First at Last

Fabiano Caruana – Richárd Rapport

7th Gashimov Memorial; Blitz stage; Armageddon game; time control: 5 minutes for White, 4 minutes for Black, with a 3 second increment after the 60th move; Baku, December 23, 2021

Queen’s Pawn Game A46

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bf4 c5 4. e3 Be7 5. Nbd2 cxd4 6. exd4 0-0 7. c3 b6 8. Bd3 Ba6 9. Bxa6 Nxa6 10. 0-0 Nc7 11. a4 a6 12. c4!? Hopefully more enterprising than 12. Re1 Ncd5 13. Bg3 b5 14. Ne5 Qc8 15. Qe2 d6 16. Nd3 Qb7 with equality, Firouzja – Baklan, 1st Official Online French Blitz Championship Qualifier, europe-echecs.com, May 16, 2020 (time control: 3 minutes plus 2 seconds per move). 12. ... d5 13. b3 dxc4 14. bxc4 b5 15. axb5 axb5 16. Rxa8 Nxa8 17. c5. 17. cxb5 Nd5 18. Bg3 Qa5 19. Qb3 Bb4 hardly offers any chances for an advantage. 17. ... Nd5 18. Bg3 Nac7 19. Qb3 Qa8 20. Rb1 Rc8 21. Ne4 b4 22. h4 h6 23. Ne5 Nb5

24. Qf3!? The immediate 24. Qd3 was probably the correct move, but after that Caruana could hardly hope for anything resembling an advantage, which would mean the end of his amazing comeback as in Armageddon draws count as wins for Black. And so he rightly risks his balance to stress his opponent’s responsibility for the game. 24. ... Rf8?! The gamble worked out! Actually, this move does not compromise the result, but shows that Rapport is very focused on playing for a draw, which can encourage Caruana to play for the win. With 24. ... f5 Black would have put to the test his opponent’s talent for calculation. 25. Qd3 Nbc3 26. Nxc3 bxc3

27. Nd7 Rd8? For quite obvious reasons this Rook would have stood better on c8. 28. Nb6 Qa5? Yet this is the losing move. After the comparatively better 28. ... Nxb6 29. cxb6 Qc6 30. Bc7 Rf8 (30. ... Rc8? 31. Qf3!+−) 31. Rc1 Bb4 32. Qc2 Ba5 33. Qb3 somehow the game goes on despite White’s obvious advantage. 29. Nxd5 Rxd5 30. c6 Bd6 31. Bxd6 Rxd6 32. Rb8+ Rd8 33. Rxd8+ Qxd8 34. Qxc3 Qc7 35. Qc5 f6 36. d5 exd5 37. Qxd5+ Kf8 38. Qe6 Qd8 39. g3 Qc7 40. h5 Qd8 41. Kg2 Qc7 42. Kf3 Qd8 43. g4 Qc7 44. Ke4 Qd8

45. Qd7! Qb8 (45. ... Qxd7 46. cxd7 Ke7 47. Kf5+−) 46. c7 Qa8+. The prelude to the end, but also after 46. ... Qb1+ 47. Kf3 Qh1+ 48. Ke2 Qe4+ 49. Kd2 Qb4+ 50. Kd3 Qb1+ 51. Kc4 Qe4+ 52. Kc5 Qc2+ 53. Kb4 White’s King eventually escapes from checks. 47. Kf4 Qa4+. A way as another to resign. 48. Qxa4 1 : 0.

And finally, after a wonderful comeback in the Blitz stage, Fabiano Caruana triumphed in the 7th Gashimov Memorial! Photo: Vugar Gashimov Chess Memorial.