2012 U.S. Championships News
GM Fabiano Caruana won seven games and drew three for a stunning 8.5/10 and a large margin over the rest of the strongest-rated field in history.
By GM Ian Rogers
Fabiano Caruana finished the 2014 Sinquefield Cup with a solid draw against Levon Aronian to end the highest-rated tournament in history with a magnificent 8.5/10 -- three points ahead of his nearest follower, the World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen.
Caruana's performance generated high praise from the other players and chess fans around the world. “Fantastico!” GM Hikaru Nakamura said. “Ruthless,” said GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. There was one dissenting voice, however, that of Carlsen who, with clear sarcasm, summed up the Italian's triumph as “Depressing...”
Carlsen’s game was the first to finish, his Berlin defense leading to a quiet draw against the only player who could challenge him for second place, GM Veselin Topalov.
Carlsen was the first to offer a surprise with 10...b6, a move Berlin pioneer Vladimir Kramnik had used in multiple blitz games. Topalov admitted that he was unprepared for this line and his minor inaccuracy, 14.Nfd2, enabled Black to equalise immediately.
On move 16 Topalov, worried that he might drift into a less comfortable position after c3, decided to repeat moves, leaving Carlsen with little choice than to draw the game by repetition.
Aronian, playing White against Caruana, tried an unusual line of the English, with 10.cxd4!? and 11.Kf1. However, Caruana came well prepared – as always.
Instead of playing calmly with 13.f4 and 14.Kf2, Aronian lashed out with 13.h4 and 14.h5 after which he “couldn't think of anything to do,” admitted the Armenian.
Caruana tried his luck in the endgame, instead of the more ambitious 18...Qf6 threatening 19...Rd8 and 20...Bd4, and was rewarded when Aronian played 20.Rd5?! instead of 20.Rd3.
However the Italian’s advantage was spoiled after exchanging bishops on move 22, the point at which when Aronian confessed he had been “petrified about 22...Bd1!”
After both sets of bishops were exchanged, Caruana was worried he might be slightly worse, so he “took the first opportunity to offer a draw.” Aronian was happy to accept and finish his disappointing tournament.
GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave fought out the longest game of the round, with the American pressing for his first win of the tournament.
Vachier-Lagrave, playing Black, returned to his favourite Najdorf Sicilian, with which Nakamura had beaten him in the past. Nakamura was ready with the unusual 6.h3, which met an equally unorthodox response, 6...e5 7.Nb3 h5!?
Nakamura took control of the d5 square and was convinced that he should have a way to clarify his small advantage. “I should never have let him play 32...Rd7 and 33...Bd8!” opined Nakamura, since afterward, Black was safe.
Nakamura could have forced a draw in style with 39.Qxd6! but instead decided to try his luck in a queen endgame. However, after thinking for 15 minutes on his 40th move, Nakamura could find nothing better than 41.b4. Vachier-Lagrave took the position to force a draw by repetition.
So ended a classic tournament, one which will be long remembered for Fabiano Caruana's career-best performance but to which all six elite Grandmasters contributed greatly.
The 2014 Sinquefield Cup had seen 14 wins in 24 games, with at least one win in each of its first eight rounds. Friday's penultimate round of the decisive event was the first afternoon in nine to see all three games finish in draws.
By GM Ian Rogers
A dramatic and protracted ninth round of the Sinquefield Cup saw the tournament leaders display unexpected frailty, each of them held to draws by the underdogs.
The game of the day was the battle between the two highest-rated players in the world, GMs Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian, which ended in a draw five hours and 84 moves after its start -- leaving only kings on the board at the finish.
The game began with Aronian choosing the solid Lasker Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined. Queens came off the board early but the Norwegian maintained a slight pull, and the game exploded after Aronian broke out with 25...b5!.
Carlsen's response -- 27.f4! and 28.Nc5! -- was brilliant. But incredible defense by Aronian, highlighted by 31...Be8!, led to a rook ending a pawn down which, though complex, should have been a draw.
