Kuku

Fabiano Caruana – Richárd Rapport

7th Gashimov Memorial; Rapid stage; match game 1; time control: 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Baku, December 19, 2021

French Defence C18

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. bxc3 Qc7 7. h4 Ne7 8. Rh3 Nbc6 9. h5 h6 10. Qg4 Rg8. 10. ... Nf5 is more usual; for instance: 11. Qf4 Bd7 12. Bd3 0–0–0 13. Ne2 g5 14. hxg6 fxg6 15. Bxf5 gxf5 16. f3 Rdg8 17. Kf2 Rg6 18. Be3 cxd4 ½ : ½ Golubev – Komarov, 42nd “Soviet Army” Team Chess Championship, Riga 1988. 11. Qf4!?TN (11. Ne2 f6= G. Cappello – Pulieri, 20th Italian Correspondence Chess Championship, by correspondence, 1968–69) 11. ... Bd7 12. Bd2 0-0-0 13. Nf3 Rdf8 14. Bd3 f6

15. Qh2. The White Queen hides herself behind the curtain, waiting for a better time that is unlikely to come. 15. exf6 e5!?∞ is also very complicated but probably balanced. 15. ... fxe5. Possibly better is 15. ... Qb6! threatening to infiltrate on b2. 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Qxe5 Qxe5+ 18. dxe5 Nc6 19. f4 c4 20. Be2 Be8 21. Be3 b6 22. Kd2 Kb7 23. g4. White enjoys a distinct spatial advantage which requires urgent countermeasures by Black. 23. ... Rf7 24. Rg1 Rgf8 25. g5

25. ... Ne7!? Rapport relies upon a positional Exchange sacrifice in the style of Petrosian which has its justification in the fact that Caruana is unwilling to accept it. 26. g6 Rf5 27. Bg4 Bd7 28. Ra1

28. ... Rb8? 28. ... d4! 29. cxd4 Nd5 30. Bxf5 c3+! 31. Ke1 exf5 might have been Black’s most hard to crack defence. 29. a4 Rff8 30. a5 Nf5 31. Bxf5 Rxf5 32. axb6 a6? 32. ... axb6 33. Rhh1 is barely more appealing, but at least Black holds on to material equality for a while longer. 33. Rh4 Rc8 34. Bd4 Bb5 35. Ke3 Be8 36. Kf3 Bb5 37. Kg3 Bd7 38. Ra5 Bb5 39. Rh1! Rff8 40. Rha1. Threatening to take on b5 followed by Ra1-a7+. 41. ... Ra8 41. Kg4 Kc6 42. Rb1. White could probably take on b5 at once, but he does not need to hurry as Black is virtually in zugzwang. 42. ... Kb7

43. Raxb5! axb5 44. Rxb5 Rf5 45. Rxd5! Rxf4+ 46. Kxf4 Rf8+ 47. Ke4 exd5+ 48. Kxd5 1 : 0.

So far Caruana leads the 7th Gashimov Memorial, one whole point ahead of Rapport. Photo: Vugar Gashimov Chess Memorial via Instagram.