An in-form Fabiano Caruana employed a strategy often used among the elite in round 8 of the Superbet Chess Classic: he prepared a line that was sharp enough so that his opponent needed to figure things out over the board, but not forcing enough for it to have been deeply analysed by his rival’s team. This strategy does not intend to get a quick win, but instead looks to get a practical edge.
Playing white against Anish Giri, Caruana finished the game with more time on his clock than what he had started with, but saw his opponent finding all the crucial moves to keep the balance. A draw was signed after 26 moves, and Caruana explained:
The position is equal, and also I haven’t prepared anything here. I just knew that it’s more or less a playable position, and I have like an hour time advantage. [...] I was very disappointed when he basically [found] everything.
Caruana, who reached the top of the standings following his back-to-back wins in rounds 3 and 4, is now the sole leader, as former co-leader Alireza Firouzja was defeated by Jan-Krzysztof Duda. Duda had lost to Richard Rapport and drawn his remaining encounters, so he is now back on a fifty-percent score.
In the final round, Caruana will play black against Rapport. The latter is one of four players standing a half point behind the leader, together with Firouzja, Giri and Wesley So.
Anish Giri | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Fabiano Caruana is the sole leader with one round to go | Photo: Bryan Adams
