Near & Far

Fabiano Caruana – Alireza Firouzja
8th Grand Chess Tour; 1st stage; 4th Superbet Chess Classic; Bucharest, May 12, 2023
English Opening A11

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 g6 4. Qa4 dxc4 5. Qxc4 Bg7 6. d4 Be6 7. Qa4 Bd5 8. Nbd2 Nf6 9. Qc2 Qa5 10. Bg2 c5. Of course 10. ... Bxa2?? 11. b4+− loses a whole piece for Black.
11. 0-0 cxd4 12. b4!? A novel move, and yet a very natural one. If 12. Qc8+ then 12. ... Qd8 13. Qxd8+ Kxd8 14. Nxd4 Bxg2 15. Kxg2 Kd7= with equality, 余泱漪 (Yú Yāngyī) – 丁立人 (Dīng Lìrén), 1st 深圳龙岗 (Shēnzhèn Lónggǎng) Masters “读特杯” (“Dú Tè Cup”), 深圳 (Shēnzhèn) 2017.
12. ... Qd8 13. Bb2 0-0 14. Bxd4 Nc6 15. Bc3 Rc8 16. Qb2 a5 17. bxa5 Nxa5 18. Rac1 Nh5 19. Bxg7 Nxg7 20. Rxc8 Qxc8 21. Rc1 Qd8 22. Ne5 Bxg2 23. Kxg2 Ne6 24. Ndf3 Qd5

25. Rc3! Heading for d7 via d3.
25. ... Ra8 26. Rd3 Qc5 27. Rd7 Re8 28. a4 Nc4 29. Nxc4 Qxc4 30. Qb5 Qxb5 31. axb5 Nc5 32. Rc7 b6 33. Ne5 f6 34. Nc4 Na4 35. Ne3

35. ... e6. For fear of Ne3-d5.
36. Rb7 Rc8 37. Ng4 Rf8 38. Nh6+ Kh8 39. Nf7+ Kg8 40. Nd6 f5

41. Nc4? How very strange! Here Caruana contents himself with a draw instead of playing for a win with 41. Rc7! Rd8 42. Rc6 yielding White a manifest advantage.
41. ... Rf7 42. Rb8+ Rf8 43. Rb7 Rf7 44. Rb8+ Rf8 45. Rb7 ½ : ½.

“It was a reminder that, at his peak, Caruana was rated 2851, the all-time No 3 on official figures behind Magnus Carlsen and Garry Kasparov. Caruana is still only 30, so Carlsen’s abdication provides an opportunity for another tilt at the crown that he narrowly missed in 2018”, Leonard Barden wrote in his column on The Guardian on Friday, May 12, 2023. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour.