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| Dec-15-16 | | JohnBoy: I definitely want to see analysis of this game. Great initiative for the queen! |
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| Dec-15-16 | | 1971: In the press conference, Caruana mentioned he heard Nakamura say (during the US Championship) that his 3rd round game was a must win and he played the Najdorf. Anticipating that Naka would feel the same way today, he was ready for the Najdorf and had this idea prepared. |
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| Dec-15-16 | | beenthere240: It's hard to say that chess is played out when you see something like this. |
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Dec-15-16
 | | An Englishman: Good Afternoon: The commentators thought that Caruana missed a lot of better moves (23.Nd6+ instead of Rd6; 29.Nf7 instead of b5), and Nakamura should not have played 28...Qe7. Would have preferred that 29.b5 was vital to White's victory, because it is such an unexpected move. |
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| Dec-15-16 | | Eyal: <Would have preferred that 29.b5 was vital to White's victory, because it is such an unexpected move> Caruana explained to Maurice Ashley after the game why he didn't play 29.Nxf7+! - he calculated 29...Rxf7 30. Rxe6 Qxb4 31. Rh6+ Kg8 32. Rg1+ Rg7 33. Be6+ Kf8 34. Bc5+!! (But not 34. Rh8+ Ke7 35. Rxg7+ Kd6 and because of the mating threat on e1 Black is in the game) 34... Qxc5 35. Rh8+ Ke7 36. Rxg7+ Kd6 (36... Kxe6 37. Rh6#) 37. Rxb8, which should be winning for White. But Caruana thought that there was perpetual after Qc5-g1+, and only when looking at the analysis board he realized that the white rook on g7 is defending that square; curious what trivial things players can miss in such deep calculations. The main point of 29.b5 was that if Black plays 29...Rxb5 then after 30.Nxf7+! Rxf7 31.Rxe6, 31...Qb4 fails because the back rank has been weakened: 32.Rh6 + Kg8 33.Rd8 + Rf8 (or 33...Kg7 34.Rg6+ Kh7 35.Rc6+ Rxf5 36.Rc7+ and mate) 34.Be6+ Kg7 35.Rd7+ and mate. |
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| Dec-15-16 | | Marmot PFL: 21...Bxf5 looks essential to defend d6. White still has compensation for the Q but nothing like the attack in the game. Nakamura thought quite a while there and played what looks like a weaker move, underestimating white's attack |
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| Dec-15-16 | | Shamot: Could anybody, please, play out the game and show me white's victory. It is hard for me to understand how black is mated. Thank you in advance! |
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| Dec-15-16 | | docbenway: Shamot: Could anybody, please, play out the game and show me white's victory. It is hard for me to understand how black is mated. Thank you in advance!
Simplest is to to chess24 and bring up the game and you'll see various computer lines throughout the game including the finish. |
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| Dec-15-16 | | luzhin: The principal mating line is 32.Rh6+ Kg8 33.Rg1+ Kf8 34.Rh8+ Ke7 35.Rxb8 Qxb8 36.Bc5+ Kf6 37.Rg6 mate. In this line 36...Kd8 37.Rg8+ wins. Goes like clockwork. |
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| Dec-15-16 | | izimbra: Computer analysis suggests the decisive factor here was Naka getting sloppy in the middle game. At move 15 he sacrifices with <15...b4 16.axb4> prior to playing Ne5. The engine says play Ne5 right away, and the pawn sac doesn't help it. At move 21, the engine says play Bxf5 right away and then retreat Bf6 to e7. Instead Naka moves Rb8 to cover his earlier sacrifice, resulting in the loss of the d6 pawn. Caruana misses with 24 Rhd1 instead of Be3 right away, but then Nakamura gives the tempo back with 25...Qg5, where Rfe8 would have kept the game in the probable draw region. <26.Be3 Qf6 27.Nxh6+ Kh8> should be a winning position for White. Leaving the Be6 hangin after Nf7+ (which could have been played sooner) caused the game to end quickly. Was Caruana's Q sac sound. Yes! With accurate play it results in an even-rated, unbalanced positions, where W looks better to the human eye. |
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Dec-15-16
 | | AylerKupp: <Shamot> Could anybody, please, play out the game and show me white's victory. It is hard for me to understand how black is mated.> As <luzhin> pointed out, the mating lines arise after 32...Kg8 or 32...Kf8 33.Rg1+. But then they diverge depending on whether Black plays 33...Kf8 or 33...Rg7. This is what Stockfish 8 came up with as its mating lines from the ending position:
