf8 29. Bd4 h3? Clock time calls for bluffs, tricks, and mistakes. Probably best was 29. ... b5! 30. Qxb5 Ndxf4! 31. Bb6! Nh3+! 32. Kg2 Qa8+ 33. Kxh3 Qh1 34. Ne1! Qf1+ 35. Ng2 Qxb1= with a precarious equilibrium. 30. Nf2+− b5 31. Qd3 Nb4 32. Qe4 Qc7 33. Nxh3 Nd5

34. Qd3? Once again, biological and clock time favour the youth. The young Kasparov would never have missed moves like 34. f5!+− or 34. Ng5!+− winning by force. 34. ... Bc5. And, as if it were not enough, Kasparov had a mouse slip: 35. Qc2?? Of course, by 35. Kg2 Qc6 36. e4 Nb4∞ the game would go on. Afterwards Kasparov explained the reasons behind his slip: it all started at move 34, when instead of 34. Qc2 (his intended move and quite a good one), the Queen ended up on d3. He vainly attempted to drag it back to c2, which was registered as a premove — a losing blunder after Caruana’s 34. ... Bc5: “It happened in a split of a second... computer played 35. Qc2 not me”. 35. ... Bxd4+ 0 : 1.

As with last year, this year, too, age made a difference only in terms of results. Screenshot from the live stream.