Wednesday, December 28, 2022

The Sixth Sense

Fabiano Caruana – Vladislav Mikhailovich Artemiev
10th World Rapid Chess Championship; time control: 15 minutes plus 10 seconds per move; Almaty, December 28, 2022
3rrbk1/5pp1/pq5p/2p1R2Q/1nP3N1/2B4P/1P3PP1/3R2K1 w - - 4 27

Position after 26. ... Rb8-d8

Fabiano Caruana took third place bronze and played many brilliant games. This is how he wiped out Artemiev from the raffle for the title:
27. Rd7! Rxd7 28. Rxe8 (Δ Ng4-f6+)
28. ... Rd8 29. Ne5! f6. If 29. ... Rxe8 then 30. Qxf7+ Kh7 31. Nd7 Qg6 32. Nf6+! winning. A little better may be 29. ... g6, although 30. Qf3 f5 31. Rxd8 Qxd8 32. Nxg6 would leave Black without hope.
30. Qf7+ Kh7 31. Nd7 Rxd7 32. Qxd7 Bd6 33. Qf5+ 1 : 0.

As focused as he was on the board, Caruana nevertheless might have felt that nearby there was an interested spectator. Photo: Lennart Ootes/FIDE.

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