Fabiano Caruana: 60 Memorable Games E-Book

Andrew Soltis

• Herausgeber: Batsford
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 645

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Following on from the enduring success of one of the most important chess books ever written, Bobby Fischer: My 60 Memorable Games, and the recently released Magnus Carlsen: 50 Memorable Games, celebrated chess writer Andrew Soltis delivers a book on Fabiano Caruana, the Grandmaster set to rival current world champion Magnus Carlsen.  This book details Caruana's remarkable rise from chess prodigy to one of the best chess player in the world, exploring how he acquired the skills of 21st-century grandmaster chess over such a short period of time. This book dives into how he wins by analysing 60 of the games that made him who he is, describing the intricacies behind his and his opponent's strategies, the tactical justification of moves and the psychological battle in each one.

Leseprobe

Fabiano Caruana: 60 Memorable Games

Andrew Soltis

Contents

Introduction: The Caruana Difference

1 Bregadze – Caruana, Heraklion 2002

2 Garza Marco – Caruana, Lorca 2005

3 Caruana – Villavicencio, Andorra la Vella 2006

4 Caruana – Fodor, Budapest 2007

5 Caruana – Jenni, Szeged 2007

6 de la Riva Aguado – Caruana, Dresden 2008

7 Caruana – Navara, Wijk aan Zee 2009

8 Caruana – Short, Wijk aan Zee 2009

9 Gelfand – Caruana, Biel 2009

10 Caruana – Smirnov, Dagomys 2009

11 Potkin – Caruana, Dagomys 2010

12 Negi – Caruana, New Delhi 2010

13 Caruana – Areshchenko, Olginka 2011

14 Vitiugov – Caruana, Reggio Emilia 2011-2012

15 Caruana – Giri, Wijk aan Zee 2012

16 Caruana – Kramnik, Moscow 2012

17 Karjakin – Caruana, São Paolo 2012

18 Caruana – Aronian, São Paolo 2012

19 Leko – Caruana, Dortmund 2012

20 Caruana – Ivanchuk, Thessaloniki 2013

21 Anand – Caruana, Moscow 2013

22 Caruana – Gelfand, Wijk aan Zee 2014

23 Caruana – Radjabov, Shamkir 2014

24 Caruana – Ponomariev, Dortmund 2014

25 Topalov – Caruana, Sinquefield Cup 2014

26 Carlsen – Caruana, Sinquefield Cup 2014

27 Caruana – Aronian, Sinquefield Cup 2014

28 Nakamura – Caruana, Sinquefield Cup 2014 211

29 Dominguez – Caruana, Baku 2014

30 Caruana – Tomashevsky, Khanty-Mansiysk 2015

31 Kramnik – Caruana, Dortmund 2015

32 Nisipeanu – Caruana, Dortmund 2015

33 Caruana – Wei Yi, Wijk aan Zee 2016

34 Caruana – Nakamura, Moscow 2016

35 Caruana – Anand, London 2017

36 Kasparov – Caruana, St. Louis 2016

37 Caruana – Radjabov, Shamkir 2016

38 Nakamura – Caruana, St. Louis (blitz) 2016

39 Caruana – Kramnik, Leuven 2016

40 Caruana – Giri, Sinquefield Cup 2016

41 Caruana – Bareev, Baku 2016

42 Naiditsch – Caruana, Karlsruhe 2017

43 Meier – Caruana, Karlsruhe 2017

44 Caruana – Akobian, US Championship 2018

45 Navara – Caruana, St. Louis (blitz) 2018

46 Vitiugov – Caruana, Baden – Baden 2018

47 Robson – Caruana, US Championship 2018

48 Caruana – Karjakin, Stavanger 2018

49 Caruana – Nakamura, Sinquefield Cup 2018

50 Caruana – Anand, Batumi 2018

51 Carlsen – Caruana, World Championship 2018

52 Caruana – Anand, Stavanger 2019

53 Aronian – Caruana, Stavanger 2019

54 Caruana – Carlsen, St. Louis (rapid) 2019

55 Caruana – Sevian, Isle of Man 2019

56 Kovalev – Caruana, Wijk aan Zee 2020

57 Caruana – Carlsen, Clutch (internet) 2020

58 Caruana – Nepomniachtchi, Chessable (internet) 2020

59 Caruana – Vachier – Lagrave, Ekatarinburg 2021

60 Caruana – Svidler, St. Louis (blitz) 2021

Index of Opponents

Index of Openings

ECO Opening Index

Index of Mddlegame Themes

Index of Endgames

Introduction

The Caruana Difference

It reads like a Hollywood script:

A Brooklyn boy dreams of becoming the world chess champion. He makes the unheard-of decision to become a professional player at age 12. His family moves to Europe so he can learn from the best teachers. He studies and plays constantly. In two years he is a grandmaster. By age 16, sponsors from Azerbaijan to Germany are bidding to have him play for their teams.

As in any good movie plot, this is the first stage of a narrative arc. There is a roller coaster of changes to come:

His great victories are followed by severe reverses. His progress is halted. Younger players seem to surpass him. He talks of giving up chess. Then he registers the greatest winning streak in chess history. Major media outlets flock to interview him. Gossip web sites claim he has amassed a fortune of more than $10 million. His return to play for the United States is an international news story. He finally wins the right to challenge the world champion. He battles undefeated through the most-watched championship match in history. Then in a dramatic playoff he wins and becomes history’s 17th world champion.

Yes, it’s a typical Hollywood fantasy. But except for the final sentence, Fabiano Caruana’s story is true.

And if he had a celebrity personality – that of a Magnus Carlsen, a Bobby Fischer or a Garry Kasparov – his story would be known well beyond chess circles. But Caruana is Caruana. “He is shy and modest, like a conservatory student,” one of his teachers said. He is content to let his moves do most of the talking.

To appreciate how he accomplished what he did in his first 30 years, it helps to understand why he is different in so many ways from Carlsen, Kasparov and rivals such as Ian Nepomniachtchi and Hikaru Nakamura.

Concrete Plus

“Caruana is a very concrete player,” Carlsen said. In grandmaster jargon, this means someone who relies primarily on calculation to choose his moves. All of the world’s elite players are excellent calculators. “A pretty damned good one,” Maxime Vachier-Lagrave said of himself.

By the time Caruana reached the world’s number two rating he had beaten the number one, Carlsen, by crunching variations.“When the position gets out of control, he can be out-calculated. I’ve out-calculated him in the past,” he told the New Yorker in 2016.

His analytical skill began early. At age six, his teacher gave him positions to analyze, typically tactical quizzes. “The one proviso he had to honor, no matter what, was always to analyze in his head, never moving the pieces until he had completed analysis,” recalled the teacher, Bruce Pandolfini.

Carlsen is much more intuitive than “concrete.” His instinct for moving the right piece to the right square at the right time is unrivaled.

But Caruana will choose the same move as Carlsen 90 percent of the time, sometimes more. Yet Magnus acknowledges that there are some of Fabiano’s moves he would never consider.

Wojtaszek – Caruana

Wijk aan Zee 2021

Black to play

Caruana played his previous moves quickly. Here he paused. After six minutes he played 13...♗xc3.