click for larger view[+M27], d=42 after 32...Kg7 (32...Kg8 could transpose) 33.Rg1+ Kf8 34.Rh8+ Ke7 35.Rxb8 Qxb8 36.Bc5+ Kd8 (36...Ke8 just loses the rook in addition to the queen after 37.Rg8+) 37.Rg8+ Kc7 38.Rxb8 Kxb8 39.h6 Kb7 (the threat was 39.Bd6+ and 40.Bxe5 when the bishops guard the h-pawn's path to the queening square) 40.h7 Rxh7 41.Bxh7 (and with a 2B+P advantage the win is simple, even for me, but I'm giving the rest of Stockfish's moves since you asked for the mating line) 41...Kc6 42.Bf8 Kd7 43.Bf5+ Kc7 44.Be7 Kc6 45.Bf6 (I probably would have played 45.Be6 to keep the Black king more hemmed in the q-side but that's nitpicking) 45...Kd6 46.Kd1 a5 47.Kd2 a4 48.Kc1 (a strange move by Stockfish) 48...Kc7 (Black was in zugswang, that possibly explains 48.Kc1) 49.Bxe5+ Kc6 50.Bf6 Kb5 51.e5 a3 (opening up stalemating possibilities?) 52.bxa3 Ka4 53.e6 Kxa3 54.e7 Kb4 55.e8Q Kc5 56.Qe6 Kb4 57.Qc6 Ka3 58.Qc3+ Ka2 59.Be6#
click for larger viewIf Black plays 32...Kg8 and after 33.Rg1+ Rg7, then he loses quicker: [+M13], d=42: 33...Rg7 34.Be6+ Kf8 35.Rh8+ Rg8 (if 35...Ke7 then it's mate in 11 after 36.Rxg7+ Kd6 37.Rh6 Qxb2+ 38.Kd2 Rh8 39.Rhg6 Qb4+ 40.Kd3 Kc6 41.Ra7 Qd6+ 42.Bd5+ Kb5 43.Rxd6 Rb8 44.Raxa6 Kb4 45.Bc4 Rb5 46.c3+ since if 35...Kxe6, 36.Rh6#) 36.Bxg8 (I probably would have played 36.Rgxg8+ Ke7 37.Rh7+ Kd6 (once again 37...Kxe6 Rg6#) and apparently it's still mate in 11 after 38.Rg6 but Stockfish's 36.Bxg8 is quicker) 36...Qxb2+ 37.Kd2 Qb4+ (unfortunately for Black after 37...Rd1+ 38.Ke2 Qxc2+ 39.Kf3 Black is out of checks) 38.Kd3 Ke8 39.Bd5+ Kd7 40.Rg7+ Qe7 (if 40...Kd6, 41.Rh6#) 41.Rxe7+ Kxe7 42.Rxb8 (and now White has a R+2B+P advantage) 42...Kd7 43.Rb7+ Ke8 44.h6 (the pawn cannot be stopped) 44...Kd8 45.h7 a5 46.h8Q#
click for larger view |
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| Dec-15-16 | | jerseybob: Earlier this year in Giri-Vachiere Lagrave from Stavenger, Norway, black played 15..Rg8 and went on to win after 16.Rdg1. Naka varies with 15..b4 and eventually loses. Was he trying to avoid a white improvement on move 16? |
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| Dec-15-16 | | Amulet: After this game, will Nakamura question his knowledge of chess. Does he still consider himself as the only one who could challenge Carlsen for the world championship |
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| Dec-16-16 | | Mendrys: <Shamot: Could anybody, please, play out the game and show me white's victory. It is hard for me to understand how black is mated. Thank you in advance!> As others like <AylerKupp> and others have noted a forced mate is a ways off. There is, however, the force line from this position:
click for larger view 32...Kg8 33. Rg1+ Kf8 34. Rh8+ Ke7 35. Rxb8 Qxb8 36. Bc5+ Kd8 37. Rg8+ Kc7 38. Bd6+ Kxd6 39. Rxb8 
click for larger viewBlack has no chance in this position. |
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| Dec-16-16 | | Eyal: <Computer analysis suggests the decisive factor here was Naka getting sloppy in the middle game. At move 15 he sacrifices with <15...b4 16.axb4> prior to playing Ne5. The engine says play Ne5 right away, and the pawn sac doesn't help it. At move 21, the engine says play Bxf5 right away and then retreat Bf6 to e7. Instead Naka moves Rb8 to cover his earlier sacrifice, resulting in the loss of the d6 pawn [...] Was Caruana's Q sac sound. Yes! With accurate play it results in an even-rated, unbalanced positions, where W looks better to the human eye.> The position after 21...Bxf5 22.Bxf5 looks extremely passive and unpleasant for Black, and Caruana himself was convinced that it's very far from "even" - in fact, that it's strategically lost for him: "the computer doesn’t understand that after 21.Nf5 Bxf5 Black is pretty much just lost. It’s one of the saddest positions I’ve ever seen for Black" (https://chess24.com/en/read/news/lo...). He thought that Nakamura probably didn't look very deep into the position and relied too much on the computer’s first line, which is 21.Nc6 Bxg4 22.Nxd8 Bxd8. But during the game, after 21.Nf5!! was played, he gradually realized how bad his position actually was. 15...b4 was almost certainly meant to improve for Black in some other line. Dejan Bojkov, in his analysis on chess.com, suggests it was played with the idea of avoiding 15... Ne5 16. Qxf4 Nexg4 17. Bxg4 e5 18. Nd5! Nxd5 19. Qf3 Bxg4 20. Qxg4 Nf6 21. Qf3 with advantage to White (this has already been played in a correspondence game) - compared with this line, the possibility of taking with the knight on b4 is a significant improvement for Black. |
