This concept was introduced by Super GM
Wesley So. Black plays in the spirit of the Breyer Variation, and aims to relocate his knight to d7 followed by ... Bb7, ... c7-c5 etc. 9. ... Bg4 is the main line after which play continues with 10. Be3 Nd4 11. Bxd4 with level chances; Another natural move is 9. ... Na5, but was refuted quite convincingly by Caruana. 10. Ba2 Be6 11. Bxe6 fxe6 12. b4 Nc6 13. Bd2 d5 14. Re1 Qd6 15. Na2! A deep concept by Caruana, who had analyzed this in his preparation. 15. ... Nd7 16. Qe2 d4 17. Reb1 Nb6 18. Nc1 and Caruana went on to win— One of his many wins in the 2014 Sinquefield Cup!, 1-0 Caruana, F (2801)-Aronian, L (2805), St. Louis, 2014.
10. Ne2 N A standard plan in such positions—White plans
to relocate his knight to the kingside on g3. The move 10. Ng5 was Anand’s novelty, but I don’t really see any problems for Black after 10. ... Nc6 (10. ... h6 is possible, and the lines should be further analyzed after 11. f4) 11. Ba2 Nd4 12. Ne2 Nxe2+ 13. Qxe2 h6 14. f4 exf4!
Nd5 Nxd5 12. Bxd5 c6 13. Bb3 Nd7 14. d4 a5 ½-½ Caruana, F (2820)-So, W (2762), Wijk aan Zee, 2015.
10. ... Nbd7 An alternative was 10. ... c5, and was played
by Chinese Super-Grandmaster Ding Liren, a few days after our game. 0-1 Malakhov, V (2706)- Ding, L (2755), China, 2015.
11. Ng3 Bb7 My g3-knight was happy to see this move, as
the f5-square becomes rather bare. I was expecting Black to play 11. ... Nc5 to trade off White’s light- squared bishop when 12. Ba2 Be6 leads to an approximately equal position.
12. Re1 Re8 13. c3
13. ... Bf8? The move 13. ... g6! was correct. Black stops Nf5,
17. dxc6 Bxc6 18. Bc2 h6 19. Nf3 e4
19. ... bxc4 20. dxc4 Qc7 was the only chance, although the ball still remains in White’s court after 21. b4 Rad8 22. Nd2.
20. cxb5 exf3 21. bxc6 Rxe1+ 22. Qxe1 fxg2 23. Be3! Ng4 24. d4
US Chess National Championships / 2015 U.S. Junior Closed Essential was 16. ... Nxb3! when after 17. Qxb3
c6 18. dxc6 Bxc6 19. Qc2 White remains better thanks to the extra pawn, but Black has much better chances of holding this as opposed to the game.
Strangely enough, both Anand and Wesley did not seriously consider this move in their post- game analysis. (14. ... hxg5? 15. fxg5 Ng4 16. g6 Bg5 17. h3 Bxc1 18. Raxc1 Nh6 19. Qh5 1-0 Anand, V [2791]-So, W [2788], Shamkir, 2015) 15. Nh3 g5! and White doesn’t seem to have adequate compensation after 16. Nxf4 gxf4 17. Bxf4 Kh7; 10. a4 was Caruana’s choice, but Black had no problems after 10. ... b4 11.
after which he can play ... Bf8. 14. Ng5 d5 Black loses even more after 14. ... Re7 15. Nf5.
15. exd5 Nc5 15 ... h6 16. Ne6! I suppose this is what Arthur
missed. White remains a pawn up, and the rest is a matter of good technique after 16. ... fxe6 17. dxe6 Kh8 18. exd7 Qxd7 19. Be3.
16. c4 c6
2015 U.S. JUNIOR CLOSED CHAMPIONSHIP July 7-15, 2015 / Hosted by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
IM Akshat Chandra IM Jeffery Xiong FM Arthur Shen FM Ruifeng Li
Rating 1 2589
2 x ½
3 1
4 5 6 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 0 1
7 8 9 10 1
1 1 1 1
2621 ½ x 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 ½ 1 2505 0 0 x 1
2488 ½ ½ 0 x ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 1
FM Michael H. Bodek 2528 ½ ½ 0 ½ x ½ 1 0 ½ 1 IM Yian Liou
2501 ½ 0 1 0 ½ x ½ ½ 1 ½
IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti 2545 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 ½ x 1 ½ ½ FM Awonder Liang Mika A. Brattain Curran R. Han
2483 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ 0 x ½ 1 2452 0 ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ x ½ 2211
0 0 0 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ x
For more games and information, see the official website:
http://www.uschesschamps.com/tags/information.
1
Score 7
6½ 6 5
4½ 4½ 3½ 3½ 3
1½
Ignoring Black’s monstrous-looking threat of
... Qh4. 24. ... Qh4 25. Kxg2 Ne6 If he goes for 25. ... Qxh2+ 26. Kf3 and White’s
king is absolutely safe then and with the trades after 26. ... Nxe3 27. Qxe3 Ne6 28. Rh1 Ng5+ 29. Ke2 Qg2 30. Be4 Nxe4 31. Qxe4 Qxe4+ 32. Nxe4 is easily winning.
26. Bf5 Re8 The idea 26. ... Qxh2+ is again toothless. And
just leads to the line I showed above 27. Kf3 Nxe3 28. Qxe3 Ng5+ 29. Ke2 g6 30. Rh1 Qg2 31. Be4 Nxe4 32. Qxe4 Qxe4+ 33. Nxe4.
27. Bxg4 Qxg4 28. Qd1 Nf4+ 29. Kh1 Qh4 30. Qf3 Nd3 31. Nf5 Qd8 32. Rg1
Even stronger was 32. Nxh6+, but I settled on
the safer option. 32. ... Kh7 No better is 32. ... g6 33. Bxh6 Ne1 34. Qb3 Qf6
35. Qd5. 33. Nxh6 Rxe3 34. fxe3, Black resigned. He resigned rather than be checkmated 34. fxe3
gxh6 (34. ... Kxh6 35. Qh3+ Qh4 36. Qxh4 mate) 35. Qxf7+.
www.uschess.org 25
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