One of These Days

Fabiano Caruana – Shakhriyar Hamid oglu Mamedyarov
7th Grand Chess Tour; 1st stage; Superbet Chess Classic; Bucharest, May 9, 2022
Russian Defence C42

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Be7 7. 0-0 Bf5 8. Re1 0-0 9. Nbd2 Nd6 10. Nf1 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 c6 12. Bf4 Na6 13. h4 Nc7 14. Ng5 g6. Or else 14. ... Bxg5 15. Bxg5 f6 16. Bf4 Qd7 17. Ng3 Rae8 18. Bxd6 Qxd6 19. Nf5 Qd7 20. Qh3 Kh8 21. h5 Rxe1+ 22. Rxe1 Re8 23. Rxe8+ Nxe8 24. g4 a6 25. b3 Qe6 26. Ne3 Nd6 27. h6 g6 28. c4 dxc4 29. bxc4 Kg8 30. Qh2 Kf7 31. c5 Nb5 32. Qb8 Qd7 33. Qh8 Ke6 34. f4 Nxd4 35. Qg8+ Qf7 36. Qc8+ Qd7 37. Qg8+ Qf7 38. Qd8 Qd7 39. f5+ gxf5 40. gxf5+ Nxf5 41. Qxd7+ Kxd7 42. Nxf5 Ke6 43. Ne3 1 : 0 Nepomniachtchi – 王皓 (Wáng Hào), Candidates Tournament 2020, Yekaterinburg 2020. 15. Nh2 Qd7!? Also sound is 15. ... f6 16. Ne6 Nxe6 17. Rxe6 Qd7 18. Rae1 Ne4? (⌓ 18. ... Rae8 Δ 19. Bh6 Bd8=) 19. Rxe7! Qxe7 20. f3 f5 21. Bg5 Qb4 22. c3 Qxb2 23. fxe4 dxe4 24. Qc4+ Rf7 25. a4 Qa3 26. Rb1 Qd6 27. Rxb7 Qd5 28. Qa6 c5 29. Rb5 Rc7 30. Bf4 Rc6 31. Qb7 Rd8 32. Qxa7 1 : 0 Brkić – Matlakov, 2nd FIDE Grand Swiss Tournament, Riga 2021. 16. h5 Bxg5 17. Bxg5 Rfe8 18. hxg6 hxg6 19. Bf6 Rxe1+ 20. Rxe1 Re8 21. Rf1 Na6? A pointless move that gives White the time to fuel his attack. Forcing the exchange of Queens by 21. ... Qf5! was probably Black’s best.

22. Be5! With the brutal threat of Qd3-g3-h4-h8#. 22. ... Qe6 23. f4. Even stronger seems 23. Qg3! Ne4 24. Qh4 f6 25. f3! fxe5 26. fxe4 Rf8 27. Rxf8+ Kxf8 28. Qh8+ Ke7 29. Qg7+ Kd8 30. Qxb7 Nc7 31. Nf3! exd4 32. e5 with a crushing advantage. 23. ... Nb8

24. Qa3. Or at once 24. f5! Nxf5 (24. ... gxf5?? loses a piece to 25. Qg3+) 25. Qh3 f6 26. g4 fxe5 27. gxf5 gxf5 28. Kh1 and White’s powerful initative at least compensates him for the two Pawns. 24. ... Ne4 25. f5 gxf5 26. Qh3 f6 27. Rxf5 Nd7 (27. ... fxe5?? 28. Qg4++−) 28. Bf4 Kf8 29. Qa3+. 29. Qh7 (Δ Bf4-h6#) 29. ... Qf7 30. Qh4⩲↑ also deserved consideration. 29. ... Kg7 30. Rh5 a6 31. Qb3 b6 32. Qf3 Rh8 33. Rxh8 Kxh8 34. Qh5+ Kg8

35. Qg6+. Stronger seems 35. Ng4! followed by Ng4-h6+ and Nh6-f5, but Caruana was quite short of time. 35. ... Kf8 36. Ng4 Ke7 37. Nh6 Kd8 38. Nf7+ Ke7 39. Nh6 Kd8 40. Nf5 Kc8. Somehow “Shakh survived the time control and the positional weaknesses in his position”, Woman Grandmaster Sabina-Francesca Foişor wrote in her daily recap. “Sadly for the Azeri super-GM, he began making inaccuracies after the time control was reached and by move 49 he found himself in a lost position. This time, Caruana showed patience and gradually, but assuredly, converted his advantage into a full point and his first win of the tournament”. 41. Qg4 Kd8 42. Qh3 Qe8 43. Qh7 Ng5 44. Bxg5 fxg5 45. Qg7 Qe1+ 46. Kh2 Qd2 47. Qe7+ Kc7 48. Qd6+ Kd8

49. Ne7 Qxc2? After 49. ... Qf2! 50. Nxc6+ Kc8 White’s best is the silent move 51. Qe6! keeping a big grip on the game — but yet no absolute certainty of a win. 50. Nxc6+ Kc8 51. Ne7+ Kd8 52. Nc6+ Kc8 53. Ne7+ Kd8 54. Nxd5 Qh7+ 55. Kg1 Qb1+ 56. Kh2 Qh7+ 57. Kg1 Qb1+ 58. Kf2 Qc2+ 59. Ke3 Qc1+ 60. Kd3 Kc8 61. Qe6 Qf1+ 62. Kc3 Qc1+ 63. Kb3 Qd1+ 64. Ka3 Qd3+ 65. b3 Qb5 66. Kb2 1 : 0.

Finally, after an intense struggle Caruana won the day. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.