Caruana to take on world champion
THE 2018 World Chess Championship gets under way at The College in Holborn, London, this Friday. Reigning champion, Norwegian GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) will defend the title he has held since 2013 in a 12game contest against ItalianAmerican super GM Fabiano Caruana (2832).
Caruana earned the right to challenge Carlsen by triumphing in the doubleroundrobin Candidates Tournament, which featured eight of the strongest players in the world (aside from Carlsen), in Berlin, back in March.
Past results suggest Caruana won’t fare well against Carlsen. His prior matchups with Carlsen produced 5 wins, 10 losses and 18 draws, giving Caruana just 42.4% of points earned in their encounters. But he has performed extremely well in recent months, being undefeated in the Sinquefield Cup and Olympiad tournaments.
Today we look back at the 5th Gibraltar Chess Festival and a game played on January 23, 2007, between the then IM Caruana (2492) and Indian WGM Meenakshi Subbaraman (2293). Caruana is playing the black pieces.
1 c4e5
2 Nc3 Nf6
3 g3 Bb4
Caruana chooses the Smyslov system of the English opening (A22), CarlsBremen variation.
4 Nd5?!
With the exchange, Black gets the darksquared bishop outside of his pawn chain and easy development. 4 — Nxd5
5 cxd5 OO
6 Bg2 d6
7 e3 Bf5
This bishop cuts right through the White camp.
8 Ne2 Nd7
9 OO Bd3
10 a3 Bc5
11 b4 Bb6
12 Re1 Qf6
13 Bb2 Qf5
14 Nc1?!
Black can now trade off White’s lightsquared bishop, leaving weaknesses around White’s king. 14 — Be4
15 d3 Bxg2
16 Kxg2 Nf6?!
Surprisingly, 17 f3 successfully plugs White’s lightsquares and strongly restricts the knight, proving the move to be nonideal for now. 17 f3 Qg6
18 e4 Nh5
Black’s simple plan is to push f5, open the position and checkmate White.
19 Ne2
Stronger was d4, blocking the centre immediately.
19 —f5
20 a4??
Subbaraman misses the tactics against her king and is now completely lost.
20 — fxe4
21 dxe4 Rxf3!
With all his pieces ready and White’s pieces sitting awkwardly, Black crashes through!
22 Kxf3 Rf8+
White really wishes that her knight was on d3 right now.
23 Nf4
If 23 Kg2, there is a mate in 4 starting with 23 — Rf2+.
23 — Nxf4
24 gxf4 Rxf4+
25 Ke2 Qg2+
26 Kd3 Qxb2
27 a5 Rf2
Black dominates the 2nd rank, and White is completely lost. Subbaraman resigned in view of the forced mate in 7.
01
With such accurate and tactically aware play even back then, it is no surprise that Caruana is now in contention for the crown. Six months later Caruana earnt his final GM norm 10 days before his 15th birthday. At the time, this made him the youngest grandmaster in history from both Italy and the United States.
Solution: 30 — a6+, 31 Ka4 Qc4! (silent but violent!), 32 Re3 Rxe3, 33 Qd3 Rxd3, and now after any move, e.g. 34 axb6, is 34 — Qb5#.