As usual, Carlsen managed to set continuous problems for his opponent and, after the first time control, the fun -- and the mistakes -- began.
Aronian's 41...h5! was the only way to hold the game, and he found the follow-up 46...Rb3! one move too late. It gave Carlsen a chance to win via 46.Kc2! when Black will run out of moves, have his king forced to the back rank and be forced to abandon the c3 pawn.
Instead, Carlsen's 46.h6 allowed Black to reposition his rook on b5, leading to the famous Vancura position. Aronian was three pawns down, with the computers giving White up to a +5 advantage, but Aronian had calculated that Carlsen could make no progress. Carlsen tried every trick he could find for the next 35 moves but eventually had to concede a draw.
Game Analysis by GM Varuzhan Akobian
The game between first and last, Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura was equally eventful.
Having been beaten by the Berlin against his Ruy Lopez on Thursday, Nakamura decided to try it himself with Black. Caruana followed a game between Anand and Karjakin from 2013 before Nakamura varied with 18...Rd8, a move which he speculated might have been in faulty order. Caruana began burning time, trying to find a way to exploit Nakamura's curious line and, after the American tried an original way to solve his problems with 22...Rg6!?, the Italian was able to create some threats via 23.Rd4!
Nakamura thought he was in trouble and took 23 minutes on his reply, and another 18 minutes on 25...Nd5.
Unfortunately for Nakamura, faster play ushered a flow of mistakes: 27...Kd8?! instead of 27...Kd7! 28.e6+ Kc6! and, more seriously, 29...Ne7? instead of the brave 29...Nc3!
After 32.Bh4, Nakamura knew he was in trouble, because the obvious 32...Nf5 leaves the Black rook trapped after 33.Bg5! Instead, Nakamura found his only chance with, 33...g5!, playing fast to put time-pressure on Caruana, who was running short.
Nonetheless, the tournament leader continued to pile on positional pressure but, with one minute left at the final move of the time control, he missed 40.Rxg6+! Rxg6 41.e6 to end the game.
Revitalized, Nakamura found 41...Ra4! to entice another error out of White, 42.Re6?, after which the win was soon out of reach.
Game Analysis by GM Varuzhan Akobian
The final game of the round was a sharp battle between GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Veselin Topalov.
A Reti Opening by Vachier-Lagrave gave Topalov the chance to occupy the center, after which Vachier-Lagrave, having eschewed the chance to play the crazy line 9.Nxe5!? Nxc3 10.Nxc6 Nxd1 11.Nxd8 etc, went for a flank attack 10.a4 and 11.a5 that looked rather futile.
Topalov gradually took control, on the board and on the clock, but his 27...e4 was too hasty and after 29...Rxe4?! 30.Rd1, any Black initiative was gone. Multiple exchanges followed and the game was drawn on move 41.
Game Analysis by GM Varuzhan Akobian
GM Fabiano Caruana has tallied 7.5 points out of 8 rounds and has clinched first place with two rounds remaining. World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen holds clear second with 4.5. // Photo: Lennart Ootes
by GM Ian Rogers
GM Fabiano Caruana came close to a record-breaking, eighth-consecutive win but was finally held to a draw in Thursday's round of the Sinquefield Cup -- ending his historical streak through the highest-rated tournament ever.
It took World-Champion skill to rescue a position that even Norwegian fans had written off for Magnus Carlsen. The reigning king found a way to scramble to draw, however, and then had kind words for the tournament winner.
"It's an amazing result, said Carlsen. “Even if he doesn't turn up for the last two games, it would be one of the greatest of our time. If he finishes in style it will be one of the greatest results ever."
The Caruana-Carlsen game lived up to its billing as the game of the event. Carlsen unexpectedly used the Accelerated Dragon variation of the Sicilian Defence – an opening he had trashed with the White pieces when Vachier-Lagrave tried it against him earlier in the tournament.
Caruana preferred a solid Maroczy Bind setup and was surprised by Carlsen's 10...a5!? -- the World Champion admitting after the game that 10...Qa5 was probably better.