Black sometimes gives up his cherished g7-bishop for the knight in this opening, the King’s Indian Defense. But in return he inflicts doubled pawns (bxc3) and often wins a pawn.

This is quite different. Caruana’s grandmaster colleagues were horrified.

“If this decision is good for Black, I need to learn chess again,” GM Ivan Sokolov tweeted.

The great King’s Indian authority Yefim Geller “is probably turning in his grave,” he said.

Caruana’s intuition was different. He wasn’t certain 13...♗xc3 was right. “But I had seen it some similar examples where White can’t really free himself,” he said afterward.

This became clearer after play continued 14 ♕xc3 ♕f6 15 ♕c1 ♘c5 16 ♕b1 ♕e6.

White to play

Black must win a pawn (17...♘xe4 or 17...♕xc4). Caruana later switched to a crushing kingside attack.

The tenor of grandmaster tweets also switched. “Brilliant! Thanks for the lesson in the King’s Indian,” wrote GM Rauf Mamedov.

No Clone

Carlsen has expressed astonishment in the way many of his colleagues honed their skills. “I think his entire training has been with a computer,” he said of Wesley So.

Caruana also grew up during the engine era. He’s been called a computer clone, another “son of Fritz.” Or of Stockfish, or even AlphaZero. But since his earliest international successes he has made moves that few machines would recommend.

Caruana – van der Wiel

Wijk aan Zee, C Group 2008

White to play

Stockfish recommends 16 ♘ce2, to get White’s knight out of the path of onrushing Black pawns.

Second best, according to various engines, is 16 ♖c1. Also good is 16 ♖he1. Each of these moves earns a plus evaluation from software.

Caruana put another piece in the way of Black’s pawns, 16 ♘b3. Computers reversed their evaluations. Black is much better now, they said. “One might think that White has committed some sort of oversight,” Caruana wrote in Chessbase.

After 16...a4 17 ♘c1 b4 18 ♘3e2 the machines appreciate how White can keep the files in front of the king closed. He will answer ...a3 with b2-b3!, and ...b3 with a2-a3!.

However Caruana’s centralization of force didn’t impress them until 18...♗g7 19 d4 h5 20 g5 ♘g8 21 d5!.

But now White’s superiority is obvious, at least to humans. Play went 21...e5 22 ♘d3 b3 23 a3 ♘e7 24 f4! exf4 25 ♗d4 and after mutual inexact play, White won.

What makes Caruana’s study habits different from Carlsen’s is not technology but dedication. Magnus is easily bored. There are days he doesn’t look at all at chess. When his father Henrik Carlsen was asked how the young Magnus studied, he replied, “He does what he likes... It’s curiosity as opposed to discipline.”

Fabiano has the same driving curiosity of all great players. But he also has self-discipline. “What is most striking about Caruana is a fantastic concentration,” said Yuri Razuvaev, one of his grandmaster trainers. He has the ability to examine a chess position to the exclusion of all else, for as long as he needed to understand it. “Only the great ones have this,” Razuvaev said, mentioning Bobby Fischer, Viktor Korchnoi and Anatoly Karpov. “Caruana’s concentration does not wane in six hours of studying.”

Believing the Board

To Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and other elite players, chess is more sport than science. The tournament scoretable takes precedence over the position on the board. Carlsen will try to win any position, even a dead drawn endgame, if it means moving up in the standings.

Caruana is superb in last rounds as this book’s Games 8, 32, 40 and others attest. But he is guided, most of all, by what he sees on the board. If the pieces and pawns tell him he is justified in taking risks, he may. Otherwise, he probably won’t.

Dominguez – Caruana

FIDE Grand Prix, Paris 2013

Black to play

The stakes were huge for Caruana in this final-round game. A win would get him into the 2014 Candidates tournament, the last stop before a world championship match.

But his opponent had little to play for. After 15...♕c6 he repeated the position, 16 ♘a7 ♕c7 17 ♘b5.

Caruana wanted to play on. But the position wouldn’t let him. He again rejected 17...♕d8 18 ♕a7! and 17...♕b8 18 ♕xd7+.

The game ended with 17...♕c6 18 ♘a7 ♕c7 19 ♘b5 ♕c6, draw. His world championship hopes had to wait three years.

Caruana was sharply criticized by several colleagues. He should have played to win, they said – without saying how.

Jan Timman came to his defense. “Every top player has his or her values in a position,” he wrote in New In Chess. “If you think the position is objectively balanced, forcing things goes against the grain.”

Caruana was in a similar situation a year before, in the last round of the Grand Slam Final. He was tied with Carlsen for the tournament lead.

Vallejo Pons – Caruana

São Paulo 2012

Black to play

Caruana played 9...♖e8, an invitation to the Zaitsev Variation, 10 d4.

His opponent replied 10 ♘g5. This virtually forced him to play 10...♖f8. Then came 11 ♘f3 ♖e8.

This repetition of moves is a common device by grandmasters. It shortens the distance to the time control and helps avoid time trouble 30 moves later. White usually continues 12 d4! and heads for a complex middlegame.

But Vallejo Pons continued 12 ♘g5 ♖f8 and then 13 d4 ♗b7 14 ♘f3 ♖e8 15 ♘g5 ♖f8.

Caruana was described as stunned as White’s knight shifted back and forth from g5 to f3. But he felt trapped.

The game ended with 16 ♘f3 ♖e8 17 ♘g5 ♖f8 18 ♘f3 ♖e8 19 ♘g5 draw.

Of course, there were sound ways for him to vary at move 9 – and again at 11, 14, 16 and 18.

But at the time, Caruana considered anything but the Zaitzev Variation somewhat dicey. He didn’t know those positions well and didn’t trust them.

Because of the draw, he ended up in a playoff with Carlsen and lost.

Carlsen relishes impossible tasks, when he has to win with Black. Fabiano doesn’t. He found himself in that situation in the last round of the 2016 Candidates tournament. He couldn’t afford to meet Sergey Karjakin’s 1 e4 with 1...e5. A draw would allow Karjakin to clinch first place.

So Caruana played the Richter-Rauzer Variation of the Sicilian Defense. It was “an opening that I hate,” he said. He lost and once again had to wait for the next championship cycle.

Disciplined Nerves

Even after he became a grandmaster, Caruana was a mystery to older colleagues. They included Viktor Korchnoi, who lost his first three games to him.

“In recent time it became hard for me to play with youngsters,” Korchnoi wrote. “I stopped understanding from where they got their moves. Do they think them up out of their heads or remember what was shown in books, or by their trainers or the computers?”

He found an answer on his fourth try with Caruana.

Caruana – Korchnoi

Gibraltar 2011

Black to move

Caruana’s last move, 14 h3, weakened the kingside before it comes under attack. This violates basic principles, Korchnoi said. “Obviously,” he said, 14 ♘c4 was the main alternative.

To justify the knight move, White would have to investigate 14...g4 15 ♘fd2 f4 16 a4, he added. He carried his analysis well past move 20 in variations that continued 16...♕c7 17 ♕b3 ♗d8 and 16...♘a7 17 ♕b3 b5. “Robert Fischer would approve” of this, he said.

