Fabiano Caruana is playing better chess than Magnus! This attacking masterpiece against MVL is just another confirmation!
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave vs Fabiano Caruana, A28, English Opening, King’s English Variation, Four Knights
2018 Grenke Chess Classic, Round 7
Fabiano Caruana is in clear first after round 7 of the Grenke Chess Classic! He won an absolutely amazing attacking game against Maxime with the black pieces. His fearlessness and relentless pressure he kept putting on white were inconceivable. They opened with a theoretical King’s English, four knights, a position Maxime has more experience in. Out of the opening it was relatively equal, but as soon as they got out of theory it seemed as if Caruana was playing someone 500 points lower rated.
He positioned his pieces to the most active squares, he attacked all of white’s weaknesses, and he exploited every single one of Maxime’s mistakes immediately. This gave MVL no chance , and the positional and strategic advantages soon converted into a material advantage.
This game should be studied as an example of highly precise attacking chess!
Fabiano is definitely going to challenge Magnus for the title with good reason. He is playing the best chess of his career, and he is also playing at an almost super-human level, definitely much better then the resto of the field at Grenke and at the Candidates tournament. There is no stopping him!
Standings after Round 7:
Fabiano Caruana 5/7
Nikita Vitiugov 4.5/7
Magnus Carlsen 4.5/7
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 4/7
Levon Aronian 4/7
Matthias Bluebaum 3.5/7
Arkadij Naiditsch 2.5/7
Viswanathan Anand 2.5/7
Yifan Hou 2.5/7
Georg Meier 2/7
Game Moves:
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 Bb4 5.Bg2 O-O 6.O-O e4 7.Ng5 Bxc3 8.bxc3 Re8 9.Qc2 d5 10.cxd5 Qxd5 11.d3 Bf5 12.Bf4 h6 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Qb2 b6 15.Rfd1 Qc5 16.dxe4 Bxe4 17.Bf1 Re7 18.a4 Rae8 19.Rac1 g5 20.Bd2 Qf5 21.f3 Qc5+ 22.Kh1 Bd5 23.Be1 Bc4 24.e4 Bxf1 25.Bf2 Qc4 26.Rxf1 Qxa4 27.c4 Ne5 28.Bd4 g4 29.fxg4 Qd7 30.Qc3 c5 31.Bxe5 Rxe5 32.Qf3 Rxe4 33.Rcd1 Qe6 34.g5 hxg5 35.Rd5 g4 36.Qc3 Re5 0-1