2012 U.S. Championships News
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
GM Caruana has stayed perfect through three rounds at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, while World Champion Magnus Carlsen has just one point to show.
By GM Ian Rogers
Three rounds, three wins and a commanding lead: Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana has been unstopped in the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, his latest victory over the World Champion Magnus Carlsen in a remarkable match on Friday.
Caruana's win was far from simple but, after a quiet opening by Carlsen, the Italian always seemed to have the whip hand. The world champion was not happy with his early position, partially explaining his radical 13.h3!? and 15.Bxf7+!!??.
“I think he overlooked 12...Nh5,” said Caruana, “which has the idea 13.Nxe5 Nxe5! 14.Qxh5 Bg4. If he plays 15.Bc2 then, after 15...a5, black is very comfortable.” Carlsen later agreed that, without the bishop sacrifice, he would have just been worse.
Caruana reacted to the sacrifice aggressively with 17...Qg5!, but was surprised by 19.Nxh8 and went into the tank, spending almost half an hour before finding 19...Bg4. The position looked attractive, but yielded nothing more -- until Carlsen erred with 24. e5+.
Bulgarian GM Veselin Topalov finally troubled the scorers with a far-from convincing win against local hero GM Hikaru Nakamura, with the former world champion describing his match as being far-below world-class standard.
The game opened as an Arkhangelsk Variation of the Ruy Lopez but started taking it's own flavor when Topalov chose the unusual 9.h3. Nakamura's b4-b3 plan was provocative, encouraging Topalov to break too early with 19.e5?!. The American’s 20...Nh5! was a great idea and, despite giving Topalov the center, Nakamura held the edge.
“I could have lost the game [very quickly] had Hikaru found 21...Bxf2+!!,” admitted the Bulgarian.
Having missed that shot, Nakamura was forced onto the defensive by a powerful pawn sacrifice at 22.e6!. The resulting position was not easy to play and, by move 27, Nakamura realized that the game had reached a critical moment. He spent 25 minutes looking for the correct tactical idea to break out of his shackles.
He chose poorly, with 27...Nc6?! 28.Nxc6 Bxc6 and the fantastic idea 29.Nxe6 Ng4!, when the complications favour Black.
Unfortunately Topalov found a simple yet powerful response 29.Bc3!, after which Black's e6 pawn was doomed. Despite some ingenious squirming by Nakamura, the former World No. 1 did not let the game escape his grasp.
Official World No. 2 Levon Aronian had a second unfortunate day in the opening and, unlike his comeback victory over Toplaov in Thursday’s second round, on Friday his opponent Maxime Vachier-Lagrave did not let the tricky Armenian escape. Aronian's problems began with 7...Be6 instead of the natural 7...Bf5.
“I think I have played 7...Be6 in blitz against GM Laurent Fressinet,” explained Vachier-Lagrave, who knew that the pawn sacrifice 10.Qxd2! was dangerous for Black. Aronian thought only two minutes before taking the pawn on c4, entering a position that gave Vachier-Lagrave massive pressure. 13.Qe3! was a particularly nasty move from the Frenchman, who rejected 13.Qb4 because of the amazing line 13...bxa2 14.Qxb7 Qb6 15.Qxa8 Qxb2 16.Qxa7 Rxf2!!. “The computer tells me that White is still better after 17.Rxa2,” said Vachier-Lagrave, “but 17...Rxf1+ 18.Kxf1 Qb1+ 19.Kf2 c5! still doesn't seem completely clear to me.”
Unwilling to defend passively, Aronian tried the tricky plan 15...Rf5!? and 16...Qb6!? but after 17.e4!, “the point is that 17...Rb5 18.Bf1 Rxb2!? loses to 19.Rxb2 Qxd4 20.Rd2!!,” explained Vachier-Lagrave in his post-game recap at the World Chess Hall of Fame.
Forced to go backwards, Aronian had to sit and wait for his opponent to push him off the board. Vachier-Lagrave duly regained his pawn, won another and then exchanged into a winning endgame.