Korchnoi concluded his young opponent was not primarily a calculator. “Caruana chose a position that was better known to him and, perhaps, demands less nervous tension,” he wrote.

Unlike Korchnoi at 70, Caruana at 18 had learned to manage his nerves, his emotions and his clock. “Of course, I was nervous,” he recalled, about his last-round game at Thessaloniki 2013.

His opponent, Gata Kamsky, needed a draw to clinch first prize and extend his career comeback. If Caruana won he might finish first. He sensed Kamsky “would experience more pressure than me.”

So, Caruana complicated. Kamsky “made correct moves but spent too much time,” he said. The position “became impossible to defend” and Caruana won.

Tournament pressure “can be debilitating,” he said in a later interview. But “If you learn to deal with it, it can be motivating.” He cited the example of Karjakin, who plays better when the stakes are higher, such as in Candidates tournaments.

In the fourth round of the 2018 Candidates tournament he survived several near-death experiences:

Kramnik – Caruana

Candidates tournament, Berlin 2018

Black to move

Caruana could have kept roughly even chances with 52...♗e7 or 52...♘d5.

But he has a splendid sense of when his opponent is uncomfortable with the position or his side of the clock. Vladimir Kramnik had less than three minutes to reach the next control at move 60.

Caruana had 15 minutes left and spent more than half of it on 52...♘c2! 53 ♖c1 ♘d4.

Computers called this insane. They said 54 ♗g4 would win after 54...h2 55 ♖e1+ ♔d5 56 ♖xf6.

They were wrong. When prompted to consider a possible perpetual check, 56...♖a4+ 57 ♔b2 ♖b4+ 58 ♔c1 ♖c4+, engines see 59 ♔d1 ♖a4 60 ♖h6 ♔c4!.

What might have been

Engines realize Black is threatening ...♔d3 and ...♖a1 mate!.

Instead of this, Kramnik refused to give up the prospect of a win. He forged ahead with 54 ♗d3 ♖a4+ 55 ♔b1 ♘b3 56 ♖e1+ ♔d5 57 ♔c2 ♘d4+ 58 ♔b1? ♘f3!.

He had vowed “to play every game to the end.” But, he acknowledged afterwards, “When you play 6-7 hours every day you get very tired.”

Now he had to try for a draw (59 ♖xf6! ♘xe1 60 ♗f1).

But with less than a minute he blundered, 59 ♖d1?? ♖a1+ 60 ♔c2 ♖xd1 (61 ♔xd1 h2!), and resigned in a few moves.

Kramnik never recovered in the tournament. It turned out to be his final bid to regain the world championship. Caruana, on the other hand, was destined to hold and fall out of the tournament lead until the end.

“There was no moment when it wasn’t incredibly tense,” he said. “I was playing catch-up or trying to hold on to my very thin edge at the top.” When the tournament ended, he had finished first and qualified to challenge Carlsen.

Discomfort Zone

When the position doesn’t strongly suggest a particular candidate move, Caruana and his rivals will choose the one that makes it easier to find good subsequent moves. Caruana will also place a priority on a candidate that makes it harder for his opponent to find good moves, as in the Kramnik game.

This also guides his opening preparation. He wants to push his opponent out of his comfort zone.

In the following hyper-sharp line of the Najdorf Variation, White has had promising results with 15 ♕h3 and double-edged results with 15 e5 and 15 g5.

Caruana – Nakamura

Stavanger 2017

Caruana played 15 ♖g1 instead. He acknowledged it was no better than the other moves. But it makes it harder for “Black to navigate the maze of options over the board.”

Play went 15...♗d7 16 g5 hxg5 17 ♖xg5 and Nakamura sank into 45 minutes’ thought. He apparently considered 17...♖h7, 17...♗f8 and a few other candidates.

When Nakamura chose 17...♘c6!? “I knew the move was decent for Black,” Caruana wrote. “But it is so risky and difficult to calculate that I never expected anyone to play it.”

What he meant was it allowed 18 ♖xg7 and then 18...0-0-0 19 ♘cb5!. This gave him a forcing path to a slightly favorable endgame, 19...axb5 20 ♘xb5 ♘e5! 21 ♘xc7 ♘xd3+ 22 cxd3. Nakamura quickly erred and lost.

Little Moves

Two generations before, Korchnoi had also been critical of Garry Kasparov. When Kasparov was on the verge of the world championship, Korchnoi said he lacked “a very important quality, patience.”

Kasparov tries too hard with every move, he said. “In all his games he plays ♕a4, ♕h5, ♕a6 – always long moves. He plays his pieces as far as they will go.” This may work against mere masters but not among the world’s best, Korchnoi claimed.

No knowledgeable player would accuse Caruana of this. He has extraordinary patience. It is best illustrated by his quiet, innocuous-looking moves. Often they seem to do next to nothing. But often his position keeps improving, inexplicably, inexorably.

Caruana – Eljanov

Baku 2016

White to move

White is better but far from victory. Forcing moves won’t change this quickly.

What White needs is an optimum formation of his three pieces.

If he can get his rook to e5, his queen to e3 and his king to g2, the evaluation of the position jumps from +1 to well over +2, that is from “may win” range to “probable win.”

He began with 38 ♕e3! so that 38...♔g8 39 ♖e4 ♖e8 40 ♖e5 approaches the desired formation.

Play went 38...♖f8 39 ♖e4! ♖f7 and now 41 ♖e5! so he could push the a-pawn without concern.

None of his moves seemed dramatic. They were “little.” But after 40...♕d6 41 a5 ♕d1+ 42 ♔g2 ♕a1 43 ♕e2! and a5-a6 they had transformed a merely good endgame into a winning position.

Caruana’s annotations typically do not credit how his little moves change a position. In analyzing Game 16 he described how a balanced endgame somehow deteriorated into a loss for Kramnik without a detectable error by him.

In the Eljanov game only the final moves drew expressions of admiration from his fans. Black resigned soon after 43...e6 44 a6 ♕d4 45 ♖xe6 c5 46 ♖e7!.

Deep Prep

Carlsen is the first world champion in decades who did not consider the opening a very important part of the game. He would be happy to get past the first dozen moves and reach a middlegame position in which he can out-think his opponent.

Caruana also wants to out-think his opponent. But it would be nice if his opponent was the first to start thinking. When he won Game 59 he blitzed off his first 25 moves, many of them highly complex and some strikingly original. His opponent had taken nearly an hour and was beginning to make mistakes.

A typical Caruana game is no easier to define than a typical game of Carlsen, Nepo, Vachier-Lagrave or Wesley So, to name a few. One that comes to mind began this way.

Caruana – Georg Meier

Baden-Baden 2013

French Defense, Rubinstein Variation (C10)

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 ♘c3 dxe4 4 ♘xe4 ♘d7 5 ♘f3 ♘gf6 6 ♘xf6+ ♘xf6 7 ♗e3 ♘d5 8 ♗d2 c5 9 ♗b5+ ♗d7 10. ♗xd7+ ♕xd7 11 c4 ♘b6 12 ♖c1 f6 13 0-0 cxd4

White to move

Opening databases at the time stopped here with the conclusion that chances are roughly balanced. This is a typical evaluation of a position when 21st century masters start thinking.

