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Cover Story / 2014 Sinquefield Cup


Pandolfini on Caruana, Part II


It was clear Fabiano, even at five years of age, luxuriated in playing chess, like a number of other magnificent talents I’ve had the pleasure of sitting across from when they were young. I’ve never known any kid like that, who loved chess, who didn’t have at least a decent measure of success afterward. Generally, if you love chess, it loves you back.


was expecting 19. Rxh8+ Kxg6 20. Nf3 which at first seemed unclear but the more I looked at the position, the better it was for Black, with ideas like 20. ... Qxg3 21. Qc2 Bg4!”


19. ... Bg4! Played after 28 minutes thought, and it


was time well spent. 19. ... Qxg3 is well met by 20. Nf1 while the other idea Caruana had expected to crash though—; 19. ... Bxh3!? 20. Rxa8 Qe3+ only leads to a draw after 21. Kh1 Bxg2+ 22. Kxg2 Qxg3+ 23. Kf1 “I even looked at 23. ... Qh3+ 24. Ke2 Bf4,” said Caruana, “but it is a bit too much—I might just finish two rooks down!”


20. Qf1!


Just plain bad is 20. Qxg4 Qxg4 21. hxg4 Rxf8 when Black is a piece ahead. 20. ... Nd3!


series of discovered checks which ulti - mately result in the loss of the queen on f8! 24. ... Nxg4+ 25. Kh1 Nf2+ 26. Kg1 Nxe4+ 27. Kh1 Nxg3+ 28. Kh2 Nf5+! 29. Kh1 Qf4! with mate or win of the queen. White’s best practical chance may have been 21. Rxa8 Qe3+ 22. Kh1 Nf2+ 23. Qxf2 Qxf2 24. hxg4 Qxd2.


21. ... Rxf8 22. hxg4 Qxg4 23. Nf3 Qxg3?!


31. Nh2? “Of course this is a terrible blunder,


On 23. ... Kxh8 Caruana was concerned


by 24. Nh4 Bxg3 25. Nf5 but after 25. ... Bc7 “Black is still well on top,” he admitted.


24. e5+? “I thought what I had played was the


most accurate but when I saw 24. Nf7! I realized I probably should have taken on h8 earlier,” said Caruana. “The problem is that after 24. ... Rxf7 25. e5+ Kh8 26. e6 he gains a tempo on the rook. I was worried that the e-pawn would then be too strong so I was going to play 25. ... Qg6, but I am fairly sure he would have held the endgame.”


24. ... Kxh8 25. e6?! At first sight 25. Rf1 loses immediately


to 25. ... Rf4 but then 26. Qd7! hangs on, so Black would be forced to proceed with 25. ... Bb6+ 26. Kh1 Qg4, as in the game, though here White has more defensive options.


25. ... Bb6+ 26. Kh1 Qg4! 27. Qd6 Rd8! Black’s last big decision of the game


cost 12 minutes and leads by force to the win of the e-pawn.


28. Qe5 Rd5! 29. Qb8+ Kh7 30. e7 Qh5+ (see diagram top of next column)


21. Qxd3! Forced, as Carlsen realized during a 13


minute think. The move 21. hxg4 loses beautifully to a long, long, line which looks like a composed puzzle; 21. ... Qe3+ 22. Kh1 Rxf8 23. Qxf8 Nf2+ 24. Kg1 (The other try 24. Kh2 loses to 24. ... Qxg3+! 25. Kg1 Nh3+ 26. Kf1 Nf4! and now as soon as the checks run out, Whites loses, i.e. 27. Qf5+ Kxh8 28. Qf8+ Kh7 29. Qf5+ Kg8 30. Qc8+ Bd8!! 31. Qxd8+ Kh7 and mate follows.) and now comes a remarkable


but I can understand how it happened,” said Caruana. “He probably saw 31. ... Rd1+ when he analyzed the position earlier but when he got there he looked at [31. Qh2 and didn’t like it because of 31. ... Qe8! 32. Re1 Bf2!—IR] so he decided he ‘must’ play 31. Nh2. Then he forgot about 31. ... Rd1+ and believed that Black had to reply 31. ... Re5, after which he saw 32. g4! which looked good for White— though actually I have a draw after 32. ... Qg5! 33. Nf3 Qf4! and Black will get a perpetual check. When he played 31. Nh2 I was shocked—I thought ‘Did I miss something?’ but luckily it was hard to miss something here since he only has one legal move each time!”


31. ... Rd1+ 32. Rxd1 Qxd1+ 33. Nf1 Qxf1+ 34. Kh2 Qg1+, White resigned.


“I thought about checking whether there


was a mate with 34. ... Bg1+ [There is.— IR] but then thought he would just resign after 34. ... Qg1+,” said Caruana. “It wasn't necessary but I thought the complications were better for me,” Caruana said about allowing the sacrifice. He added that if instead 15. Bc2 a5, “and it is just better for Black.” Carlsen admitted to completely missing


moves like 20. ... Nd3 and was at a loss to describe why he allowed the finishing maneuver by playing 31. Nh2 instead of 31. Qh2. He surmised that he looked at 31. ... Rd1+ earlier in his analysis but when the position occurred over the board, he assumed 31. ... Re5 would be the response.


Pandolfini on Caruana, Part III


One doesn’t think about a child rising to the top of Mount Olympus just like that. But it was evident that Fabiano had enormous aptitude. It was astonishing how, once shown what he had done wrong, Fabiano could quickly adapt and avoid or minimize the problem after that. I felt, indeed, if things went his way, he had the inner strength and mental wherewithal ultimately to become a grandmaster. Achieving beyond that, however, that is, ascending to the status of super-super grandmaster, well, who could predict that? That’s up to the individual and Caissa.


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