Fabiano’s flying start

IM Malcolm Pein October 30, 2023

FABIANO Caruana has a fine record in the FIDE Grand Swiss, having finished second in the two previous editions in 2019 and 2021.
The newly crowned US champion made the best possible start this year, at the Villa Marina in Douglas, as he made light of the misfortune of selecting the black pieces at the drawing of lots and outplayed former European Individual champion Ivan Saric in just 30 moves.
The former world title challenger and world number two, then outplayed Hans Niemann in round two. The top two finishers qualify for the Candidates tournament.
England’s leading junior player, Shreyas Royal, was granted a wild card and responded by scoring the finest victory of his career to date in the first round.
Royal, 14, of Woolwich, defeated GM Jaime Santos, rated 2650 and 91st in the world rankings.
Knockout expert Jan-Krzysztof Duda performed quite a feat of calculation here:

J-K Duda – P Idani
FIDE Grand Swiss, Douglas (1)
Queen’s Gambit Declined

1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 d5 3.d4 h6 (A foxy move, Black wants White to commit to Nf3 and rules out the Bg5 lines)
4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bf4 Bd6 6.Bxd6 Qxd6 7.c5! (White takes space on the queenside and, for the moment, Black’s remaining bishops is hemmed in)
7...Qe7 8.e3 0–0 9.b4 c6 10.Be2 a6 11.0–0 Nbd7 12.a4 e5! (Black must free his game and attack on the opposite wing)
13.Qc2 e4 14.Nd2 Nh7 15.b5 f5 16.Nb3 a5?! (There was a hidden resource, 16...Ndf6 17.Na5 Qd8! 18.b6?! g5! should be fine for Black, he intends Also 16...Ndf6 17.Rab1 axb5 18.axb5 Ng4 19.h3 Qh4! shows how dangerous Black’s play can be)
17.Qd2! g5

18.Nxa5!! Rxa5 19.Nxd5 cxd5 20.Qxa5 (Duda has judged that his pawn advance will decide before Black’s attack arrives)
20...Ndf6 21.Qb6 f4 22.a5 f3 23.gxf3 Bh3 24.a6! exf3 (24...Bxf1 25.Bxf1 bxa6 26.bxa6 Ne8 27.a7 Nc7 28.Qc6 Na8 29.Rb1 or 29.Qxd5+ are winning)
25.Bxf3 bxa6 26.bxa6 g4 27.Qb7 Qe6 (If 27...Qxb7 28.axb7 Bxf1 29.Kxf1 gxf3 30.c6)
28.Bh1 Ng5 29.a7 Nf3+ 30.Bxf3 gxf3

White to play and win:

Show Answer

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