“With the computers we are all almost equal in the beginning,” Veselin Topalov said. “And then you have a margin of like 20 moves when you have to make the difference.”

Play went 14 ♖e1 ♖c8 15 ♕b3. After the game, Caruana pointed out in detail how 15...e5? would lose to 16 ♘xe5 fxe5 17 ♖xe5+.

Better is 15...♔f7 when 16 ♕d3 and 17 b4, with the idea of c4-c5, offers chances for an initiative.

Black, a French Defense expert, preferred 15...♗e7 and Caruana answered 16 c5! ♖xc5 17 ♖xc5 ♗xc5 18 ♖xe6+ ♔d8 19 ♖e1.

Caruana had analyzed as far as this position, six moves past the last “book” move.

He didn’t believe White was significantly better. What he liked about the position is that it is hard for Black to defend.

This became evident as the game went 19...♕d5 20 ♕d3 ♘d7 21 b4 ♗b6 22 a4 a6 23 a5 ♗a7?

Computers suggest improvements (20...♘c4 and later 22...♖e8). So did Caruana (20...♔c8 and later 23...♗c7 and 24...♘f8).

In any case, by the time Black regained his sacrificed pawn, he was lost, 24 ♗f4! ♘b8 25 ♗xb8 ♗xb8 26 ♘xd4.

But it took several more moves, 26...♕d6 27 ♘e6+ ♔e7 28 ♘c5+ ♔f7 29 ♕c4+ ♔g6 30 g3 h5 31 ♕e4+ ♔h6 32 ♕xb7, before the outcome of the game was clear.

Caruana downplays the significance of his opening preparation. “It’s been greatly exaggerated that this is a strength of mine.” He joked that Anish Giri “always manages to out-prepare me in the opening.”

“Sometimes he ends up four pawns up after the opening, and usually the game ends in a draw,” he said with a laugh.

Wounding, Not Killing

Caruana is not Kasparov. His most evident flaw is an occasional failure to deliver the knockout blow.

Twice in the 2018 world championship match – the event he had devoted his life to winning – he failed to play critical, if not decisive moves. He wounded Carlsen. He didn’t kill him.

Caruana joked about this failing when he commented on his game with Meier (above). “I could have finished it off faster,” he wrote after 26 moves. “But the advantage is so overwhelming it’s hard to ruin it, even for me!”

He doesn’t ruin dead-won positions. But a promising position can be a problem. Even when he takes an enormous amount of time to calculate a killer, he may step back.

Firouzja – Caruana

Wijk aan Zee 2021

Black to move

He was way ahead on the clock and could afford his first “big think” of the game. Natural candidates include 18...♕f6, 18...♕g5 and 18...c6. But a master’s intuition tells him there is one other move that could be much better.

“I spent at least 50 minutes, maybe more, just calculating 18...♘xg2,” Caruana said after the game. “It was the only move I was thinking about.”

The easy part, after 19 ♔xg2 ♘h4+, was dispensing with 20 ♔h2? or 20 ♔g1?. Then 20...♕d5 21 f3 ♗xd4 and ...♘xf3+ would win.

And it was not difficult to visualize the remaining move, 20 ♔h1, and then 20...♕d5+ 21 f3.

Not pulling the trigger

But here he hit a wall of uncertainty. There was no clear continuation to 21...♗xh3 22 ♘h2.

Neither was there one for 21...c5 22 ♘c2 ♕f5 23 ♘h2.

“I didn’t quite see how to follow up,” he said. He eventually chose 18...c6.

Then came 19 ♗c4 ♗c7, when 19...♘xg2! 20 ♔xg2 ♕h4 would have been strong.

Caruana eventually drew – with some difficulty – after 20 ♘g3 ♘d5? (20...♘xg2!).

“Every part of me wanted to take on g2,” he said later. But he wanted to be certain and his calculation couldn’t find certainty.

Emotional Stamina

Caruana takes disappointments well. He has what Bent Larsen called “emotional stamina.” He readily concedes when he is outplayed and when he doesn’t know exactly how it happened.

“It was kind of funny,” he said after he lost a rook-and-bishop endgame wonderfully played by Carlsen at Bilbao 2012. “Because after the game I couldn’t even point out a clear mistake.” He wondered if his only error was making a neutral seventh move of the game – and laughed when he said it.

Privately, he is not so unflappable, according to former trainer Alexander Chernin. During his drive to the grandmaster title, Fabiano had had mood swings, he said.

They ranged “from elation and seeing himself as world champion after a significant win to wanting to quit chess completely after a disastrous tournament,” Chernin told journalist Diana Mihajlova.

But like a true professional, Caruana accepts the inevitability of mistakes and what we call “luck.” He knows luck tends to balance out. “I saved some truly awful positions,” he said after the Moscow 2016 Candidates tournament.

Then he added, “And I saved some truly awful positions for my opponents as well.”

First Moves

It may surprise Fabianistas, his devoted fans, that he was first encouraged to learn chess as a remedial assignment. He learned the moves at age 5 when he joined an after-school program near his Brooklyn home. “I was a decent student but had some disciplinary problems, and they thought that would help me out,” he told Interview magazine.

Fabiano was so tiny when he started to play that his feet could not reach the floor when he sat in a tournament chair. Instead, he sat hunched up on his knees. In his first tournament, two months shy of his sixth birthday, he lost his first game, won his second, finished 1-3 and was given a US chess federation rating of 473.

In late 1997, he met Bruce Pandolfini, the best-known chess teacher in America. Pandolfini had been portrayed, by Ben Kingsley, in the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer and was later the technical advisor for the TV series The Queen’s Gambit.

When Pandolfini eventually spoke to Fabiano’s parents, he agreed to give him regular lessons. That day Pandolfini wrote a note to himself: “This kid has great promise... It’s obvious he loves chess and is extremely gifted. You can see it in his eyes.”

He gradually came to understand Fabiano’s character. “His greatest strength is that he has the courage of his convictions,” Pandolfini told the New Yorker. “He is stubborn and sticks to his ideas, come hell or high water,” Pandolfini said. “That serves him well in tournament play – you need to believe in yourself. But it makes him harder to teach.”

When Fabiano turned 7, he was rated over 1100. He demonstrated tactical skill but also a feeling of where pieces belong. A year later, when his rating had soared to 1575, he began a game in a weekend tournament against a slightly higher-rated opponent, Thomas Murphy. It went 1 e4 d6 2 d4 ♘f6 3 ♘c3 g6 4 ♘f3 ♗g7 5 ♗c4 0-0 6 0-0 c6 and now 7 e5! ♘e8 8 ♖e1 d5 9 ♗b3 ♔h8.

Here most 1500 players would choose a developing move such as 10 ♗f4.

White to move

You can find the best move by realizing two of White’s two developed minor pieces are misplaced. Or by foreseeing that Black’s best source of counterplay lies in ...f6.