With 11.b3! and 15.Nb5! (intending to meet 15...Rc8 with 16.Na3) Caruana kept control of the game by going for kingside space via 17.h4! and 18.g4! The line certainly made Carlsen nervous, saying later: “I thought he was only going for my king, but then I realized that he was also positionally better.”
Carlsen found his only chance, breaking with 19...e5 and 21...f5.
“23.Na5! was a strong move,” said Caruana.
White's decision to castle was criticized, but “I wanted to tuck my king away in the corner,” explained Caruana. His pawn sacrifice idea at 28.Kh1! was excellent, though he should have offered the sacrifice a second time with 29.Rfd1! because, as Carlsen had seen one move earlier, 29...Bxh4 30.Rg1+ Kh8 31.Rg4! leads to a winning attack.
“I thought I was being clever using the c-rook on d1, but it was just wrong,” admitted Caruana.
The Italian had two more chances to keep an edge: 32.Rd7! (“and if I get my pawn to b7, Black is in trouble,” said Caruana) and 35.Rxe5 Rxf1+ 36.Bxf1 Rf8 37.Rf5!
“Of course, if I had seen 37.Rf5, I would have played this,” he admitted.
Game Analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez
Despite GM Levon Aronian building up a winning position with highly original play, his game against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished without payout.
After a weird move order, the game reached a standard Philidor Defensive position, but then Aronian lashed out with Alexei Shirov's famous pawn sacrifice 5.g4!
Vachier-Lagrave's calm response provoked another unconventional idea from the Armenian, 7.Bh3!? followed by 9.Bxd7+, which could have been answered by the equally weird 9...Qxd7.
Vachier-Lagrave seemed destabilized, however, and his pawn grab on move 11...Bxh4 left Aronian very comfortably placed. Vachier-Lagrave's next move was an error that allowed 13.Nf5!, after which Aronian built up his advantage to giant proportions.
From move 17 on, however, Aronian was at a loss to explain any of his moves. 18.e5?! threw away much of the advantage, 21.Qxf7?! made the h7 pawn vulnerable and, by the time Aronian allowed 23...Rexh7!, he was happy to escape with a draw.
Game Analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez
Nakamura's tournament went from bad to worse with a loss against Topalov's Berlin Defense against the Ruy Lopez.
White varied early with 5. d4 instead of Re1 with which Nakamura had drawn against Carlsen. Instead, the game reached a main line of the Berlin Wall against which many top Grandmasters have beaten their heads in recent years.
White tried to mobilize his kingside pawn majority, but 18.Neg5 (played after 24 minutes, instead of the modest 18.Be3) was too optimistic and, after 18...Bc8!, Nakamura discovered that the intended 19.e6 would run into 19...Bd6+ 20.Kg2 f6! 21.Nf7 hxg4 22.hxg4 Bb7!, with a huge attack for Black.
His attempt to pull back left Topalov in the driving seat, who proceeded to play a model game with a continual increase of advantage. In time trouble, 27.Rh1 and 28.Re1 made Black's job easier and, by the 40th move bonus, Nakamura was a pawn down and forced to exchange into a losing rook ending. Topalov finished efficiently, and the Bulgarian is now Carlsen's main challenger for second place. The two meet in Saturday’s final round.
Game Analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez
GM Fabiano Caruana has been perfect in Saint Louis and is now on the brink of clinching the $100,000 top prize of the 2014 Sinquefield Cup. // Photo: Lennart Ootes
by GM Ian Rogers
Fabulous Fabiano Caruana beat a seemingly hypnotized GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on Wednesday, extending his winning streak to seven and continuing his incredible domination of the highest-rated tournament in history.
“It keeps getting weirder,” said the 22-year-old Italian. “I played a solid line, and then I just took over – it happened so suddenly.”
Vachier-Lagrave had lost only one game with White in more than a year, and Caruana admitted that, when he chose a solid line of the Queen's Gambit Declined, he would have been very satisfied to have finished the day with a draw.
