[Event "Champions Chess Tour Airthings Masters"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2023.02.03"] [Round "1"] [White "Sarana, Alexey"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2668"] [BlackElo "2766"] [Annotator "Lang,JJ"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "E47"] [Opening "Nimzo-Indian Defense: Normal Variation, Bishop Attack"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/f5OBDjty/Z0AaSkPp"] [Orientation "white"] { [%evp 0,55,18,10,22,-13,3,4,25,25,26,19,19,19,23,17,25,21,26,25,22,-7,-9,-31, -13,-10,-18,-39,-4,-15,0,-30,30,37,17,-3,2,-2,-8,-22,-12,-33,-43,-64,-43,-74, -58,-56,-39,-90,-68,-53,-11,-4,-4,-45,28,27] Caruana's preparation earned him a nice Nimzo with ample queenside expansion. Unfortunately, he left White just enough flexibility on the opposite flank, missing the proper time to freeze White's counterplay. From there, Black's job got considerably more difficult, and White quickly wrestled the initiative. There's a sense in which Black's promising position was almost a burden when all he needed was a draw in the Armageddon game. } 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e3 O-O 5. Bd3 c5 6. Ne2 Nc6 7. O-O d5 8. cxd5 exd5 9. a3 c4 10. Bc2 Bd6 11. Ng3 Rb8 12. Nb5 Be7 13. f3 a6 14. Nc3 b5 15. Nce2 a5?! (15... Bd6! 16. Qe1 Re8 $17) 16. e4 $15 b4 17. e5 Ne8 18. axb4 axb4 19. Be3 b3 20. Bb1 Nc7 21. Kh1 Nb5!? (21... f5 22. f4 Nb5 23. Ng1 Be6 24. Nf3 Na5 { The frozen kingside gives Black more time to slowly improve on the queenside, where he still has a critical dynamic break on the c-file. }) 22. Qd2 (22. Nf5! Re8 23. f4 Bf8 24. Nfg3 { and White's continued expansion on the kingside offers dynamic counterplay for Black's queenside advantage. }) 22... Re8 (22... f6 { was Black's last chance to keep an initiative. }) 23. f4 f6 24. Nf5 Bb4 25. Qd1 Bxf5 26. Bxf5 Nd6?! (26... g6 27. Bh3 Nc7 28. g4 Bf8 $13) 27. Bb1 f5 28. g4! { Compared to positions with an earlier ...f7-f5, we see here that White is firmly in control with this move. } 28... fxg4 29. Ng3 Qh4 30. Ra6 Nd8 31. f5 c3 32. bxc3 Nc4 33. Bf2 Bf8 34. f6 Ne6 35. Nf5 Qh3 36. Rg1 g6 37. Rxg4 Ra8 38. Rxa8 Rxa8 39. Rg3 Qxg3 40. hxg3 b2 41. Ne3 Ra1 42. Nxc4 dxc4 43. Kg2 Nc7 44. Qc2 Ba3 45. Qe4 Kf7 46. d5 Rxb1 47. Qxb1 Nxd5 48. Bd4 Ke6 49. Kf3 Nc7 50. Ke4 Nb5 51. Qf1 Kd7 52. Kd5 Bf8 53. e6+ Ke8 54. Qxc4 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0