Caruana chose 10 ♘e2! so he could play ♘f4, c2-c3 and ♗c2.

After 10...f6 11 ♘f4 he had a substantial advantage, e.g. 11...♘c7 12 exf6 exf6 13 c3 and ♗c2!.

He won after 11...fxe5? 12 ♘xe5 ♘c7? 13 ♘exg6+! hxg6 14 ♘xg6+ ♔g8 15 ♘xe7+ (15...♔f7 16 ♕h5+ and mates).

Soon Caruana was studying with a different teacher, Miron Sher. His rating broke 2000 when he was 9. His progress was expensive, costing his family $70,000 a year.

This figure shocks people outside the chess community. But another young American, Daniel Naroditsky, became a grandmaster after his father spent more than $50,000 a year and amassed a library of more than 1,000 chess books. And in 2021, when Abhimanyu Mishra became the youngest grandmaster in history, his father said he had already spent more than $270,000 on his son’s chess career.

Caruana was on the verge of becoming a master when his parents moved the family to Europe. He told Deadspin:

“That was my parents’ decision entirely. I wanted to stay in the U.S. [laughs] I had friends in the U.S. and my family was there and my home was there, but my parents wanted to visit Europe and explore a few countries for a few years, and it ended up being pretty much a decade that we were in Europe.”

Soviet School

Anatoly Karpov saw Caruana for the first time at a French tournament in 2008. After playing a series of rapid games with him, Karpov said he recognized not only what Fabiano knew about chess but how he was taught. Caruana is a product of the Soviet school, Karpov concluded.

Caruana’s first foreign teacher, Boris Zlotnik, like Sher, was a Soviet émigré. In fact, Zlotnik had attended the same chess classes as Karpov, given by Mikhail Botvinnik. Living in Spain, Zlotnik had never heard of Caruana when they met near Madrid in December 2004. Zlotnik asked his parents where Fabiano would be going to school. “We want Fabiano to become a professional chessplayer and therefore he will not go,” Zlotnik said he was told.

Zlotnik proposed giving Fabiano two lessons a week and having him play one tournament a month. The lessons covered different aspects of chess. For example in November 2005, he gave him a homework task:

In the starting position White plays 1 f3, 2 ♔f2, 3 ♔g3 and 4 ♔h4. How does Black deliver mate on the fourth move?

Caruana quickly emailed him back: “Boris, the answer is 1 f3 e5 2 ♔f2 ♕f6 3 ♔g3 ♕xf3+ 4 ♔h4 ♗e7 mate,” he said. “This puzzle took me about 10 minutes.”

Yuri Razuvaev later cited a Soviet chess joke: No matter how bad things are going, it can always be made worse by a change of trainers. But this didn’t apply to Caruana. By 2007, he had moved on and kept improving. Among his new Soviet-trained teachers were Alexander Chernin and Vladimir Chuchelov.

Perhaps the most important quality he took from the Soviet players was their attitude towards study. “I inherited their work ethic, which is pretty good,” he said years later. “If there is one way to play chess, it is probably the Russians’.” Pandolfini adds that he taught Fabiano never to give up if there was any play left. He did this by repeating a mantra, “Fight like Botvinnik.”

Caruana later summed up his European apprenticeship: “I started working pretty much all day, working with coaches in Spain and Hungary and Switzerland. We travelled Europe for about 10 years, and I pretty much played chess non-stop. I would play 100 games a year or something, for 10 years. And I went from a decent, talented kid level, to pretty much a strong grandmaster level by the time I came back.”

But that’s getting ahead of the Caruana script. Let’s begin with the early games of that boy from Brooklyn.

1

Risk Lessons

Fabiano was a veteran of international chess before his ninth birthday. That is, at the same age when Magnus Carlsen was playing his very first tournament games.

When he was eight years and ten months old, Caruana finished second in a Pan American Under-10 Championship in a field that was composed mainly of older boys, including three other future grandmasters. His play in games like the following, from another youth tournament, was far more mature than Carlsen at the same age. Caruana was learning the rules of positional risk.

Levan Bregadze – Caruana

World Under-10 Championship, Heraklion 2002

Dzhindzi-Indian Defense (A40)

1

d4

g6

2

c4

♗g7

3

♘c3

c5

Caruana was already familiar with some move-order finesses. This is a way to prod a 1 d4 player out of his comfort zone.

If White defends his d-pawn with 4 ♘f3, then 4...cxd4 5 ♘xd4 ♘c6 may be unfamiliar to him. It’s an English Opening position and a harmless one, after 6 e3 ♘f6 and ...0-0/...d5.

4

d5!

♗xc3+?

This is a high-risk weapon of GM Roman Dzhindzhichashvili, rather than transposing into a Benoni opening (4...♘f6).

5

bxc3

f5

And this raises the stakes. If Black had allowed e2-e4 – such as with 5...♘f6 6 ♕c2 d6 7 e4 – White’s advantage in space would count more than the doubling of his c-pawns.

6

h4!

Black’s gamble pays off if White responds routinely, such as with 6 ♘f3.

Then Black can handle the position in the style of a 1930s Aron Nimzovich game. He could play 6...♕a5, place knights on b6 and f6 and try to squeeze White with ...♘e4, ...♕a4 or ...♘a4.

But Black doesn’t have time for this after 6 h4! because it threatens 7 h5 and 8 hxg6.

6

...

♘f6

7

♘h3

White should double the bet with 7 h5! and 7...♘xh5 8 e4.

Then Black can lose a miniature (8...fxe4? 9 ♖xh5! gxh5 10 ♕xh5+ and mates).

His alternatives are heading to the inferior middlegames of 7...♖g8 8 hxg6 hxg6 9 ♘f3 or 7...gxh5 8 ♘h3 and ♘f4.

7

...

♘e4

Caruana could have killed off the remaining tactical gremlins with 7...♕a5!, followed by 8...♘bd7.

8

♕c2

♕a5

9

♗d2

White’s second lost opportunity was 9 ♘g5!.

He would win by pinning after 9...♕xc3+? 10 ♕xc3 ♘xc3 11 ♗b2 and 9...♘xc3? 10 ♗d2.

And he would renew the h4-h5 idea after 9...♘xg5 10 ♗xg5 or 9...d6 10 h5.

9

...

d6

10

♘g5

♘xd2

11

♕xd2

h6!

12

♘f3

♘d7

Twelve moves old and this game could teach Caruana a lot:

He didn’t realize how great a strategic gamble (...♗xc3+) he was taking.

But when it was not punished, the reward was nearly as great as when you get away with an unsound attacking sacrifice.

Black has an emerging positional advantage.

13

e3

♘f6

14

♖c1

♗d7

He prepares to castle queenside. This is more solid than 13...♘b6 and ...♕a4.

He might have tried 14...0-0 because 15 h5 g5 is a safer kingside than it looks. But it was not worth calculating 15 e4 fxe4 16 ♕xh6 when there was a simple alternative.

15

♗d3

0-0-0

Both sides have weak pawns and poorly placed pieces.

But the position will not seem double-edged if Black understands the power of ...e5!.

If White lets that pawn structure stand, he would be strategically lost.

