Ding Liren defeats Caruana with the Caro-Kann

Featured is the blitz chess game between Fabiano Caruana and Ding Liren from the 2019 St. Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament. Ding turns the Exchange Caro-Kann into an attacking weapon by castling queenside and quickly targeting Caruana’s h3 pawn. Ding reaches a decisive position by move 16. His attack against Caruana’s king is simply faster because of the opened knight’s file. The ending, after only 26 moves, highlights a beautiful checkmate sequence.

Fabiano Caruana vs Ding Liren, 2019 St. Louis Rapid & Blitz

Below the video I have highlighted 2 positions
https://youtu.be/EH9olYW_12c?si=OV96UFO7UZ4k6rWT

Question 1 of 2: What move would you play?

Question 2 of 2: What is black's best move?

Closing words

Thank you in advance for any likes and/or follows you may give. Any questions or comments you may have can be left on YouTube or in the forum below. If you enjoyed the featured video, you may also enjoy the playlist I've created "Instructive Chess Games". I hope you have, in some way, benefited from this post. Thank you for taking the time to read. -Jerry