The Raft of the Medusa

Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa – Fabiano Caruana

1st Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour; second leg; Stage 1: Rapid Round Robin; time control: 10 minutes plus 5 seconds per move; Paris, April 8, 2025

rnkrbnqb/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNKRBNQB w DAda - 0 1

Position #667

1. f4 d5 2. g4 g5 3. f5 d4 4. a4 a5 5. Na3 Bc6. If 5. ... Bxa4 then 6. Nc4 recovering the Pawn with a good game.
6. Bg3 Nfd7 7. Nb5 Be5! 8. Ra3 Qg7 9. c3

9. ... d3! Enterprising play. If, instead, 9. ... dxc3 then White can play 10. Rxc3! offering the Exchange for the initiative.
10. exd3 Bxh1 11. Qxh1 c6 12. d4! An interesting positional sacrifice. The alternative was 12. Nd4 Bxd4 13. cxd4 Qxd4 14. Qe4 Qxe4 15. dxe4 Nf6 with at least equality for Black.
12. ... Bxg3 13. Nxg3 cxb5 14. axb5 Nf6 15. Re1 Nbd7

16. Qf3. After 16. c4 a picturesque variation would be 16. ... Nxg4 17. Rxe7 Qxd4 18. Re4 Qh8 19. Rxg4 Nf6 20. Rxg5 h6 (the White Rook is trapped, but...) 21. Qg1! hxg5 22. Qc5+ Kb8 23. Qe5+ with a draw by perpetual check.
16. ... 0-0 17. Rxe7 b6 18. Qc6 Rac8 19. Qd6 Rcd8

20. Kc2? (20. Nh5! Nxh5 21. Rxd7⩲)
20. ... Rfe8 21. Rxe8+ Nxe8 22. Qc6 (22. Qe7 Qf6)
22. ... Nef6 23. Ra4 (23. h3 Qf8)
23. ... Qf8 24. Rc4 Qe7 (24. ... Nxg4! 25. Ne4 Qe7∓)
25. Qf3? White’s last chance was 25. Nh5! Nxh5 (25. ... Nxg4 26. Qg2!) 26. gxh5 h6 with a near balanced situation.
25. ... Qd6 26. Rc6? 26. h3 Qf4 wasn’t pleasant at all, but better than the text.
26. ... Qf4 27. Qd3?! The attempt to complicate matters by not exchanging Queens ends in disaster for White, but also after 27. Qxf4 gxf4 28. Nf1 Nxg4 Black should not have too much trouble converting.
27. ... Qxg4 28. Qc4 h5 29. Kb3 h4 30. Nf1 Qf4 31. Qe2 Re8 32. Ne3 g4 33. Qc4 g3 34. hxg3 hxg3 35. Rc7 Nc5+ 36. dxc5 Qxc7 37. Qh4 Qe5 38. Qg5+ Kf8 39. Qh6+ Ke7 40. d4 Qe4 41. c6 g2 42. Nxg2 Qxg2 43. Qf4 Kf8 44. c4 Qe4 45. Qxe4 Nxe4 46. c5 bxc5 47. dxc5 Nxc5+ 48. Kc4 Na4 49. b3 Ke7 50. bxa4 Kd6 0–1.