[Event "FIDE Candidates Tournament"] [Site "https://lichess.org/study/fhBzjnqz/DupY9l6F"] [Date "2022.06.19"] [Round "3.2"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Duda, Jan-Krzysztof"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2783"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [BlackElo "2750"] [BlackTeam "Poland"] [Annotator "Aagaard"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "B90"] [Opening "Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/fhBzjnqz/DupY9l6F"] [Orientation "white"] { [%evp 0,72,27,33,73,66,61,55,59,24,37,35,61,45,23,24,22,39,49,44,49,44,44,29, 27,3,3,5,4,4,4,4,-1,-1,1,1,0,-11,2,2,0,-12,-12,-9,-8,-9,-11,-14,-14,-18,-12, -12,-11,-8,-2,-36,-25,-27,-9,-10,-5,-3,-7,-8,-8,-10,-3,-14,-14,-14,-14,-19,-10, 0,0] Caruana played the way he always do and got nowhere. This is a success for Duda. } 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 h5 { This variation is Black's main choice after two decades of investigation here. } 9. Qd2 Nbd7 10. O-O-O Be7 11. Kb1 b5 12. Nd5 Bxd5 13. exd5 Nb6 14. Bxb6 Qxb6 15. Na5 Rc8 16. Nc6 { Caruana spent 20 minutes deciding which path to choose, before landing on the bloodless, teethless, flat continuation. Sorry guys. Not much to see here... } (16. c4 bxc4 17. Nxc4 Qa7 18. Na5 Rc5 19. Nc6 Qd7 { and now either } 20. Bd3 (20. Be2 { , but the engines still offer White a slight pull and practice a better than even experience. Caruana, caught in the opening, chose to stay safe and hope for random chances. While Duda is one of the weaker players in the tournament, he was not weak enough to cause problems for himself. Only Radjabov would do so in this field. })) 16... Nxd5 17. Nxe7 Nxe7 18. Qxd6 Qxd6 19. Rxd6 Nc6 20. Rd2 Ke7 21. Bd3 Rhd8 { Black is totally fine. The players did their duty, searching and searching, but were not able to find anything else than a flat ending. } 22. Rhd1 g6 23. c3 Na5 24. Re2 Kf6 25. h4 Nb7 26. Red2 Nc5 27. Bf1 Rxd2 28. Rxd2 Ke6 29. c4 b4 30. Kc2 a5 31. b3 Nb7 32. g3 Rd8 33. Rxd8 Nxd8 34. Kd3 Nb7 35. Ke3 Nc5 36. f4 a4 37. bxa4 Nxa4 38. c5 exf4+ 39. gxf4 Nxc5 40. Kd4 Kd6 41. Kc4 Ne6 42. f5 gxf5 43. Be2 Nf4 44. Bf3 Ng6 45. Bxh5 Nxh4 46. Bxf7 f4 47. Bh5 f3 48. Bxf3 Nxf3 49. Kxb4 Nd4 50. a3 Nc2+ 51. Kb3 Nxa3 { 1/2-1/2 The game is a draw. } 1/2-1/2