Aronian's loss made it only the second time in history that the world number one and two had lost on the same day, the first being at the Grand Slam Final in Sao Paulo in 2011. Both Aronian and Vachier-Lagrave now sit in second place at 50% -- another sign of Caruana's dominance so far -- with Aronian facing the scary task of taking on the leader on Saturday.
GM Fabiano Caruana earned a win over French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on Thursday afternoon, the Italian's second consecutive win of the tournament.
By GM Ian Rogers
Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana combined extraordinary opening preparation with accurate calculation to win his second consecutive game at the 2014 Sinquefield Cup, leaving the rest of the highest-rated field in history snapping at his heels.
Caruana may have been surprised by Vachier-Lagrave's Caro-Kann Defense, though he used the chance to employ some preparation done with his second, Vladimir Chuchelov, a few months ago -- readying for a game against Azeri GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
With 5...c5 and 6...Qb6, Vachier-Lagrave ventured into a super-sharp line of the Short Variation, but Caruana's 15.g4!?, followed by the equally remarkable 17.Rf2!, was new and unexpected. Vachier-Lagrave began burning time, falling an hour behind on the clock, though his reaction was adequate -- until 17...Nh6. Now Caruana was on his own, spending 13 minutes calculating through complications to find the only winning response: 18.Bd3!
The rest of the game was pure suffering for Vachier-Lagrave, short of time and presented with a variety of losing options. The Frenchman continued, despite being down a piece, but after 30 moves he had nothing for the lost material and resigned.
Game Analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez
The game of the day was expected to be GM Hikaru Nakamura's attempt to secure his first career victory against GM Magnus Carlsen. Nakamura had gone close to knocking over the World Champion with the White pieces twice already in 2014, but Carlsen had turned the tables and won both times.
Nakamura's Spanish Opening was met by the surprising 3...g6 -- a move which Nakamura himself had used to beat then-World Champion Viswanathan Anand in 2012. The American reacted along classical lines, leading the game into positions resembling a King's Indian Defence, though without a key pair of bishops.
Carlsen surprised both Nakamura and the commentators with the unusual idea 14...c6, playing on the side of the board where Nakamura was attacking. Nakamura's reaction led to a roughly equal position before Carlsen lashed out with 18...Nh5!!?, sacrificing one and possibly two pawns.
With 21.f6 and 24.Qb1! -- a move Carlsen had missed -- Nakamura maintained the balance, and soon the World Champion was forced to sacrifice a bishop to achieve perpetual check.
The result was reasonably satisfactory for both players: Carlsen has survived his first two games with the Black pieces and will benefit with the first move in five of his next eight games, while Nakamura has safely negotiated games against the tournament's two highest-rated players.
Game Analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez
GM Levon Aronian briefly regained his world number two ranking -- briefly being for about two minutes, until Caruana earned his second victory -- after winning a game against GM Veselin Topalov that looked almost hopeless for the Armenian after just 15 moves.
Playing White, Aronian faced Topalov's Slav with a well-known plan, but 9...Ne4!? sent him into a death spiral. The World No. 2 had spent only seven minutes before playing into a forced sequence, a series that ended with Aronian staring at 14...Bxd4! in disgust.
Aronian found a way to play on, sacrificing the exchange, and Topalov continued to allow counterplay. After black’s disastrous decision to castle queenside (instead of kingside), Aronian believed that he was close to winning, pointing out the cute variation 23...Kb7 24.Bxc6+! Kxc6 25.Qg2+ with a decisive attack.
Aronian admitted luck after he demonstrated the game to a crowd in the World Chess Hall of Fame but, lucky or not, the Armenian has moved into second place in the tournament, half a point behind Caruana. Topalov, meanwhile, is languishing on 0/2, blaming calculation errors for ruining decent positions against both Caruana and Aronian.
Game Analysis by GM Alejandro Ramirez