For example, 16 0-0 e5 (threat: ...e4) 17 ♗e2 e4!.

Then 18 ♘h2 g5! or 18 ♘e1 g5!.

16

♕b2

e5!

17

dxe6

♗xe6

18

0-0

Black’s minor pieces are superior to White’s. But this will not be evident until he repositions his bishop on c6. Then it defends his weakest point (b7) and also aims at the kingside.

In addition, White’s h4-pawn is exploitable. It can’t be won by force. Rather, Black can use it to open the kingside (...h5 and a well-prepared ...g5!).

18

...

♗d7!

19

♘d2

♗c6

20

♖fe1

♖he8

White needs play. But e3-e4 would be met by ...f4!.

Then Black can prepare the knockout plan of ...g5 that succeeds in the game.

21

f3

♕c7

Another way Black can improve his pieces is ...♘d7-e5. But here 21...♘d7 22 h5! gives White chances his position does not warrant.

22

♘f1

h5!

23

♕c2

♘d7

24

♕f2

♘e5

25

♗e2

A young player who reads his Nimzovich would be strongly tempted by ...♕f7 and ...♘xc4.

Uncle Aron was a superb tactician and he would have approved of 25...♕f7 26 ♘d2 f4!.

For example, 27 exf4 ♕xf4 28 ♖cd1 ♖f8 with a threat of 29...♘g4!.

White would nearly be in a middlegame zugzwang after 29 g3 ♕f5 30 f4 ♔b8 in view of 31 ♘f1? ♕e4!, for example.

Caruana was capable of working out at least some of these lines. He was “a little calculating machine,” as his former teacher Bruce Pandolfini said.

25

...

♕a5

But after 25...♕f7, White can play 26 ♕g3! rather than 26 ♘d2.

Then on 26...♘xc4 27 ♗xc4 ♕xc4 28 ♕xg6 Black would keep his advantage.

For example, after 28...♕xh4 29 ♕xf5+ ♔b8 30 e4 d5.

But Caruana’s position is so good he can try other ways to win before he starts knocking pieces and pawns off the board. First, he teases the idea of capturing the a2-pawn.

26

♖ed1

♕a3

27

♕e1

♔b8

28

♔h1

Even with Black’s a7-pawn protected, he couldn’t play 28...♕xa2 because the queen comes under perpetual rook attack (29 ♖a1 ♕c2 30 ♖dc1).

With his king on h1, White seems impervious to tactics.

28

...

f4!

At first, 29 exf4 seems safe because 29...♘xf3? 30 gxf3 ♗xf3+ turns the tables after 31 ♗xf3! ♖xe1 32 ♖xe1.

However, 29...♘xc4! followed by doubling rooks on the e-file should be decisive (30 ♕f2 ♕xa2).

29

e4?

White’s best try was 29 ♕f2, with a difficult defense ahead after, say, 29...fxe3 30 ♘xe3 ♖e6.

29

...

♕a5

30

♘h2

♕c7!

In retrospect we can see White was lost after 29 e4?.

There is no good answer to the opening of the g-file after ...g5, supported by ...♕e7.

31

♕f2

♕e7

32

♖g1

g5

33

hxg5

♕xg5

Black’s simplest plan is to double rooks (...♖g8-g6,...♖dg8) and break through with his h-pawn.

For example, 34 ♖cd1 ♖g8 35 ♖d2 ♖g6 36 ♗f1 ♖dg8 37 ♕e1 h4 and ...h3.

34

g3

fxg3

35

♕xg3

♕e3

36

♕e1

♘g4!

This is the neatest finisher (37 fxg4 ♗xe4+ wins).

Or 37 ♖g2 ♘xh2 38 ♖xh2 ♖xe4!.

37

♘f1

♕f4

An immediate killer is 37...♘f2+ 38 ♔h2 ♕f4+ 39 ♔g2 ♘xe4!.

38

♖g2

♘e5

And here 38...♖xe4! was prettier.

39

♕d2

♕f7

40

♖f2

♗xe4

41

♘g3

♗c6

42

White resigns.

There was nothing to be done about ...♖g8, for example.

Shortly before this game, Caruana began entering the strongest regular tournaments in America, the New York Masters, held every Tuesday at the Marshall Chess Club. This meant playing four 30-minute games in an evening, against opponents who typically outrated him by 300 points.

Fabiano did not stand out. In December 2002, for example, he finished last in the field of 20. Hikaru Nakamura, who had just turned 15, took first prize.

He often lost all of the games he played in a tournament. This happened even after his rating rose above 2200, and he was an official master, in January 2004.

But Caruana persisted. “I went practically every Tuesday,” he recalled. When he moved from New York later in 2004 he had played in some 30 New York Masters tournaments and earned just $80 in prize money. In contrast, GM Leonid Yudasin pocketed more than $16,000 in them. But Caruana was learning.

2

When Not To Calculate

One of the things he learned was how patience is a weapon. Many youngsters, especially those with a gift for tactics, regard forcing moves as their only way of making a good position better. It often takes years for them to appreciate that slow progress makes a forcing move more powerful when its time comes.

Sergio Garza Marco – Caruana

Lorca 2005

Queen Pawn’s Game (A48)

1

d4

♘f6

2

♘f3

g6

3

c3

♗g7

4

♗g5

White’s move order, a favorite of Vladimir Kramnik, allows him to shift play into a Pirc Defense after 4...0-0 5 ♘bd2 d6 6 e4!.

4

...

d5

Databases indicate this position occurred most often in the games of Garry Kasparov. He generated counterplay with ...e5 or ...♘e4.

Caruana goes instead for the equally good ...c5.

5

♘bd2

0-0

6

e3

♘bd7

7

♗e2

c5

8

0-0

b6

Those databases also show that this position, reached via different move orders, occurred most often in the games of Caruana.

In one of his First Saturday tournaments in 2004, he used all three of Black’s basic ideas (...c5, ...♘e4 and ...e5).

His game with Laszlo Eperjesi went 9 a4 a6 10 ♕b1 ♗b7 11 ♖c1 ♖e8 12 b4! c4! 13 h3 b5 14 ♗f4 ♘e4! 15 ♘xe4 dxe4.

Now instead of 16 ♘e5 ♘b6 and ...♘d5, White spiraled downward after 16 ♘d2? e5!.

9

b4

This and a2-a4-a5 are White’s most promising sources of play.

Ten years after this game, when Caruana was a world-class player, Kramnik tested him with 9 a4.

Then 9...♗b7 10 a5! would have expanded nicely on the queenside (10...bxa5 11 ♘b3 or 11 ♕a4 regains the pawn with advantage).

Caruana replied 9...a6, so that 10 a5 b5 with play like the current game.

Instead, Kramnik obtained a nice edge with 10 b4 ♗b7 11 a5! and 11...cxb4 12 cxb4 b5 13 ♖c1. (But Caruana won.)

9

...

♗b7

In this and similar ♗g5 variations of the King’s Indian Defense, Black can seek the two-bishop advantage. Here this means 9...h6 10 ♗h4 g5 11 ♗g3 ♘h5.

