Aug-22-23
 | | FSR: 23...Qb4??, not sensing the danger, was a fatal blunder. Caruana would have been OK after 23...f5. Caruana resigned after 26.f5 because there is no way to meet White's threats of 27.Nf6+ and 27.f6, e.g. 26...exf5 27.Nf6+! gxf6 (27...Kh8 28,Qxh6+! anyway) 28.Qxh6+! Kxh6 29.Rh3#. |
|
| Aug-22-23 | | devere: Fab thought for almost 24 minutes before playing 23...Qb4??. That losing move was probably an example of the Kotov syndrome. Undoubtedly Fab spent most of his time thinking about 23...f5, which might lose the pawn on e6, but harmlessly. And then in Kotov-syndrome style, he played a different move that he hadn't thought about as carefully. |
|
| Aug-22-23 | | Chessius the Messius: No comment. |
|
Aug-23-23
 | | Sally Simpson: I see some here are thinking this game is possibly dodgy. It is an attack straight from the stone age.
Allow and encourage Bxf4 to open the g-file. Double Rooks on the g-file. Kick the f6 Knight to clear e4 for the c3 Knight, (23 Ne4 looks better than 23. Be4 which has all the hallmarks of 'hope chess') point things at the King. (Qe3 and Be4) and then spot the shot . Any optimistic 2000 player could have put that together. I see the chess.com computer likes 23.Ne4 I agree! and gives 23.Be4 a minus score. I do not agree! 23.Be4 gives good practical chances v a human. This game is a case in point. End of tournament weariness, loss of impetuous after yesterday, feeling indifferent now he cannot win the tournament, sense of danger deserted him, basic chess blindness...we can all have a good guess at why but I bet even Caruana cannot explain how it happened. Now Caruana has the task of playing for a win so he can go through yet another balls aching day of tie breaks. He is in the candidates so job done there. Today he may just go through the motions for a draw, pocket the $50,000 for coming 4th and go home. I'd not blame him. |
|
Aug-23-23
 | | Teyss: Thanks <FSR> and <Sally Simpson> for your valuable insights. Indeed Caruana only understood too late as proves the pitiful 25...Qe7 comeback. FWIW SF gives 0.0 to both 23.Be4 (48 ply) and 23.Ne4 (32 ply). But enough of SF, let's go for HM (Human Mode, a completely subjective, partial and flawed index, without decimals because it's random enough): 23.Ne4 is -1 at ∞ ply because it's boring and 23.Be4 is +1000 at 6 ply. |
|
| Aug-23-23 | | ndg2: Caru still must have been tilted about the match with Pragg. Uncharacteristically weak play by the American. |
|
Aug-23-23
| | Sally Simpson: I see OTB cheating and getting signals from someone in the audience is being put forward. In this case I think sitting in the audience with a crystal ball in your lap might be a bit of a give away because I'd like to see the signal for 'play Be4 and your opponent will blunder on their very next move after 20+ minutes thought.' Looks like pride (and the extra $10,000) has kicked in and Caruana is busting a gut for the win. |
|
| Aug-23-23 | | SymphonicKnight: And sitting there with a phone in your hand would also be obvious. |
|
Aug-24-23
 | | piltdown man: Who bited him? |
|
Aug-24-23
| | Teyss: Hi Geoff,
LOL. Either a crystal ball, either Vladimir Zukhar Jr was in the audience hypnotising Caruana. On top of all your valuable explanations above ("End of tournament weariness, etc."), it's also very difficult psychologically to adapt to so different players and most of all to various time formats: after playing two 25-minute rapids and two 10-minute rapids the previous round, Caruana apparently wasn't thinking in classical mode: 23...Qb4? could be seen in rapid or blitz game, even if he thought for a long time. BTW 22.Qe3!? and 23.Be4!? could also be (I decided to add "!?" to both moves to cut all debate about them: nothing looks more definitive than an unexplained assertion). Caruana seems to be more confortable in standard tournaments with a limited number participants of relatively homogenous level. His comeback yesterday nevertheless proves he has the stuff champs are made of. |
|
| Feb-27-24 | | rcs784: I'm a bit surprised that the position after 23...Qb4?? hasn't been used as a puzzle yet. Might be good for middle of the week sometime. |
|
Kibitzing
