NO WONDER ONLY FABIANO SPORTS A HINT OF A SMILE: THE OTHER FIVE PLAYERS FROM THE WORLD’S TOP TEN LIST WERE, FOR A TIME, SEEMINGLY HELPLESS AGAINST CARUANA.
FAR LEFT: GM HIKARU NAKAMURA; FAR RIGHT: GM LEVON ARONIAN
played Simon Says, retreating to e8 and e1 on successive turns, but Topalov’s bishop never got to g3, which made g4 simply weakening. “He played pretty aggressively,” Caruana
said. “I grabbed my chance with (18) ... b5.”
An exotic plan GM Veselin Topalov (FIDE 2772, BUL) GM Fabiano Caruana (FIDE 2801, ITA) 2014 Sinquefield Cup (1), St. Louis, Missouri, 08.27.2014
decided upon after only two minutes’ thought. “He grabs some space and also wants to get his [dark-squared] bishop back onto the g3–b8 diagonal where he can pin my knight again.”
17. ... Be8 18. Be1 b5 19. Ne3 Bd6! 20. Ncd5? Having noticed that 20. Ne4 Be5 leaves
the c5-pawn untouchable, Topalov chooses an alternative and inferior plan, instead of the logical 20. Ne4 Be5 21. Qd2 followed by redeploying the e1-bishop.
20. ... Nxd5 21. Bxd5 The alternative line 21. Nxd5 Bc6! leaves
the knight on d5 unstable and the tactical 22. Nxf6+ Rxf6 23. Rxf6 Qxf6 24. Bxc6 leaves White too weak on the dark squares after 24. ... Nd4! with ... Qe5 to follow.
21. ... Bf7 22. Nf5 “This was my intention, to bring my
knight to f5,” explained Topalov, “but it didn’t really work.”
22. ... Be5 23. Qd2?! “It felt like I had a really good position,”
said Topalov, “but Black is very solid. So I began to push pawns.”
17. g4!? “Risky, but also very logical,” said
Caruana about Topalov’s move which was 24 November 2014 | Chess Life
(see diagram top of next column) “I failed to find the moment when I
should switch to playing for a draw,” admitted Topalov. 23. Bc3! was a better way to use the fork on e7 to keep the bishop on d5. Black can play ... g6, either immediately or after exchanging bishops, but White should be able to keep Black’s
edge within bounds. 23. ... Nd4! “Up to here I hadn’t really been playing
for advantage,” admitted Caruana. “I knew my position was OK, but suddenly after 23. ... Nd4 I realized I had an enormous advantage almost out of nowhere. It was a surprise.”
24. Bxf7+ Rxf7 25. Rd1 Nxf5 26. gxf5 Qd4+ 27. Bf2 Qg4+ 28. Kh1 c4!
Very impressive play by Caruana, who
spent only a minute on this accurate move. 29. Qc2 Re8! 30. dxc4
(see diagram top of next column)
30. ... Qh5! Perfect timing. Previously, White could
always answer this move with Bg1 but
PHOTO: CATHY ROGERS
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