Vachier-Lagrave's combination of 6.Rc1 and 7.c5 was unusual but, after 7...Ne4, Caruana managed to steer the game back into lines similar to those he had prepared.
Just when the game was looking balanced, Vachier-Lagrave found the bizarre plan 14.Qa4?! and followed it with the weakening 15.g3?!. (Carlsen, watching the game because his was already close to decided at that point, later said that he could not see anything wrong with 15.0-0 f4 16.Bxe4 dxe4 17.dxe5, with his variation continuing 17...f3 18.Ng3 fxg2 19.Rfd1 Bg4 20.Rd2.)
After Caruana's 15...Qg4!, intending 16.dxe5 Nxf2!, white was in trouble. After Vachier-Lagrave missed the ingenious defensive idea 17.f4! Nf3+ 18.Rxf3 Qxf3 19.dxe5 Qxe3 20.Qd4 – suggested by Carlsen at his post-game analysis session at Lester's Sports Bar, next door to the host venue Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis – White was soon a pawn down with nothing to show for it.
The rest of the game was agony for Vachier-Lagrave, with Caruana's 23...b6! and 24...c5! winning more material.
Caruana's leading margin remained at “only” three points as his nearest follower, World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen, also won his seventh-round game against GM Hikaru Nakamura.
Game analysis by GM Ben Finegold
Before the tournament, World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen's match-up against GM Hikaru Nakamura would have been expected to be one of the showpiece games of the Cup, but Wednesday's seventh-round encounter was rather anticlimactic.
Nakamura repeated the risky pawn-grabbing line of the Queen's Gambit which had brought him both success and disaster in recent games against Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov -- the most recent being a loss in the final round of the Tromso Chess Olympiad.
Carlsen expected Nakamura to play a more solid system but had 10.Qc2 ready just in case. Carlsen criticized 10...e5 as bad, but it was only after Nakamura spent 22 minutes on the disastrous pawn sacrifice 11...Na6? that Black's position became untenable.
“I don't know what he missed,” said Carlsen. “11...Na6 just doesn't work.”
With the precise 15.Bxe6, allowing Nakamura a much-feared yet innocuous double-check, Carlsen won a pawn and, before long, Black's lone soldier on c2 inevitably followed.
Nakamura kept the game going with little hope until move 52, but by then Carlsen was spending more time looking at the Caruana game than his own. Carlsen has now scored 11 wins and no losses (plus 15 draws) against Nakamura in classical games – a hoodoo which the American seems unable to shake.
Game analysis by GM Ben Finegold
GMs Veselin Topalov and Levon Aronian, the two oldest players in the field, fought out a strange draw where the Armenian missed a number of chances.
The game started as a hybrid Catalan, with Topalov playing the White side of a system that had caused him so much grief as Black in his world title matches.
After 9...e5, Aronian had solved most of his opening problems and, by move 16, the Armenian was offering a repetition of moves to agree to a draw.
Topalov refused, however, but his choice of continuation -- 17.Rfc1?! -- was unlucky. After Aronian’s 17...Nd4!, intending to meet 18.Rd1 with 18...Bxc3 19.bxc3 Nxe2+ 20.Kf1 Be6, Black had taken the initiative.
Topalov’s 21.e3 should have cost a pawn, but Aronian meekly replied 21...Rdd8 and White was able to keep the balance. “This is typical of a strong player out of form,” said Carlsen. “They play well but miss the critical moment.” Carlsen then demonstrated the variation 21...Rb3! 22.Na2 Rxb3 23.Nd4 Bxc4 24.Nxb3 Bxb3 when, after 25.Rcb1 Bc3! 26.Ra3 Bc2 27.Rc1 Bb2, the bishops escape and triumph.
After 33 moves, it became Topalov's turn to be rebuffed after offering repetition in the hopes of a draw. But Aronian stopped his winning efforts just a few moves later, and the point was split.
