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Fabiano Caruana vs Jeffery Xiong
US Championship (2019), St Louis, MO USA, rd 6, Mar-25
Spanish Game: Berlin Defense (C65)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Mar-26-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: Quite a struggle! Thought Black had a number of opportunities to play ...h7-h6 to try and blockade the King side. Funny finish; Black can't avoid the skewer 45...d1/Q; 46.Rc8+ and 47.Rd8+.
Mar-26-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  Sally Simpson: ***

At last a Caruana win! (the first in six months) and he finished with a bit of flair.

Good afternoon Englishman.

Possibly correct about ...h6 but in such positions (Knight on f5, dark squared attacking Bishop v light squared defending Bishop - known in the trade as an opposite coloured Bishop attack) have to be timed perfectly as it invites a sac on h6 either with a Q & B battery or right away.

Here for instance.


click for larger view

24...h6 then 25.Bxh6 must be on.

I would have chopped the Knight with the Bishop the moment it landed on f5. (and probably lost in a different way)

***

Mar-26-19  mrl: If 19...h6 is played, the f7 square is still available for king to escape, so there's no sacrifice of Bxh6.

But yes you are right, Knight should chop Bishop at 20...Bxf5 Instead, the moved played, ...Bf7, blocks the f7 escape square for the king, so it has to escape to h8 instead, and white just pours on the pieces.

Defending is hard!

Mar-26-19  Ulhumbrus: If 12...Bb6 allows White to remove Black's bishop pair by Nxb6 this suggests 12...axb5
Mar-26-19  Imran Iskandar: Nice end to the game with Ba5.
Mar-26-19  Granny O Doul: I was also surprised Black declined the challenge with 12...Bb6. Obviously White had something in mind, but it is hard to believe it isn't Black's strongest move (note my careful avoidance of "best").

It was a nice finish. Hope Fab remembers now how nice it is to win.

Mar-26-19  RookFile: I wouldn't have chosen this defense against Caruana. He was ready to play this with white against Carlsen. You're basicallly saying, "Oh, PLEASE show me what you were ready to play in the world championship."
Mar-28-19  Sokrates: Precise and elegant manoeuvres to catch the rogue pawn. When Caruana is determined, really concentrates, and has sufficient time, he is second to none.
Mar-28-19  Count Wedgemore: <__he is second to none.>

That should read: second to one.

Mar-28-19  wordfunph: it is very difficult to be humble if you are # 1.
Mar-28-19  MrMelad: <Count Wedgemore: That should read: second to one.> Haha! Good one.

Great ending to the game. After 36..Bxe4 I was sure black is better but apparently white is totally winning. 45.a5! is a total skewer and exactly the kind of move I would miss and lose the game.

Apr-02-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  Knightf7mate: Could some explain why the black pawn cannot queen on move 45? Also, when using the move analyzer how do you indicate what piece you will promote to?
Apr-02-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  Knightf7mate: Now I see. 45... p-d1 Q 46 r-c8+ k must move to d file. 47 r-d8+ and wins the queen.

I saw rook pin earlier but missed that the black king wasn't really safe from the rook check. The white pawn does its part guarding b5

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