Finding Rest

Fabiano Caruana – Magnus Carlsen

Freestyle Chess G.O.A.T. Challenge; Final match game 1; time control: 90 minutes per 40 moves plus 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus 30 seconds per move starting on move 41; Wangels, February 15, 2024

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Position #949

1. d4 g6 2. Nf3 d6 3. e4 e5 4. dxe5. Maybe it’s only a coincidence that the strategic response to 4. d5 is here 4. ... f5 — like very often in classical chess.
4. ... dxe5 5. b3 Nf6 6. Bb2 N6d7 7. Be2 f6 8. Ne3 Be7 9. 0-0-0. White’s development is nearly complete: only the Queen is still in search of a square she feels is home.
9. ... Ne6 10. Qf1 Qf8

Black has equalised. Caruana, probably exhausted by yesterday’s tie-breaker against Aronian, is anything but displeased with a draw outcome, even to the detriment of his first-move advantage.
11. Bc4 Nb6 12. Nd5 Ba3 13. Bxa3 Qxa3+ 14. Kb1 Qf8 15. a4 c6 16. Nxb6 axb6 17. Bxe6 Bxe6 18. Qd3 Kc7 19. Qc3 Qc5 20. Re3 Red8 21. Rxd8 Rxd8 22. Kb2 Rd1 23. Re1 Rd8 24. Re3 Rd1 25. Re1 Rd8 ½ : ½.

Six years after their World Chess Championship match, they are here again. Photo: Maria Alekseevna Emelianova/chess.com.