Game analysis by GM Ben Finegold
GM Fabiano Caruana's six wins has equaled the longest starting winning streak in an elite tournament in the modern era, established by former World Champion GM Anatoly Karpov in Linares 1994.
by GM Ian Rogers
La Gazzetta dello Sport, Italy’s leading sports newspaper, asked of GM Fabiano Caruana yesterday: “Is he human?”
The answer, after Tuesday's easy win over GM Veselin Topalov in the sixth round of the Sinquefield Cup is: Clearly not.
The 22-year-old Italian – the youngest of six elite Grandmasters currently in Saint Louis for the highest-rated tournament in history – won his sixth-consecutive game in style, finding a piece sacrifice that left his Bulgarian opponent helpless.
If Topalov, playing Black, had hoped to avoid Caruana's exceptional opening preparation through his choice of the Taimanov variation of the Sicilian, he failed. Caruana had recently used the Taimanov himself, though that did not mean he was without a nasty new idea for White: the awkward-looking 12.Na4 and 13.Re2.
The idea, intended for use against Russian GM Peter Svidler, enabled Topalov to exchange queens on move 15 but, as Caruana later explained, “the computer likes Black at first but, a few moves later, realizes it is not so easy.”
Topalov was already falling well-behind on the clock when he rushed his 17th move, instead of spending time and testing Caruana's preparation via the risky 17...Nxe5!? 18.Rxe5 Qxe5 19.Bc3 Qf4 20.Qxf4 gxf4 21.Bxh8 f6! Soon, the Italian had total control of the position.
Topalov’s 23...Nc6? gave Caruana the opportunity to decide the game immediately with a powerful piece sacrifice. “I missed that 25....Kg7 would be met not by 26.Qxe6 but by 26.Qh5! Rdf8 27.Rf6!,” admitted Topalov. The rest was a massacre.
With second-place GM Magnus Carlsen failing to win his game, Caruana has increased his lead to an incredible three points with only four rounds to play -- and, of course, the dream of a perfect 10/10 is still alive.
Game Analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez
World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen looked ready to keep pace with Caruana by beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, but he instead let the near-winning position slip, ushering the Norweigan to admit: “Now my already slim hopes for first place are over.”
The game had transposed to an Accelerated Dragon in the Sicilian, but Vachier-Lagrave quickly found himself staring in horror as his fingerfehler led him to play 7...0-0 before 8...Qa5. Carlsen was thus given the option of 9.f3, whereas “after 7...0-0, 8.f3 is impossible due to 8...Qb4! 9.Bb3 Nxe4! 10.Nxc6 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Qxc3+ 12.Ke2 dxc6 13.Bd4 e5! -- a line I learned as a junior,” Vachier-Lagrave explained to the audience at his post-game debrief in Lester's Sports Bar, next door to the host venue Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
Rather than accept a passive position after 14...Bxc6 15.Bd4, Vachier-Lagrave gambled on 14...bxc6 but was surprised by the unexpected recapture 17.Bxd2!, leading to a highly favourable endgame for Carlsen. “It should be technically winning,” said the Norwegian.
Inexplicably, Carlsen allowed Vachier-Lagrave counterplay and, after 32...h5! Black's drawing chances had considerably improved. Even so, it took Carlsen’s 36.f4 -- admittedly played in mild time trouble -- to destabilize White's position enough to hold. With the precise 39...Ba5!, Vachier-Lagrave made the draw a certainty and left Carlsen, in his own words, “in a foul mood.”
Game Analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez
The battle between GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Levon Aronian, who both entered the round tied for last place, seemed typical of two players struggling for form.
Aronian's choice of the Berlin Defense against the Ruy Lopez made clear that he was determined to end his losing streak, and when Nakamura played the maneuver 19.Qe1-a5 and 20.Qa5-e1, the Armenian started pushing for an advantage.
Aronian's 22...d4 was probably asking for too much from the position and, had Nakamura found 28.Be3! intending 29.Rb3, the advantage would have swung firmly to White.
Instead, Aronian was given chances for counterplay but misplayed them, leaving Nakamura with more options. Despite Aronian needing to play on his 30-second increment for the last 10 moves of time control, the balance was never again seriously disturbed. 39.Qxe6+ would have been well met by 39...Kf8!, and a draw was agreed shortly after the bonus time was received.
