King's Indian Defense with 7...Bg4 in the Main Line
The game between Radoslaw Wojtaszek and Fabiano Caruana in round 9 of the Tata Steel Masters featured a fascinating middlegame concept in the King's Indian: Black voluntarily gave up his black-squared bishop but afterwards had full control over the dark-squares.
It seems that Caruana managed to surprise his usually well-prepared opponent with 7...Bg4 in the opening. This rare move has been played by quite a number of strong grandmasters in online games and this was its first test at the highest level. Enough reason to have a closer look at this sideline of the King's Indian to discuss the ins and outs of this surprising idea.
But first a warm-up: Can you finish the game as precisely as Caruana?
R. Wojtaszek - F. Caruana, Tata Steel Tournament, Wijk aan Zee 2021
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Solution of the exercise
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 g6 4.Nc3 Bg7 5.e4 0-0 6.Be2 e5 7.0-0 Bg4 8.Be3 Bxf3 9.Bxf3 exd4 10.Bxd4 Nc6 11.Be3 Re8 12.Qd2 Nd7 13.Rad1 Bxc3 14.Qxc3 Qf6 15.Qc1 Nc5 16.Qb1 Qe6 17.Rfe1 Qxc4 18.b3 Qc3 19.Bd2 Qf6 20.Bc1 h5 21.Bb2 Ne5 22.Be2 h4 23.Qc1 g5 24.Bb5 Re7 25.Re3 Qg6 26.Be2 Rae8 27.Qc2 Ne6 28.f3 Nf4 29.Bf1 c6 30.Qf2 Re6 31.Rc3 d5 32.g3 hxg3 33.hxg3 dxe4 34.gxf4 gxf4+ 35.Qg2 exf3 36.Qxg6+ Rxg6+ 37.Kh1 f2 38.Bh3 Nc4 39.Rxc4 Re1+ 0–1
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Wojtaszek,R | 2705 | Caruana,F | 2823 | 0–1 | 2021 | E94 | 83rd Tata Steel Masters | 9.4 |
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