But by 2005 Caruana had shied away from the kind of committal kingside pushes he adopted in Game 1.

10

♕b3

More in tune with the queenside plan is 10 bxc5! bxc5 11 ♖b1.

For example, 11...♕c8 12 ♕b3 ♗a6 13 ♗xa6 ♕xa6 14 ♕b7 is a small White plus.

10

...

♗c6

To meet the threat of 11 bxc5 bxc5 12 ♕xb7, Caruana had to evaluate two pawn structures.

Exchanging c-pawns, 10...cxb4 11 cxb4 as in the Kramnik game, means White will have the better long-term chances of exploiting the c-file.

Sealing the file, 10...c4, as in the Eperjesi game, is better. But after 11 ♕c2 it would not be clear where Black’s middlegame play lies.

For instance, 11...♘e4? turns out badly now (12 ♘xe4 dxe4 13 ♘d2).

So, Caruana delays a decision about the queenside. He looks at ...e5.

11

a4

White might have tried 11 ♗a6, which threatens to trap the bishop with 12 b5.

But it is White’s bishop that is trapped after 11...c4 and 12...♘b8.

11

...

♖e8

Now 12 ♗a6 works better, e.g. 12...♘b8 13 ♘e5! ♘xa6 14 ♘xc6 ♕d7 15 b5.

12

a5

Here 12 ♘e5 would likely have led to 12...♘xe5 13 dxe5 ♘d7 14 f4.

Then 14...f6 15 exf6? exf6 favors Black.

But 15 ♗h4! can be the reverse (15...fxe5? 16 e4!).

Black should maintain the balance with 15...e6.

12

...

c4

There was a tactical point to 12 a5. White can refute 12...e5 with 13 b5! (13...♗b7 14 a6 ♗c8 15 ♗xf6! ♘xf6 16 ♘xe5).

Black can insert ...c4 to avert that. But that gives White a potential outpost at d4.

For example, 13...c4 14 ♕b4 ♗b7 15 a6 ♗c8 and now 16 dxe5 ♘xe5 17 ♘xe5 ♖xe5 18 ♘f3 confers a lasting plus-over-equals advantage.

13

♕c2

b5

The next few moves show what happens in a closed position when one player has a plan and the other doesn’t.

14

♖fe1

♕c8

15

♕b2?

♘e4!

Black’s previous move becomes understandable after 16 ♘xe4? dxe4 17 ♘d2 and then 17...e5!.

He could continue with ...♕b7, ...f5, ...h6 with an avalanche of advancing kingside pawns.

16

♗f4

♕b7

17

♗d1

a6

18

♖e2

White could have held Black’s edge to a minimum by swapping knights with ♘e5 on one of the last two moves. Caruana, in turn, could have stopped that with ...f6.

18

...

f6!

Now that ...e5 is coming, his superiority should steadily grow.

For example, 19...e5 20 ♗g3 ♘xg3 21 hxg3 e4 followed by ...f5 lays the groundwork for a winning breakthrough with ...f4.

Occupying d4 wouldn’t be enough to save White after 20 dxe5 (instead of 20 ♗g3).

For instance, 20...fxe5 21 ♗g3 ♘xg3 22 hxg3 e4 23 ♘d4 ♘e5 and a later ...♘d3.

19

h3!

e5

20

dxe5

fxe5

21

♗h2

It was natural for a “little calculating machine” to take a long look at 21...d4 or 21...♘xd2 followed by 22...d4.

Opening the center would win in some scenarios (21...♘xd2 22 ♘xd2? d4! 23 exd4 ♗xg2).

But it is not convincing in others (22 ♖xd2 d4 23 exd4 exd4 24 cxd4).

21

...

♘d6

A maturing master knows when he can – and when he should – take his time. Here Black has many more ways to improve his position than White does before ...d4.

As James Mason said more than a century ago, “Don’t play a good move too soon.”

22

♗c2

In addition, there are more ways for White to err and make ...d4 stronger. For example, 22 ♘f1? d4! and ...♗xf3.

22

...

♖ad8

23

♖d1

Again, Black could try to calculate his way to a quick finish, with 23...e4 24 ♗xd6 exf3 25 ♘xf3 d4!.

23

...

♘f7

But calculating is unnecessary. There is no White antidote to 24...d4 or 24...e4 25 ♘d4 ♘de5 and ...♘d3.

24

e4?

A bad move in a bad position.

24

...

d4

25

cxd4

exd4

26

♘xd4

♘de5!

White may have foreseen this position when he played 24 e4. He could have seen how Black could win his queen with 27...♖xd4 28 ♕xd4 ♘f3+.

But he would get nearly enough compensation for it after 29 ♘xf3 ♗xd4 30 ♘xd4.

The reason White is lost in the diagram is that the real threat is 27...♘d3!.

For example, 27 ♕a1 ♘d3 28 ♘2f3 ♖xe4 or 28...♗xe4, and his position collapses.

27

♘xc6

♘f3+

Now 28 ♘xf3 ♖xd1+! makes it easy.

28

gxf3

♗xb2

29

♘xd8

♖xd8

Black will have three connected passed pawns after ...♗c3xb4xa5.

30

f4

♗c3

31

e5

But it was still possible to lose if he allowed 32 e6! ♘d6?? 33 ♘e4! or 32...♘h6 33 e7.

31

...

♗xb4

The bishop guards e7 and d6 so 32 e6 ♘d6 33 ♘e4 ♕e7 or 32...♘h6 33 ♘e4 ♖xd1+ is harmless.

32

♘e4

♖xd1+

33

♗xd1

♗e7

34

♘f6+

♗xf6

35

exf6

♕c6

36

White resigns.

By the end of 2005, Caruana had added 200 points to his rating and was above 2400. But he wasn’t certain he would devote his life to chess. Before switching federations to Italy, he told Chess Life his goals were to become a grandmaster ... and, perhaps, a real estate investor.

3

Second Chances to Sparkle

“Back then I preferred to attack all the time,” Fabiano recalled about his adolescent style. “I really loved sacrificing pieces to get at the enemy king. I played like that for quite a long time.”

He was allowed to win that way because his opponents were often poor defenders. Sloppy defense can make any tactician a Tal. In this game, he rushed his attack and was granted a second – and then a third – chance to sparkle.

Caruana – Adalberto Villavicencio

Andorra la Vella 2006

Sicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation (B96)

1

e4

c5

2

♘f3

d6

3

d4

cxd4

4

♘xd4

♘f6

5

♘c3

a6

In Europe, Caruana faced opponents who knew more about trendy, sharp openings than Americans.

There were about three times as many FIDE-rated players in Spain than in the United States when he moved in 2004.

But even in his first strong Spanish tournaments he often faced opponents who ran out of memorized book moves long before he did.