Game Analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez
GM Fabiano Caruana has won each of his first four games of the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, including against the World's No. 1 and No. 2 players, and now enjoys a comfortable lead over the strongest-ever field.
By GM Ian Rogers
Four rounds, four wins, and now a two-point lead -- has it been mentioned that GM Fabiano Caruana is looking unstoppable at the Sinquefield Cup?
With another exhibition of power chess, the Italian took down the player he had replaced as world number-two, GM Levon Aronian, in Saturday’s fourth round at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis.
The game began as a peaceful Ruy Lopez, with Caruana -- despite being the only player to take down Aronian in the Marshall Gambit, in Zurich 2014 -- avoiding the highly analyzed line.
When Caruana unleashed his new move, 15.Na2, it seemed that little was different from the standard variations, though his eventual 21.Ng5! and 22.Qh5! changed everything.
“(Aronian) should have taken the knight on g5 or played 22...Rh6,” Caruana explained.
The resulting positions were rather passive for Black, but Caruana was not content to keep maneuvering.
“I thought if I played 29.Nh2-g4, he would sacrifice an exchange with Rf4 and take over the dark squares,” Caruana said. Instead, he gave up his own piece with 29.Na5!! in order to start his own attack.
Resisting the lure of a pawn with 32.Ne5 Rf8 33.Ng4, White pushed its pawns forward and after 35...Kh7 -- a blunder, according to Caruana -- the Sinquefield Cup leader's fourth-consecutive win was in the bag.
Caruana needs two more wins to equal the longest starting winning streak in an elite tournament in the modern era, established by Anatoly Karpov in Linares 1994.
Game analyses by GM Ben Finegold
In an apparent quick-round tournament that had yet to see a game reach time control, GMs Veselin Topalov and Magnus Carlsen fought out the Sinquefield Cup’s longest game thus far, though only to a draw.
Carlsen’s curious 5.Bd2!? in a hybrid Queen's Indian/Nimzo-Indian Opening -- a favorite move of world champions half a century ago -- showed that the current world’s king was pushing for an early advantage, but he lost control of the game just before the time control and was forced to defend grimly.
After the game was settled in a draw, Carlsen informed a shocked Topalov that the Bulgarian had missed a win with 45...Rc5! -- “I saw that as soon as I played 45.Rc8,” admitted Carlsen -- but luckily, for Topalov’s sanity, the move was not as good as it looked. White could still draw with 46.Rxc5 Nxc5 47.h5! Kc7 48.Nxa6+ Nxa6 49.Kg3.
Game analyses by GM Ben Finegold
GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hikaru Nakamura played the least-eventful game of the tournament, a result which should have suited Nakamura --determined not to lose two games in a row -- just fine.
For the second consecutive day Nakamura played an Arkangelsk variation of the Ruy Lopez, and he played it quickly and confidently. But after Vachier-Lagrave's 17th move, the American realized something was wrong. Nakamura admitted that he thought he was following the game Ponomariov-Giri from the Zug Grand Prix tournament of 2013 but, in fact, the moves Re1 and h6 had been inserted.
After long thought, Nakamura decided to follow Giri's example anyway by playing 17...Rb8 and was relieved when Vachier allowed a liquidation of pawns, leading to equality.
Nakamura was most concerned about 18.f3, after which he was unsure whether 18...Nd5!? 19.exd5 Rxe3! 20.Rxe3 Bxd4 was good enough for Black, but he felt that the fallback plan 18...d5 19.e5 Nd7 20.f4 c5 21.Nf3 f6 would also likely be playable.
After Vachier's 18.Nxc4, multiple exchanges brought the game to its inevitable draw, leaving the Frenchman in second place with two points and Nakamura declaring that tournament victory was still within reach -- should he be able to stop the Caruana Express on Sunday. In his career, the American has yet to lose a game to Caruana.
Game analyses by GM Ben Finegold