[Event "Sinquefield Cup"] [Date "2022.09.03"] [Round "2.5"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Dominguez Perez, Leinier"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2758"] [WhiteTeam "United States"] [BlackElo "2745"] [BlackTeam "United States"] [Annotator "John Watson"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C42"] [Opening "Petrov's Defense: Nimzowitsch Attack"] [StudyName "2022 Sinquefield Cup"] [ChapterName "Caruana, Fabiano - Dominguez Perez, Leinier"] [ChapterURL "https://lichess.org/study/uMvPaU6p/nEhXrvd0"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O Nf6 (9... c6 10. h4 Nf6 11. Bd3 Bg4!? 12. Rde1 Re8 13. Ng5! h6 14. f3 Bd7 15. c4! { with some advantage was Dominguez Perez,L (2754) -Xiong,J (2690) Saint Louis 2022 }) 10. Bd3 Re8 (10... c5 { has been more common, but Lenier Dominguez has used this rook move three times in the past few months. According to Alejandro Ramirez, he, Fabiano, and Dominguez prepared the Petroff (including this line)extensively for Fabiano's 2018 match versus Carlsen. }) 11. h3 { Stopping ...Ng4 and preparing attack by g4. Two excerpts from previous Dominguez games: } (11. Kb1 d5!? 12. h4?! (12. Rhe1) 12... c5! 13. c4 b5! 14. cxd5 c4 15. d6 (15. Be2 Bb7 $15) 15... cxd3! 16. dxe7 dxc2+ 17. Qxc2 Qxe7 18. Rhe1 Bb7 { would have been very comfortable for Black. }) (11. Rhe1 Bg4 12. c4 g6 13. Bd4?! (13. Kb1) 13... Bxf3 14. gxf3 Bf8 15. Re3?! Bg7 $17 { Aronian,L (2785)-Dominguez Perez,L (2756) Saint Louis 2022 }) 11... c5 12. g4 Qa5 { Possibly a new move. } (12... Be6 { with the idea } 13. g5 Nd5 { has been played in a couple of games. }) 13. a3 d5 14. c4 Qa4! 15. c3 dxc4 16. Bc2 Qa6 17. g5 Nh5 (17... Nd7 18. Rhe1 $16) 18. Ne5 Be6 19. f4!? { This allows Black to resettle the rather inactive knight on h5 to the f5 square. On the other hand, it gains space and prepares a tactic. } 19... Ng3 20. Rhe1 Nf5 21. Bxc5! Bxc5 22. Bxf5 Bxf5 23. Qd5 { Attacking c5 and f7. This looks very dangerous, but Black's king remains safe and he has various defenses. } 23... Bf2!? (23... Qe6 24. Qxc5 Bxh3) (23... Be6 24. Qxc5 Rac8 25. Qd4 Bxh3 { are both playable. }) 24. Qxf7+ Kh8 25. Qxf5 (25. Re2?? Rf8 { saves the piece. }) 25... Bxe1 26. Rxe1 { An amazing computer line is } (26. Nf7+ Kg8 27. Rd6! Qa4! 28. Qd5 { . Black would have to find } 28... Re7!! { , when there are no wins for White but several draws such as } 29. Nh6+ Kh8 30. Rd8+ Rxd8 31. Nf7+! Kg8 32. Nh6+ Kh8 33. Nf7+) 26... Rf8? { Natural, but it could have been disastrous. Surprisingly, } (26... Rad8! { is the only correct defense. }) 27. Qe4? { It's not obvious, but } (27. Qd7! { is virtually winning. Black has no good defense to Nf7+, e.g., } 27... Rxf4 28. Nf7+ Rxf7 29. Qxf7 Qb5 30. h4 Qc6 31. Re7 Rg8 32. h5 b5 33. h6 Qh1+ 34. Kc2 Qg2+ 35. Kb1 Qxg5 36. Ka2 { with the idea } 36... Qxh6 37. Re8 $18) 27... Rad8? { A serious error. } (27... Qe6! 28. g6! Qf5 29. Nf7+ Rxf7 30. gxf7 Qxf7 { favors White slightly but is likely not enough to win. }) 28. f5 { Threatening g6, for one thing. } 28... b5 29. Nc6! { This should be decisive. } 29... Rc8 30. Ne7 Rce8 31. Qh4? { Throwing away most of the advantage. White had to see that } (31. f6! gxf6 32. g6! { threatening g7+ and gxh7 is completely winning, e.g., } 32... Qb6 33. g7+ Kxg7 34. Nf5+ Kf7 (34... Kh8 35. Qxe8) 35. Nd6+! Qxd6 36. Qxh7#) 31... Qd6! 32. Re4!? { Caruana thought he was winning here, and it's a nice try, but it falls short. More winning chances were offered by } (32. Ng6+ Kg8 33. Nxf8 Rxe1+ 34. Qxe1 Qf4+! 35. Qd2 (35. Kb1 Qxf5+) 35... Qf1+ 36. Qd1 Qf4+ 37. Kb1 Qxf5+ 38. Ka2 Kxf8 $14 { , although this is likely drawn. }) 32... Rd8! (32... Rxe7?? 33. g6 h6 34. Qxe7 $18 { was White's trap. }) 33. Ng6+ Kg8 34. Rd4 hxg6! 35. Rxd6 Rxd6 36. fxg6 Rxg6 { With material equality and just enough activity. } 37. a4 a6!? (37... Rf1+ 38. Kd2 Rd6+ 39. Ke2 Rf5) 38. Qg3 (38. Qh5) 38... Re6 39. axb5 axb5 40. g6 Rff6 41. Qb8+ Rf8 42. Qxb5 Rf1+ 43. Kd2 Rf2+ 44. Kd1 Rf1+ 45. Kd2 Rf2+ 46. Kd1 Rf1+ { 1/2-1/2 The game is a draw. } 1/2-1/2