[Event "Grand Chess Tour | Sinquefield Cup 2023"] [Site "St Louis"] [Date "2023.11.30"] [Round "9"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Rapport, Richard"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2795"] [BlackElo "2748"] [Annotator "Lang,JJ"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "D45"] [Opening "Semi-Slav Defense: Main Line"] [StudyName "Sinquefield Cup"] [ChapterName "Caruana, Fabiano - Rapport, Richard"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/gIvXpdsS/mW2Li88c"] [Orientation "white"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 e6 5. e3 g6 6. Bd3 Bg7 7. O-O O-O 8. e4 dxe4 9. Bxe4 b5 10. Bd3 bxc4 11. Bxc4 Ba6 12. Bxa6 Nxa6 13. Qa4 Qb6 14. Bf4 Rfd8 15. Be5 Nb4 16. Rfd1 Nbd5 17. Qc2 Bf8 18. Ng5 Ng4 19. Bg3 Bg7 20. Nf3 Rac8 21. Ne4 c5?! { Black is eager to trade off his weakest pawn, but the resulting transformations give White a mighty annoying c-pawn. Instead, } (21... Nh6! { was resilient, with the knight rerouting to f5 to pressure White's isolani. } 22. Nd6 (22. Nc5?! Nf5 { becomes a battle of dueling weaknesses. } 23. Be5 Bxe5 24. dxe5 { Even if White transforms his d-pawn into a connected e-pawn, it is still not clear how to make progress. The brute force expansion with } 24... Kg7 25. Rdc1 Qb5 26. g4 Nfe7 27. Qd2 h6 28. h4 { is met by } 28... Qb4! { . }) 22... Ra8 { and surely White must be close to winning the c-pawn, and yet: } 23. Be5 (23. Rac1 Nf5!) 23... f6 24. Nc4 Qb4 25. Bg3 Qe7 26. Na5 Rac8 27. Rac1 (27. Nxc6? Qe8 $19) 27... Nf5 28. Qe2 Qd7 $14 { and Black is holding on just fine. }) 22. dxc5 Qxb2 23. Qxb2 Bxb2 24. Rab1 Bg7?! (24... Ngf6! { is an incredibly sharp way to ensure Black trades off the maximally annoying sets of pieces. } 25. Nd6 Nc3 26. Nxc8 Rxc8 27. Rxb2 Nxd1 28. Rb8 $14) 25. Rdc1 Bh6?! (25... Bf8 26. h3 Ngf6 27. Nxf6+ Nxf6 28. c6 Nd5 29. c7 Re8 30. Rb7 $16) 26. Rc4! { The rooks don't mind the nudge to activate, especially with the loose g4-knight to probe. } 26... Bf8 27. c6 f5 28. Neg5 Re8 29. Rb7 Ne7? { Now, Black has too many weaknesses. } (29... Ngf6 30. Be5 h6 31. Bxf6 Nxf6 32. Nf7 Nd5 { is ugly for White, but less concrete. The engine is interested in the enterprising } 33. g4!? { but } (33. N3e5 $16 { is a more sober way to build the advantage with no risk. })) 30. h3 Nf6 31. Nd4 h6 32. Ngxe6 Nxc6 33. Nxf8 Nxd4 34. Rxc8 Rxc8 35. Nxg6 Rc1+ 36. Kh2 Nc6 37. Bf4 { The dust has settled, and White is both up material and crushing with a strong attacking initiative. } 37... Rc2 38. Bxh6 Ne8 39. Ne7+ Kh7 40. Be3 { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0