Fabiano Caruana vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2023)

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Fabiano Caruana vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
Superbet Chess Classic Romania (2023), Bucharest ROU, rd 3, May-08
Indian Game: West Indian Defense (E61) · 1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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May-08-23		Atterdag: Punishment of the naughty knights. Elegantly played by Caruana in this relatively rare miniature.

May-08-23		goodevans: Can't fault Caruana's play here, but it helps when your opponent throws away first one then a second central pawn in pursuit of a non-existent attack. Caruana said "thankyou very much" and calmly rebutted MVL's feeble incursion. In the final position, MVL is still two pawns down, his c-pawn is doomed and he'll have to also chuck away his f-pawn to free his trapped Q. And after that d6+ is coming and White's central pawns start rolling.

May-08-23		Check It Out: A King's Indian Benko.

May-08-23		dehanne: The Alphazero attack.

May-09-23		fredthebear: Don't laugh, it's not a joke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8h... Nothing like giving your opponent connected passed pawns.

May-16-23		HeMateMe: I've never seen Max get beat up so badly.

May-18-23		PawnSac: the speculative 7. ..b5 sac is not something I'd play against Fabi. By move 12 it is clear unless MVL generates some strong central counter play the A passer will live to haunt him. He attempts pressure with ..Qg4 but Re1 is solid. ..Nb4 doesn't appear promising but any other regrouping of the knight feels too slow. So.. I have not run an engine on this, and I'm not a GM, but my gut is.. black has chosen a course of "in for a penny in for a pound" but the chances of a positive outcome seems doubtful. I know this is very subjective, but 7. .. b5 seems like a wrong turn suited only for blitz... maybe

May-18-23		SChesshevsky: <the speculative 7...b5 sac> I haven't really studied it but it seems the 3. h4 is a somewhat problematic anti-grunfeld. Have seen Svidler have some struggles. Believe one response is to try to transition into some sort of benko gambit structure with ...b5. Guessing the black idea is to suggest 0-0, load up on the queen side and divert white over there. Making h4 less than useful. Then probably looking for some break vs. the central bind. I'm not sure MVL's 13. Qg4 and king side foray is the general idea.

May-18-23		beatgiant: The point of the play around moves 13-15 is to get ready for White's possible e5 break. If Black plays the typical queenside development with 13...Rfb8, White has 14. e5 Ng4 <15. e6> fxe6 16. Ng5 e5 17. Ne6, with a nice knight post. I'm not saying it wins, but it certainly looks more fun to have the White pieces. 13...Qg4 aims to avoid this by pressuring the h-pawn. 15. Bg5 comes with the positional threat of 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. e5 dxe5 18. Re4, followed later by Nxe5. 15...Nh5?! hangs the center and the counterplay doesn't work out. Probably Black needed to watch the center break with 15...Rfd8, so now on 16. Bxf6 Bxf6 17. e5 dxe5 18. Re4 Qc8 19. Nxe5 e6, Black is keeping the balance in the center.

May-19-23		PawnSac: the speculative 7. ..b5 sac is not something I'd play against Fabi. By move 12 it is clear unless MVL generates some strong central counter play the A passer will live to haunt him. He attempts pressure with ..Qg4 but Re1 is solid. ..Nb4 doesn't appear promising but any other regrouping of the knight feels too slow. So.. I have been on my phone, but when I get home illrun the fish on the game, but my hunch is .. b5 will not eval well

May-19-23		PawnSac: my phone double posted this.. and I can't find delete. lol. anyway.. SChesshevsky: .. benko gambit structure sounds plausible, although in the benko black plays 3..b5 & ..a6 when white has no pieces developed n is 4 moves from castling with no hold on e4. blacks move order and play is much more principled. I have played the benko with fair results, but I don't feel warm and fuzzy about .. b5 here since white is so close to consolidation. don't get me wrong.. I appreciate a good gambit <PawnSac> but I'm not feelin it in this line, n I suspect MVL will conclude he was overly optimistic

May-19-23		SChesshevsky: <PawnSac> Yes, not sure the benko transpo idea is best against 3. h4. But it is something I've seen. Think theory is still being worked out. I'm kind of skeptical on the benko idea and followed by ...Qg4 and...Nh5. Just seems odd to weaken queen side then position somewhat strangely on the king side. But I doubt MVL was just winging it. Likely had some computer backing. Appears 3. h4 is an issue for Grunfeld players and best response is still up in the air. Will be interesting to see how it develops.

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