The British Chess Magazine
h4 (15…d5!?) 16 f2 ×g4 17 h1 (17 h7
×f5 18 ×f8 b6 and Black has two pawns and
e×cellent play for the sacrificed piece) 17…×f5
18 h8 c5+ 19 f3 g1 20 ×e8+ d7 21
×a8 d4+ 22 e4 ×c1 23 b4 b6 24 c4
c5 25 a3 e1+ 26 d3 d1+ 27 c3 c1+
28 d3 d1+ 29 c3 c1+ 30 d3 ½–½ F
Caruana–VB Kramnik, Moscow, 2013.
14…b6 15 f5 b7 16 c3
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9r+-+lvl-tr0
9zpkzp-snpzp-0
9-zpp+-+-+0
9+-+-zPPsNp0
9-+-+-+P+0
9+-sN-+-+P0
9PzPP+-mK-+0
9tR-vLR+-+-0
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This looks very comfortable for White and it
takes some fantastically creative play from
Adams to demonstrate that Black is in fact OK
here.
16 c4 is worth investigating instead although
Black can play in a similiar vein to the game
with 16…h×g4 17 h×g4 h2+ 18 g3 c2 19
h7 c5 20 ×f8 c6 and again it seems that
Black is OK here. For example 21 g5 g2+ 22
f4 f2+ 23 e3 f3+ 24 e2 ×f5 25 g×f5
×f5 26 g1 ×f8 27 c3 ×e5+ 28 d3 f6
29 d2 g5 and Black’s three pawns ensure he
should not be worse in the ending.
16…h×g4 17 h×g4 h2+!
The start of a strong piece sacrifice.
18 g3 ×c2 19 h7?!
This was the move that Fabiano had been pinning his hopes on. It traps the bishop on f8, but
energetic play from Adams keeps him in the
game.
19 e6! seems more dangerous to me. The idea
is that after 19…f6 20 h7 c5 21 ×f8 c6
now the knight can escape from f8 although
555
after 22 g6 ×g6 23 f×g6 g2+ 24 f4 f2+
25 e3 f3+ 26 e2 e8 Black clearly has excellent compensation for the piece. Still, White
might be a touch better after 27 d5!
19…c5! 20 ×f8 c6 21 f6?
The first serious error of the game and it puts
Caruana in a lot of trouble.
21 g5! would have kept the game level, for
example 21…g2+ 22 f4 f2+ 23 g3 g2+
24 f4 f2+; White should take the draw here
as Black has more than enough for the piece
after 25 e3?! f3+ 26 e2 ×f5! 27 g×f5
×f5 28 g1 ×e5+ 29 e3 ×f8 and the four
pawns are clearly better than the piece here.
21…g2+ 22 f4 g×f6 23 e×f6 f2+! 24
e3
24 Kg3 is even worse, as after 24…×f6 25
g5 (25 h7? loses immediately to 25…f3+
26 h2 h8) 25…f3+ 26 h4 ×f8 27 ×e7
h8+ 28 g5 g8+ 29 h4 f5! The king on h4
is in terrible trouble trapped on the edge of the
board; 24 e5? allows the very nice 24…e8!
25 f4 (25 f×e7 ×e7+ 26 e6 ×e6#) 25…
g6+ 26 f5 e5#
24…×f6 25 h7 f3+ 26 d2 d8+ 27
c2
27 e2 h8 also wins the piece back as 28
g5? loses to 28…h2+ 29 e1 ff2 and
White must lose material.
27…×c3+!
Adams now regains the piece and has an easily
winning endgame.
28 b×c3 a4+ 29 b2 ×d1 30 g5 c6
31 ×d1 ×d1 32 f4 ×g4
White has no tricks left here and Adams’s technique is easily up to the task of winning from
here.
33 f6 f3 34 e8 a5 35 ×c7 c6
36 c2 c8 37 d3 d7 38 c2 c4 39
a6 b7 40 b8+ c8 41 d3 b5!
The knight on b8 will be lost after 42…f6 and
…e5, so White has to resign.
0–1