Sinquefield Cup Recap

[Event "3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015"] [Site "Saint Louis"] [Date "2015.08.23"] [Round "1"] [White "Aronian, Levon"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D37"] [WhiteElo "2765"] [BlackElo "2808"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "USA"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 Ne4 8. Rc1 Nxc3 9. Rxc3 b6 10. c6 Nf6 11. a3 a5 12. Bd3 Ne4 13. Rc2 f6 {The first deviation of the game. 12...Ba6 has been played before by Caruana (against Giri in Wijk aan Zee). Although the game was drawn, his position was a little suspicious.} 14. Qe2 Bd6 15. O-O g5 $5 {Black didn't want to capture on f4, so he forces White to capture himself!} (15... Bxf4 16. exf4 $6 {leaves the e6 pawn weak in the long run, and e5 will never be achieved.}) 16. Bxd6 Nxd6 17. Re1 a4 18. Nd2 e5 $5 19. e4 $1 {Creating serious tension on the center...} f5 $1 {A funny looking move! The tension accumulates, but Black is ok no matter which pawn Aronian takes.} 20. f3 (20. dxe5 fxe4 (20... Nxe4 $5) 21. exd6 exd3 22. Qxd3 Qxd6 $13) (20. exd5 $2 e4 $15) 20... dxe4 $6 {Releasing the tension at the wrong moment.} (20... Re8 $1) 21. fxe4 Ra5 $2 {Caruana underestimates White's attack and allows a brilliancy!} (21... exd4 22. e5 Re8 $14) 22. exf5 Nxf5 23. Bc4+ Kg7 24. d5 {Now e5 is very weak.} Re8 25. Ne4 {Perhaps Fabiano underestimated this move? The knight is magnificently placed and Nd4 doesn't work...} Nd4 26. Qh5 $1 {The point.} Nxc2 {otherwise he is just lost} 27. Nxg5 Bf5 28. Rf1 {Simple and sufficient. Black is up a rook, but Black simply cannot defend his position:} Qf6 (28... Bg6 29. Rf7+ Kg8 (29... Bxf7 30. Qxh7+ Kf6 31. Ne4+ Ke7 32. d6+ {and Black gets mated.}) 30. Qh6 $18) 29. Ne6+ (29. Rxf5 Qxf5 30. Ne6+ {seemed easier, but everything wins.}) 29... Rxe6 30. Rxf5 Qg6 31. dxe6 {Being up two pawns usually forces resignation, but Black is lucky to still be alive.} (31. Rg5 $1 {Was stronger according to the computer, and flashier, but Aronian's move is winning also.}) 31... Qxh5 32. Rxh5 Nd4 33. e7 Ra8 34. Rxe5 {Two pawns is too much. Caruana flutters for a few more moves, but it is over.} Re8 35. Re4 Nf5 36. Be6 Nd6 37. Bd7 Nxe4 38. Bxe8 Kf6 39. Bg6 1-0

[Event "3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015"] [Site "Saint Louis"] [Date "2015.08.30"] [Round "7"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B92"] [WhiteElo "2853"] [BlackElo "2771"] [Annotator "Ramirez Alvarez,Alejandro"] [PlyCount "132"] [EventDate "2015.??.??"] [EventCountry "USA"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3 Be6 9. Qd3 {repeating the line that Anand played against MVL earlier in the tournament.} Nbd7 {Grischuk was having none of that endgame, instead he decided to allow a knight to d5, changing the pawn structure.} 10. Nd5 O-O 11. O-O Bxd5 12. exd5 Rc8 {As is typical in the Najdorf, White exchanged a piece on d5 and how his structure has a majority on the queenside. However Black has good dark-square control and the b3 knight is very bad, it will take some time to regroup it.} 13. c4 Ne8 14. Qd2 b6 {Around here Carlsen mentioned that he didn't like his position, but to be fair there is nothing wrong with it immediately. In the long-term, however, Black's plan seems more obvious than White's.} 15. Rac1 a5 16. Na1 {No one wants to play this move, but it has a sneaky idea. Also it caused Grischuk to start thinking heavily.} g6 17. b4 $5 Ng7 (17... axb4 18. Nc2 {is the point, as the knight quickly heads to c6. Grischuk doesn't take to keep the control of b4.}) 18. bxa5 bxa5 19. Bd3 Nc5 20. Bc2 a4 21. Rb1 {White's knight on a1 is awful, but he has control of the b-file, pressure on a4 and the pair of bishops. It is hard to say who is better.} e4 $5 {Changing the position. White is happy to trade his c4 pawn for the e5 one though.} 22. Bxc5 Rxc5 23. Bxa4 (23. Qe2 $5 {is a little more ambitious} Qc7 (23... f5 $5) 24. Bxa4 Rxc4 25. Bc6 $16) (23. Bxe4 Rxc4 24. Qd3 $11) 23... Rxc4 24. Bc6 Nf5 25. Qe2 Rc3 26. Qxe4 Ra3 {White wins the pawn on e4, but thanks to this strong rook the a2 pawn is doomed. The position looks rather drawish.} 27. Qe2 Bf6 28. Nb3 Qe7 29. Qxe7 Nxe7 30. Nd2 Rxa2 31. Nc4 Rd8 {I was expecting the players to sign the scoresheets around here, but Carlsen started playing very strange moves.} 32. g4 $2 (32. Rbd1 $11) 32... Bd4 33. Rbd1 Bc5 {suddenly White is just worse. He has problems with his d5 pawn and the f2 pressure.} 34. Rd2 Rxd2 35. Nxd2 Nxc6 36. dxc6 Rc8 37. Ne4 Rxc6 38. Rd1 {The extra pawn is hard to convert, but from here on out Grischuk will torture the World Champion.} h6 39. h4 Kf8 40. Kg2 Ke7 41. Rc1 {The endgame is unpleasant, though surely a computer would hold it.} Rc8 42. Kf3 Ke6 43. Rc2 Rc7 44. h5 $5 {Commital. Some grandmasters analyzing the game didn't like this move.} gxh5 45. gxh5 Bb6 46. Re2 Bd4 47. Kg3 d5 48. Nd2+ Kf5 49. Kg2 Be5 50. Nf3 Bf6 51. Ra2 Rd7 52. Ne1 Rc7 53. Kf3 Bg5 54. Ra5 Ke5 {White is suffering, but it's not so easy to make progress. The blockade on d3 will hold on strong.} 55. Ke2 Ke4 56. Ra4+ d4 57. f3+ Kd5 58. Ra5+ Kc4 59. Nd3 Re7+ 60. Re5 Re6 ( 60... Kc3 {was winning, according to Komodo, but the truth of the position is still not clear to me.}) 61. f4 Bf6 62. Rxe6 fxe6 63. Nf2 $4 (63. Kd2 $1 {was the only way to hold the position. There seems no way to break down the position.}) 63... Be7 $1 {White will soon be zugzwanged.} 64. Ng4 Kc3 65. f5 ( 65. Kd1 Bf8 66. Nf2 d3 {is winning.}) (65. Nf2 Kc2 66. Nd3 Ba3 67. Nf2 Bd6 68. Nd3 Kc3 {with a zugzwang.}) 65... exf5 $1 {only move} 66. Nxh6 Kc2 $1 {the pawn is unstoppable.} 0-1