For example, Raphael Cortes Jurado – Caruana, Madrid Championship 2005 went: 1 e4 c5 2 ♘f3 ♘c6 3 d4 cxd4 4 ♘xd4 ♘f6 5 ♘c3 e5 6 ♘db5 d6 7 ♗g5 a6 8 ♘a3 b5 9 ♗xf6 gxf6 10 ♘d5 ♗g7 11 c3 ♘e7 12 ♘xe7 ♕xe7 13 ♘c2 ♗b7 14 ♗d3 f5 15 ♘e3 fxe4 16 ♘f5 ♕f6 17 ♗xe4 d5 18 ♗c2? (The first new move, in place of 18♗xd5♖d8 19♕g4) ♗f8 19 a4 b4 20 a5 0-0-0 21 ♘g3 ♔b8 22 0-0 h5 23 ♖e1 h4 24 ♘f1 ♖g8 25 ♕e2 e4 (25...b3!) 26 c4 b3 27 ♗xb3 d4 28 c5 ♗xc5 29 ♕h5 e3 30 f3 ♗xf3 31 ♕xc5 ♖xg2+ 32 ♔h1 ♖f2+ White resigned.

Yet the following game is the first Najdorf Sicilian of his that you will find in many databases. He soon finds himself improvising in a rare sideline.

6

♗g5

e6

7

f4

♕c7

By far the main lines of the 6 ♗g5 Najdorf are 7...♗e7, 7...♘bd7 and the Poisoned Pawn 7...♕b6.

8

♗xf6

gxf6

9

♕e2

Even in the heavily vetted Najdorf, some early ad libbing is possible. There is nothing wrong with doubling Black’s pawns, rather than the book 8 ♕f3.

Or with preparing for 0-0-0 this way, rather than with the Rauzer Variation-like 9 ♕d2.

9

...

♘c6

10

0-0-0

♗d7

Now 11 ♕h5 is tempting because it stops 11...0-0-0 12 ♕xf7.

But 11...♘xd4 12 ♖xd4 ♕c5! would force the queen to retreat or trade into a balanced endgame.

11

g3

This protects the f4-pawn and enables White to apply pressure to e6 with ♗h3/f4-f5.

For example, 11...♖c8 12 ♗h3 ♗e7? 13 f5 and even 13...e5 14 ♘e6! favors him.

11

...

♘xd4

Black’s best counterplay lies on the c-file and with ...b5.

But the immediate 11...b5 makes 12 ♘d5! possible. The reason is 12...exd5 13 ♘xc6! and exd5+.

Or 12...♕d8 13 ♘xc6 ♗xc6 14 f5 with a sizable edge.

12

♖xd4

♖c8

13

♗h3

h5

Black’s last move does two things. It creates the possibility of ...h4xg3 counterplay. And it prevents the inhibiting ♕h5, e.g. 13...♗c6? 14 ♕h5!, when White threatens ♗xe6.

14

♖hd1

Now 14...b5 15 ♔b1 looks like the opening act of a typical Sicilian Defense melodrama.

But White would be ready to blow up the center with 16 e5!.

This is a thematic sacrifice in this pawn structure, based in part on prospects for ♘e4!.

Black would stand well after 16...fxe5 17 fxe5 d5 – if it were not for more sacrifices.

Good enough is 18 ♘e4 dxe4 19 ♖xd7.

But better is 18 ♘xd5! exd5 19 e6!.

For instance, 19...fxe6 20 ♖xd5 and ♖xd7. Or 19...♗xe6? 20 ♗xe6 fxe6? 21 ♕xg6+ ♗e7 22 ♕g6+ and mates.

14

...

h4

15

g4

A more mature Caruana would likely have chosen 15 ♗g4 and ♗h5.

But keeping the h-file closed – and eyeing the possibility of a g4-g5 sacrifice – was tempting.

15

...

♕a5

16

♕e3

Now the threatened 16...♖xc3 and ...♕xa2 would lose to 17 ♕xc3 ♕xa2 18 ♕c7!.

16

...

♕c5!

Clever play.

If Black had played the direct 15...♕c5 White would have had that thematic sack, 16 e5 fxe5 17 fxe5 d5 18 ♘xd5! exd5 19 ♖xd5 and wins.

But by inducing ♕e3, Black stopped the sacrifice (17 e5? dxe5 18 ♖xd7? ♕xe3+).

He also threatens to get into a good endgame with 17...e5.

17

♕d3

b5

18

a3

The Sicilian is fun to play because there are game-changing tactics for both sides.

Here White would lose after 18...♗h6 19 ♖xd6?? ♗xf4+.

But he would win after 19 g5! fxg5 30 ♖xd6!.

18

...

♗c6?

Consistent and good was 18...a5! with the idea of 19...b4.

Black may have rejected it because the b5-square is vulnerable (19 ♗f1 b4? 20 axb4 axb4 21 ♘b5! with advantage).

But 19...♖b8 would have put the onus back on White.

Instead, Black was tempted by the idea of trapping the d4-rook with 18...♗c6 and 19...e5.

19

g5?!

This is an attacking move with a positional goal, to undermine Black’s weakest point, his e6-pawn, with 20 g6!.

But more accurate was a waiting move, 19 ♔b1!.

Then 19...e5 20 ♖d5! is a good sacrifice, 20...♗xd5 21 ♘xd5 and ♘xf6+ or g4-g5.

Routine replies like 19...♗e7 would make g4-g5 stronger.

For example, 19...♗e7 20 g5! fxg5 21 ♘d5! exd5? 22 ♗xc8.

Or 21...gxf4 22 b4! ♕a7 23 ♘xe7 and 24 ♖xd6 with a bind.

19

...

fxg5

20

e5!

Now 20...dxe5?? 21 ♖d8+ or 20...d5 21 ♘e4! wins.

Also 20...gxf4 21 exd6 ♖b8 22 ♗xe6!.

20

...

♖g8?

Remarkably safe was 20...♗g7!.

Then 21 ♖xd6 0-0! and Black lives to play a middlegame (22 ♖xe6! gxf4!).

It looks like White must have a forced win with 21 ♗xe6 fxe6 22 ♕g6+ ♔f8.

But 23 ♖xd6 ♕e3+ 24 ♔b1 ♕xf4! is a dead end.

With a clock ticking, you can drive yourself crazy trying to find the mate that doesn’t exist. For example, 25 ♖d8+ ♖xd8 26 ♖xd8+ ♔e7.

Or 25 ♖xc6 ♖xc6 26 ♖d8+ ♔e7 27 ♖d6! looks like a killer.

But Black is not worse after 27...♕xe5!.

21

exd6

The threat of 22 d7+ wins – and so would 21 b4 ♕a7 22 f5!.

21

...

♔d7

Or 21...♗d7 22 ♘e4! and 21...♖d8 22 d7+ ♔e7 23 b4 ♕a7 24 f5!.

A defensive slip has given Caruana a second chance to sparkle.

22

f5!

The vulnerable e6-square is ultimately decisive, as 22...♗g7 23 fxe6+ fxe6 24 ♕g6 shows.

Or 22...♕e5 23 fxe6+ fxe6 24 ♖f1 and ♖f7+ or ♘e4.

22

...

g4

This sets a trap (23 fxe6+ fxe6+ 24 ♖xg4? ♖xg4 25 ♗xg4 ♕g5+) and provides a way for the queen to defend the kingside.

23

fxe6+

fxe6

24

♗xg4

♕g5+

25

♔b1