6th Sinquefield Cup 2018
Saint Louis, USA
August 16-29, 2018
Final Standings
1-3. Levon Aronian ARM 2767, Magnus Carlsen NOR 2842, Fabiano Caruana USA 2822, 5.5/9
4. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov AZE 2801, 5.0/9
5-7. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2779, Viswanathan Anand IND 2768, Alexander Grischuk RUS 2766, 4.5/9
8. Wesley So USA 2780, 4.0/9
9-10. Hikaru Nakamura USA 2777, Sergey Karjakin RUS 2773, 3.0/9
Average ELO 2788 Category 22
Time Control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 670 minutes for the rest of the game with 30 seconds time delay before clock starts on every move.
This tournament saw the last encounter between Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana before their world championship match this November. It was no surprise therefore that the question of whether Caruana has a chance against the reigning world champion dominated the chess twitter-sphere when it ended.
Magnus Carlsen is obviously the favorite to retain his title as he is after all the higher-rated player, the “king of all formats.” In classical chess he is no. 1 (2839), 12 points ahead of his challenger, who is at no. 2. In rapid the gap is even bigger between: Magnus is no. 1 at 2880 while Caruana is no. 9 at 2789. In blitz chess Carlsen has an unheard-of rating of 2939 while Fabi is way down at no. 18 with a decent 2767. As the American Champion’s compatriot Nakamura says, if they reach the tie-breaks (which is played at faster time controls) Caruana will have no chance.
Having said that, it is also apparent to all that the Norwegian GM sees Caruana as his biggest threat, and prepares especially hard against him every game. “Fabulous Fabi” is the real deal.
Caruana himself when asked about his chances replied that “I think I have shown that I can fight pretty much on equal terms with him, and in tournaments to sometimes outperform him, or even this year, to outperform him often…”
No doubt Fabi was referring to the four recent super-tournaments (not counting the recently-concluded 2018 Sinquefield Cup) where the two of them both competed:
London Classic Dec 2017. Caruana tied for first with Nepomniachtchi (both with three wins and six draws) and then won the play-off. Carlsen had two wins one loss and six draws and tied for 3rd place with Wesley So and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.
Tata Steel 2018, Jan 2018. Magnus and Holland’s Anish Giri both finished on top with nine points out of 13 rounds. Carlsen then went on to defeat Giri 1.5-0.5 in a blitz tie-break. Fabiano Caruana had a terrible tournament, his worst in many years. He won only one game (against cellar-dweller Hou Yifan), lost four games (against Kramnik, Mamedyarov, Anand and Karjakin) and drew the rest to finish 11th out of 14.
Grenke Chess Classic 2018 March 2018. Caruana was a convincing winner and he finished with four wins and five draws to distance himself from Carlsen by a full point. Magnus was also undefeated but only had two wins.
6th Norway Chess May 2018. Once again Caruana won half a point ahead of Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura and Anand, although he lost in the individual game against Carlsen.
Fabiano finished ahead of Magnus in three out of the four tournaments above, but we should also note that in head-to-head encounters Magnus won one and drew three in those tournaments, and in the three draws the Italian-American GM was usually struggling to hold it.
Anyway, Caruana’s record against Carlsen (as of the Sinquefield Cup 2018) is +5-10=18 (42%). Very few players have a better record than that (the names of Ding Liren, Vladimir Kramnik and Levon Aronian are mentioned) but it stands to reason that if Caruana is not a worthy foe, then no one is.
I don’t think anyone should write-off Caruana’s chances — he has a knack of rising to the occasion. When a game absolutely has to be won, he will not choke and will grab whatever opportunities come his way with both hands.
If Magnus Carlsen shows up in London in the same form as he showed against Karjakin two years ago then he will lose. From what I saw in the Sinquefield Cup though it looks like he is on his way to regaining the ability to just grind away in any position and force through the win.
Carlsen, Magnus (2842) –
Karjakin, Sergey (2773) [A17]
6th Sinquefield Cup Saint Louis
(2.3), 19.08.2018
1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Bb4 3.g3 Nf6 4.Bg2 0–0 5.Nf3 d5 6.a3 Be7 7.d4 dxc4 8.Ne5 Nc6 9.Bxc6
Less good is 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Bxc6 Rb8 11.0–0 Bb7.
9…bxc6 10.Nxc6 Qe8 11.Nxe7+ Qxe7 12.Qa4 c5
Black has to get his pieces developed fast. For example 12…a5?! 13.Bg5! Ba6 14.0–0 c5 15.Bxf6! gxf6 16.Rad1 cxd4 (16…Rfd8 17.d5 is clearly better for White) 17.Rxd4 Qc5 18.Rfd1 White has a small but persistent edge. Exactly the type of position that a Kramnik or a Carlsen would love to have. Kramnik, V (2685)-Salov,V (2660) Madrid 1993 1–0 40.
13.dxc5 Qxc5 14.Be3 Qc7 15.Rd1 Nd5!
Forcing the knights off the board and, with bishops of opposite colors left, the chances for a draw are high.
16.Bd4
White cannot win the pawn on d5. If 16.Nxd5 exd5 17.Rxd5? Qb7! (stronger than 17…Bb7 18.Rc5 Qe7 19.Rg1 (19.0–0?? Qe4 wins) 19…Rad8) 18.Qb5 a6! White will lose one of his rooks.
