[Event "FIDE Candidates Tournament"] [Date "2022.06.26"] [Round "8.3"] [White "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Black "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2760"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [BlackElo "2783"] [BlackTeam "United States"] [Annotator "Aagaard"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C82"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez: Open, Dilworth Variation"] [StudyName "2022 FIDE Candidates - Annotated by GM Jacob Aagaard"] [ChapterName "Nakamura, Hikaru - Caruana, Fabiano"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/fhBzjnqz/RAIjBWSH"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Bc5 { As we shall see, this line is rather committal for Black, although objectively OK. The way Caruana played it, Hikaru got more chances than you should usually expect. Another direction entirely is... } (9... Be7 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Bc2 f5 $14 { with a lot of theory, where life is not easy for Black either. }) 10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Bc2 Nxf2 (11... Bf5 12. Nb3 Bg6 13. Nfd4 Bxd4 14. Nxd4 Qd7 15. f4 $16 { has also been played plenty, but looks dodgy under computer scrutiny. }) 12. Rxf2 Bxf2+ 13. Kxf2 f6 14. Nf1 fxe5 15. Kg1 Qd6 16. Be3 Bf5 17. Bb3 (17. Bxf5 Rxf5 18. Ng3 $14 { is also reasonable. }) 17... Rad8 18. Qe1 Na5 19. Qf2 Nb7 20. Re1 c5 { Both players were still in preparation about here, but certainly outside the known paths for a while. } 21. Ng3 { A difficult line to understand is... } (21. Bg5 c4 22. Bxd8 cxb3 23. Bh4 bxa2 24. Ra1 Bb1 { where the computer says White is better after } 25. Qa7 { but where you would argue that the position is rather different from normal positions. Maybe White is better, but Caruana certainly had ideas ready. }) 21... Bd3 22. Qd2 { This is the critical moment of the game. Black is missing the dark-squared bishop and has to fight for the dark squares with the pawns. But eventually, Black will have to play ...e5-e4, it seems, or have his pieces massively debilitated. So, in practice the Black position becomes super difficult to play after the mistake Caruana made in the game. } 22... c4?! (22... e4 $13 { leads to complex play where Black is OK. }) 23. Bd1 Rd7 (23... Rde8 24. b4 h6 25. a3 $14 { seemed more measured. }) 24. Bf2 Rdf7 25. Nh1!! { This looks odd, but there is no downside to putting the knight in the corner. After this it is incredibly difficult to find a path forward for Black. } 25... e4 26. Nd4 $16 Qg6 (26... Nc5 27. Bh5! Rf4 28. h3 { would still have kept Black alive. } 28... g6!? 29. Be2! (29. Bd1 h5! $14 { it is hard for White to make great progress. }) 29... Bxe2 30. Nxe2 R4f7 31. Bxc5! Qxc5+ 32. Nd4 { White has a stable advantage, but Black is not totally dead yet. }) 27. h4! Nc5 (27... h5 28. Qg5 $16) 28. h5 Qd6 29. Bg4! $18 { White is in control. He will slowly untangle his forces and exploit the weaknesses in the black position. The conversion of the advantage took a long time and a lot of moves and were at times shaky, but the result was never at risk. } 29... h6 30. Qe3 Qf4 31. Qxf4 Rxf4 32. Ne6 Nxe6 (32... Rxg4 33. Nxf8 $18) 33. Bxe6+ Kh7 34. Bxd5 R8f5 35. Bc6 Rxh5 36. Bd4 Rhf5 37. Nf2 Rf7 38. b4 h5?! 39. a4?! { White is still winning after this move, which Nakamura took eight minutes to choose, but after } (39. Be8! { it was just over. } 39... R7f5 40. Be3 { is the key point. The rook is trapped. }) 39... bxa4 40. Bxa4 h4 41. Be3 R4f5 42. Ra1 h3 43. Ra2! { Avoiding tricks. The conversion going forward is now a bit shaky, but the win is never at risk. } 43... hxg2 44. Bd1 R7f6 45. Bg4 Rd5 46. Kxg2 Rg6 47. Kg3 Bf1 48. Bd4 Bd3 49. Kf4 Kg8 50. Bf5 Rh6 51. Ng4 Rhd6 52. Ne3 Rb5 53. Bc5 Rf6 54. Ke5 Kf7 { Everything has gone right for White. It just required a bit of additional patience. } 55. Nd5!? { Cashing in, but just a tad too premature. White was in total control and lost a bit of it now. } (55. Rf2! Ke8 56. Rg2 Kf7 57. Bd7 Rb8 58. Nf5 { and Black should consider resigning. }) 55... Rxf5+ 56. Kxf5 e3+ 57. Ke5 e2 58. Bf2 Rb8 59. Be1 { It is difficult when playing to give back the piece, but still worth noting that } (59. Rxa6 e1=Q+ 60. Bxe1 Re8+ 61. Kd4 Rxe1 62. Ra7+ { and advancing the b-pawn is lights out. }) 59... Re8+ 60. Kf4 (60. Kd4! { is cleaner. } 60... Rh8 61. Rxa6 Rh1 62. Ra1 { and wins. }) 60... g5+!? 61. Kg3 Re6 62. Kf2 Rh6 63. Ne3 Rf6+ (63... Rh1 64. Ng2 Rh3 65. Ra5 { and White would still win. }) 64. Kg3 Rf1 65. Ng2 Rf6 66. Bf2 Kg6 67. Ra5 Re6 68. Ne1 Bf5 69. Nf3 Rd6 70. Nd4 Bd3 71. Re5 Kf6 72. Nf3 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0