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| Dec-16-16 | | Ulhumbrus: One commentator indicated that Nakamura had relied too much on his comouter preparation and had not tried it over the board even in a training game, where he would not have had much trouble finding the move 21 Nf5 |
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| Dec-16-16 | | izimbra: <Eval: <Computer analysis suggests the decisive factor here was Naka getting sloppy in the middle game. At move 15 he sacrifices with <15...b4 16.axb4> prior to playing Ne5. The engine says play Ne5 right away, and the pawn sac doesn't help it. At move 21, the engine says play Bxf5 right away and then retreat Bf6 to e7. Instead Naka moves Rb8 to cover his earlier sacrifice, resulting in the loss of the d6 pawn [...] Was Caruana's Q sac sound. Yes! With accurate play it results in an even-rated, unbalanced positions, where W looks better to the human eye.>> Caruana initiated the sacrifice and Black was temporarily up material, so it's odd for Nakamura to overlook a correct simplification. Yet he did... <The position after 21...Bxf5 22.Bxf5 looks extremely passive and unpleasant for Black, and Caruana himself was convinced that it's very far from "even" - in fact, that it's strategically lost for him: "the computer doesn’t understand that after 21.Nf5 Bxf5 Black is pretty much just lost. It’s one of the saddest positions I’ve ever seen for Black" (https://chess24.com/en/read/news/lo...). He thought that Nakamura probably didn't look very deep into the position and relied too much on the computer’s first line, which is 21.Nc6 Bxg4 22.Nxd8 Bxd8. But during the game, after 21.Nf5!! was played, he gradually realized how bad his position actually was.> Stockfish sees it as even and suggests <21...Bxf5 22.Bxf5 Rb8 23.c4 Be7 24. Kc2 Ra8> What do you see as the key idea for White to gain a decisive advantage in this variation? |
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| Dec-16-16 | | Eyal: I let my own Stockfish look at the position - it suggests 23.Rd3 instead of c4 and at a depth of 30+ actually starts showing a significant advantage for White. This rook move has all kinds of ideas - Ra3 to attack a6, doubling on the d-file, preventing castling (23...0-0? 24.Rg3+ Kh8 25.Rhg1), and the threat of Rc3 followed by Bb6 or Ba7 (for example, after the very natural 23...Rg8?, 24.Rc3 is winning). Black's best defensive plan is apparently to play Rb5 and give up the exchange on d5. If Black doesn't fall for any specific tactics, I suppose a winning idea in the long run would be to attack the weak pawn on a6 and advance on the Q-side. |
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| Dec-16-16 | | izimbra: < I let my own Stockfish look at the position - it suggests 23.Rd3 instead of c4 and at a depth of 30+ actually starts showing a significant advantage for White. This rook move has all kinds of ideas - Ra3 to attack a6, doubling on the d-file, preventing castling (23...0-0? 24.Rg3+ Kh8 25.Rhg1), and the threat of Rc3 followed by Bb6 or Ba7 (for example, after the very natural 23...Rg8?, 24.Rc3 is winning). Black's best defensive plan is apparently to play Rb5 and give up the exchange on d5. If Black doesn't fall for any specific tactics, I suppose a winning idea in the long run would be to attack the weak pawn on a6 and advance on the Q-side.> 23.Rd3, a logical move, does look stronger for White, but I still see a game that's solidly in the draw range, lacking a way to force a black loss. |
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Dec-16-16
 | | chancho: If you are getting a look like this from Fabiano Caruana in a game of chess: http://www.chessgames.com/gamephoto... <Abandon hope all ye who enter here!> |
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| Dec-16-16 | | ColeTrane: Epic queen sac.... |
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| Dec-16-16 | | Eyal: Shankland, who analyzes the game at https://worldchess.com/2016/12/16/t..., concurs with Caruana btw about the evaluation of the position after 21... Bxf5 22. Bxf5 Rb8: <The longer the computer runs, the poorer its evaluation of Black's position becomes. Black has no active play at all and a lot of weaknesses. White's two pieces are better than the queen.> |
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| Dec-16-16 | | ColeTrane: Look..on my new mobile app if I touch d7 square it reverses the board....is there a square to bring up an engine....? |
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| Dec-16-16 | | ColeTrane: @ Coltrane d8 |
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| Dec-16-16 | | ColeTrane: Thanks Coletrane! Any relationship to John Coltrane....? |
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sac: 19.Qxf6