16…Rd8 17.Nxd5 exd5 18.Qc2 Qe7 19.0–0 Bh3 20.Rfe1 Rd7 21.Bc3 Re8 22.Rd4
The threat is 23.Rh4 with a double attack on h3 and h7.
22…Qg5
So that if 23.Rh4 Bf5 everything is covered.
23.Qd2
Structurally White is better and Black needs to counter that by creating some chances in the kingside. It is therefore completely logical to take the queens off the board.
23…Qxd2 24.Rxd2
Black is not yet off the hook The pawn weakness on d5 forces him to defend it with …Be6, after which White’s e2–e4 advance can become dangerous.
24…Be6 25.Red1 Rde7 26.f3 h5 27.Kf2 f6 28.Rd4 Kh7 29.R1d2 Bf7 30.h3 a6 31.Rf4 Kg8 32.Bd4 Kh7 33.Bc3 Kg8
Karjakin is just shuffling his king back and forth, but hereabouts has already decided to sacrifice the exchange and is trying to time it at the best opportunity.
34.g4 hxg4 35.hxg4 Kh7 36.Rf5 Rb7
37.Rfxd5!
Carlsen: I thought it was just a little bit better and I was kind of hoping to be able to sac the exchange at some point. Then I feel like he played inaccurately because I got basically the perfect conditions to sac the exchange, since I either get one pawn back immediately or the g5–break.
37…Bxd5 38.Rxd5 Kg6?!
A controversial decision, giving up his c4–pawn. However, Karjakin as you know is nicknamed the “Minister of Defense” for his ability to defend inferior positions and of course knew the rule that in rook endings piece activity is more important than keeping your pawns intact. If Black had switched to passive play with 38…Rc7 39.Rd6 Rce7 40.e4 Re6 41.Rd5 Rc6 White is pushing hard.
39.Rc5 Rh8 40.Kg3 Rb6 41.Rxc4 Rh1 42.Rc7 Rc1 43.Rd7 Rc6 44.a4!
Putting his pawn on a5 so as to fix the position of Black’s a6 pawn.
44…Rg1+ 45.Kf2 Ra1 46.a5 Ra4 47.Kg3 Rac4 48.Ra7 Re6 49.e4 Rc8 50.Rd7 Rec6 51.f4! R8c7 52.f5+ Kh7 53.Rd8 Rc8 54.Rd3 Re8 55.Rd4 Rc7 56.Kf4 Rce7 57.Rc4 Kh6 58.Kf3 Rd7 59.Bd4 Kh7 60.b4 Rd6 61.Ke3 Kh6 62.Rc1 Kh7 63.Bb6 Rd7 64.Bc5 Red8 65.Rh1+
IM Saravanan from the Chessbase website points out here that 65.e5! would have been strong. After 65…fxe5 66.Ke4 Re8 67.g5 White’s position is looking threatening.
65…Kg8 66.Kf4 Re8 67.Re1 g5+!
Again choosing not to leave his pieces in defensive positions although it gives White a passed pawn. Later in the game we see that Karjakin’s judgement is correct, but one mistake wiped out all his gains.
68.fxg6 Kg7 69.g5! Kxg6 70.gxf6 Kxf6 71.Rh1 Rf7!
Giving his king a direct route to the queenside. Hereabouts Karjakin used up almost all his time already and was subsisting on the 30 second time delay, the so-called “Bronstein clock” which was in use in the Grand Chess Tour. You are just given 30 seconds before the clock starts running, the additional seconds is not added to your clock. In other words you will be in perpetual time trouble. “As soon as he got down to the delay, I felt it would be very, very hard not to blunder,” Carlsen predicted. And he was right.
72.Ke3
[72.e5+ Rxe5 73.Rh6+ Kg7+ 74.Kxe5 Kxh6 is a book draw.]
72…Ke6 73.Rh4 Rf6 74.Rh7 Rf7 75.Rh5 Kd7 76.e5 Rf1 77.Ke4 Kc6?
The losing move. The way to the draw is 77…Re1+ 78.Kd5 Rd1+ 79.Kc4 Rc1+ 80.Kb3 Re6 Keeping his rook on the 6th rank should hold the position.
78.Rh6+ Kb5 79.Rb6+ Kc4 80.e6!
The catch. Karjakin probably counted only on 80.Rxa6 after which 80…Re1+! draws, for example after 81.Be3 Kxb4 82.Ra7 Rxe3+ 83.Kxe3 Rxe5+ 84.Kd4 Rxa5 no comment necessary.
80…Re1+ 81.Kf5 Rf1+ 82.Ke5 Re1+ 83.Kf6 Rf1+ 84.Kg7
Surprisingly in the open board there are no checks for Black.
84…Ra8 85.e7 Re1 86.Kf7 Re4
[86…Rf1+ 87.Rf6 Re1 88.Rd6 Rf1+ 89.Ke6 Re1+ 90.Kd7]
87.Rd6 Rh8 88.Rxa6 1–0
Not a brilliancy at all, but a good indication of how difficult it is to hold against Magnus Carlsen as he always manages to find a way to put pressure on you, even if objectively the position is equal.
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant, he taught accounting in University of Santo Tomas for 25 years and is currently the Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
bobby@cpamd.net
