[Event "Superbet Chess Classic Romania"] [Site "Bucharest, Romania"] [Date "2023.05.08"] [Round "3.4"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2764"] [BlackElo "2741"] [Annotator "Lang, JJ"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "E60"] [Opening "Indian Defense: Anti-Grünfeld, Basman-Williams Attack"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/gLTaYxXi/oyOR3vID"] [Orientation "white"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. h4 Bg7 { "MVL" elects to play a pure King's Indian against Fabi's early h-pawn push. This line was trendy a couple of years ago, with MVL himself essaying a nice win with the white pieces (see below). } (3... c5 { Playing the Benoni is the other strong way to respond to 3. h4. The idea is that kingside pawn storms are less effective against Black's attempt to gain activity on the queenside. Typically speaking, the Benoni is at its purest (and worst) form when White can quickly consolidate pieces and attack the center with e2-e4-e5. So playing it when White has committed to the kingside like this is logical. } 4. d5 e6 (4... b5 { Black can also play for a Benko Gambit, similar to what MVL did in the game, but before White has time to get pieces into play. } 5. cxb5 a6 6. bxa6!? (6. e3 { is a safe way to play. } 6... axb5 7. Bxb5 Qa5+ 8. Nc3 Ne4 9. Bd2 Nxd2 10. Qxd2 Bg7 11. Nge2 O-O 12. h5 d6 13. hxg6 hxg6 { Black has failed to activate pieces, and White is mostly developed. That said, the lingering king safety issues for White keep things roughly equal. } 14. Rh4 Ba6 15. Bxa6 Nxa6 16. g3 Rfb8 17. Kf1 Rb4 18. Rxb4 cxb4 19. Ne4 { and White won an interesting game in Basso – Gallego Alcaraz, Bassano del Grappa, 2022. }) 6... Bg7 7. Nc3 O-O 8. e4 e6 (8... d6 9. Nf3 Qa5 10. Bd2 Bxa6 11. Qc2 Nbd7 12. Ne2 Qb6 13. Bc3 h5 14. Ng3 Ng4 15. Bxg7 Kxg7 16. Bxa6 Qxa6 17. Ne2 Nge5 18. Nxe5 Nxe5 19. O-O Qd3 20. Qxd3 Nxd3 21. b3 Rfb8 { gave Giri a nice position, from which he eventually drew Topalov in Topalov – Giri, Moscow, 2016. }) 9. dxe6 { is an underexplored line, as evidenced by this massively complicated miniature. } 9... fxe6!? 10. Bg5!? Qa5 11. Qd2 Nc6 12. Nf3 Rb8 13. Rc1 Bxa6 14. Bxf6 Rxf6 15. Rh3 Nd4 16. Bxa6 Qxa6 17. Nxd4 cxd4 18. Nd1 d5 19. Rb3 Rbf8 20. Ra3 Qd6 21. exd5 Qh2 22. Rf3 Rxf3 23. gxf3 { and White resigned in Korobov – Jumabayev, Moscow, 2016. }) 5. Nc3 exd5 6. cxd5 d6 7. e4 (7. Bg5 { is an interesting attempt to avoid playing a "traditional" setup against Black's Benoni. } 7... Bg7 8. Qd2 h6 9. Bf4 a6 10. a4 Qe7 11. f3?! { but this error nicely illustrates how dangerous Black's position can be when White is not pushing in the center. } 11... Nbd7 12. e4 Nh5 { And in the time it took White to play e4, the h4-pawn became a liability. } 13. Bh2 (13. Be3 f5! $17) 13... Qxh4+ 14. Qf2 Qe7 15. Nge2 Ne5 16. O-O-O O-O 17. g4 Nf6 18. Bf4 g5 19. Be3 b5! $19 { and Black won on move 45 in Tang – Erigaisi, Chess.com, 2020. }) 7... a6 8. h5 { was successful for White in at least one high-level blitz game (and likely dozens more less high-level blitz games). } 8... Nxh5 9. g4 Nf6 10. g5 Nh5?! (10... Nfd7! 11. f4 Bg7 12. Qe2 b5 13. Nf3 b4 14. Nd1 Qe7 15. f5 gxf5 $13) 11. Be2 Nd7 12. Bxh5 gxh5 13. f4 b5 14. Qxh5 { with an advantage, albeit one that Maghsoodloo lost and had to regain in Maghsoodloo – Svidler, Chess.com, 2023. }) 4. Nc3 O-O 5. e4 d6 6. Be2 c5 7. d5 b5 8. cxb5 a6 9. a4 axb5 10. Bxb5 Ba6 11. Bxa6!? { Caruana did his homework! Until now, he has been following a game played by MVL in 2021. This move is not a novelty, but it is less popular and has scored poorly in the past. But Caruana seems to have done some work on how to play it. } (11. Bd2 Bxb5 12. axb5 Nbd7 13. Nf3 Rxa1 14. Qxa1 Qb6 15. O-O Rb8 16. Qa6 Ne8 17. Ra1 Kf8 18. h5 Nc7 19. Qa4 Ra8 20. Qd1 Rxa1 21. Qxa1 Ne5 22. h6 Nxf3+ 23. gxf3 Bxc3 24. Bxc3 Qxb5 25. b4 { was Vachier Lagrave – Svidler, Saint Louis, 2021. Black lost after } 25... Ne8?? (25... Ke8 { was equal. }) 26. bxc5 dxc5 27. Bg7+ Kg8 28. Qa8 c4 29. Qd8 Qa4 30. Kg2 Qb5 31. Bb2!! { and Black resigned with a forced mate to follow. }) 11... Nxa6 12. Nf3 Qd7 $146 (12... h5 { is the only game to reach this position in the database. } 13. O-O Ng4 14. Qe2 (14. Nb5 { seems worth investigating. }) 14... Qd7 { with a draw on move 38 in Boyer – Bailet, Vaujany, 2021. }) 13. O-O Qg4 14. Re1 Nb4 15. Bg5 Nh5 { From here, Black goes on a sacrificial attack that just doesn't work. Caruana calculates the resulting variations perfectly. } 16. Bxe7! Nf4 17. g3 Rfe8 18. Bxd6! { This is what Caruana had to evaluate before capturing on e7 (or, realistically, before playing 15. Bg5, which "said" that the knight couldn't move if it left e7-hanging). } 18... Nfd3 19. Re3 Nxb2 { Black gets the pawn back, but the pieces are drifting to loose squares on the queenside. Importantly, the e3-rook nicely covers both of White's loose pieces! } 20. Qb3 N2d3 21. e5 f5 22. Nh2 Qh3 (22... Qd4 23. Nf3 Qg4 24. Qb1! { and Black's last-ditch effort with } 24... c4 25. Bxb4 f4 26. Nh2 Qh3 27. gxf4! Qxh4 28. Qf1! { fails to work. }) 23. Ne2 { The knight on d3 is hanging. If it moves, Ne2-f4 traps the queen. Black resigns rather than invest further material with, e.g., 23. ... f4, just to play for tricks that aren't there. } 1-0