[Event "Superbet Chess Classic Romania"] [Site "Bucharest, Romania"] [Date "2023.05.14"] [Round "8.1"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Giri, Anish"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2764"] [BlackElo "2768"] [Annotator "Lang, JJ"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C54"] [Opening "Italian Game: Classical Variation, Giuoco Pianissimo, Albin Variation"] [StudyName "Superbet Romania GCT"] [ChapterName "Caruana, Fabiano - Giri, Anish"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/gLTaYxXi/c4aPLTTn"] [Orientation "white"] { Caruana decided to give Giri a "pop quiz" in the Italian, finishing the game with more time than he started with. Giri was either caught out of book or, at least, wanted to quadruple-check his answers, but ultimately passed his exam. } 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. c3 d6 6. b4 Bb6 7. a4 a5 8. b5 Ne7 9. O-O O-O 10. Nbd2 Ng6 11. d4 h6 12. Re1 Re8 13. Ba3 { Fabi is up to 94 minutes. Giri is down to 75, but now will take an additional 30 before playing his next move. } 13... exd4 { A strong move in relatively uncharted territory. } 14. Qb3 d5 $146 { After another nine minutes, Giri settles on this move. Fabi continues to blitz out his moves, content with the forced draw by repetition that follows. } (14... Be6 { The one other game in the database continued with } 15. Bxe6 Rxe6 16. cxd4 Qd7 17. g3 Ree8 18. Rac1 Rac8 19. Bb2 Re7 20. Ba3 Ree8 21. Bb2 Re7 22. Ba3 Ree8 23. Bb2 { ½-½ (23) Tarlev,K (2564)-Gozzoli,Y (2600) Ulcinj 2019 }) 15. exd5 (15. Bxd5 Nxd5 16. exd5 dxc3 { transposes. }) 15... dxc3 16. Rxe8+ (16. Qxc3 Bf5 17. Bb2 Qd7 { and Black has fully equalized, if not more, due to the lengthy bishop pair compared to White's light-squared bishop who is impeded by the d5-pawn. Likely, both players have analyzed this position and concluded Black is for choice. }) 16... Qxe8 17. Re1 Qxe1+ 18. Nxe1 cxd2 19. Nf3 Ne4 20. d6 Nxf2 21. Bxf7+ Kh8 22. Nxd2 Ne4+ 23. Kh1 Nf2+ 24. Kg1 Ne4+ 25. Kh1 Nf2+ 26. Kg1 { Well done, Anish! Professor Caruana is a notoriously difficult grader. } 1/2-1/2