The world title Candidates in Moscow has its final two rounds (of 14) on Sunday and Monday and suddenly from nowhere an American has a strong chance. Fabiano Caruana, born in Miami and raised in Brooklyn, shared the lead with Russia’s Sergey Karjakin at the end of Friday’s 12th round though with the inferior tie-break.
To add to the spice of the United States v Russia climax, which is a mini-rerun of the most famous chess match of all time, Bobby Fischer v Boris Spassky at Reykjajik in 1972, Karjakin and Caruana are paired in Monday’s final round. It will likely be a must-win occasion for the American, who has the disadvantage of the black pieces.
Caruana seemed out of contention when, after drawing his first seven games, his hours of Grunfeld Defence preparation spectacularly backfired in round nine and he was four pawns down with a lost position after 20 moves against the Netherlands’ Anish Giri.
Desperate ingenuity combined with inaccuracies from his opponent enabled Caruana to save that game in a marathon 96 moves, the longest of the tournament.
After 12 of the 14 rounds the leaders were Caruana (US) and Karjakin (Russia) 7, Vishy Anand (India) 6.5, Levon Aronian (Armenia), Giri (Netherlands) and Peter Svidler (Russia) 6. The last four all have inferior tie-breaks to Caruana and Karjakin.
Given the close contest and the high number of draws, it looks likely that the result will go to the wire. At this stage, however, the Russian has the edge.
There are no prizes for guessing who Agon, the controversial commercial partner of the global body, Fide, wants to succeed. Caruana, 23, may have a geekish image but he would be the home-town hero in New York with a realistic chance to upset the defending champion, Magnus Carlsen. It would be a great occasion for chess, with real chances of attracting mainstream media.
Preparation with the aid of trainers and computers has dominated this Candidates, with the technical focus of interest the English 1 c4 rather than the Berlin Wall arising from 1 e4 e5 which has triggered much angst through its early queen swap and level evaluation. With the English the grandmasters went back to territory from the Garry Kasparov v Anatoly Karpov matches in the 1980s and it was Caruana who landed the most potent bomb.
His 12 Qc2! improves on a 2015 Anand game, while 15 Ne5! 17 Qe2! and even 18 Bxh6!? were prep. The bishop offer was widely praised but France’s No1, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, dissented, preferring 18 Bc1! as less flashy. As it went, Anand could have resisted better by 20…Nd5! while 23…Nxf6 would give drawing chances a pawn down. It is hard to defend accurately at the board when you know your opponent is prepared in depth, and Anand succumbed rather tamely in what could prove the game to settle Carlsen’s challenger.
Fabiano Caruana v Vishy Anand
1 c4 e5 2 Nc3 Nf6 3 Nf3 Nc6 4 g3 Bb4 5 Bg2 O-O 6 O-O e4 7 Ng5 Bxc3 8 bxc3 Re8 9 f3 exf3 10 Nxf3 d5 11 d4 dxc4 12 Qc2! h6?! 13 Bf4 Ne4 14 Rad1 Bf5 15 Ne5! Nd6 16 e4 Bh7 17 Qe2! Ne7 18 Bxh6!? gxh6 19 Qh5 Nef5? 20 exf5 Qg5 21 Qxg5+ hxg5 22 f6 Ne4 23 Rfe1 Nxc3? 24 Rc1 Nb5 25 Bxb7 Rad8 26 Bc6 Nxd4 27 Bxe8 Rxe8 28 Kf2 Nc2 29 Red1 Be4 30 Nxc4 Re6 31 Rd8+ Kh7 32 Kg1 Rxf6 33 Rf1 1-0
3435 1...Kc7! 2 Kc3 Kb7! 3 Kd3 Kb6 reaches the diagram but with White to move. White’s king is forced to give way so that both 4 Kc4 Kc6 5 Kc3 Kd5 and 4 Kc3 Kb5 5 Kd3 Kb4 6 Kc2 c4 allow Black’s king to eat the king’s side pawns.
