Jeffery Xiong vs Fabiano Caruana, Benoni Defense, A61
2018 US Chess Championship, Round 3, St. Louis, 04/20/18
Is there anyone who can stop Fabiano? With Magnus drawing both his games at the Gashimov Memorial so far, Caruana looks to be the favorite for the World Championship more and more as the rounds go by. After drawing round 1, he won the next two so convincingly, as if he were playing 500 lower rated opponents. Simple, yet lethal attacking plans which his opponents seem to be completely unable to prevent. He renders them immovable and builds up pressure until they crack. He faced Jeffery Xiong this game. They opened with a weird queen’s pawn line which transposed to the Benoni, a structure which is theoretically worse for black because of the weak d pawn. The plans are clear enough for both sides, but Fabi seemed to enforce his with such deadly precision and determination that he was unstoppable.
Xiong soon had to sacrifice material, he gave up a pawn, in order to be able to relieve some of the pressure from his position. It wasn’t enough, though. Caruana forced his way to an easy conversion and Xiong resigned. With this win he now caught up with Var Akobian and Wesley (who were sharing 1st place), and all three are now at 2.5/3. An astonishing performance so far.
Standings after round 3:
Wesley So 2.5/3
Fabiano Caruana 2.5/3
Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian 2.5/3
Samuel Shankland 2/3
Yaroslav Zherebukh 1.5/3
Ray Robson 1.5/3
Hikaru Nakamura 1.5/3 (Can he finally start converting?!)
Jeffery Xiong 1/3
Awonder Liang 1/3
Aleksandr Lenderman 1/3
Alexander Vasilyevich Onischuk 0.5/3
Zviad Izoria 0.5/3
Game moves:
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. c4 c5 4. d5 d6 5. Nc3 exd5 6. cxd5 g6
7. Bf4 Bg7 8. e3 O-O 9. h3 Qe7 10. Nd2 Nh5 11. Bh2 f5 12. Be2
f4 13. O-O fxe3 14. Nde4 exf2+ 15. Kh1 Bxc3 16. Nxc3 Ng7
17. Bf3 Nd7 18. Rxf2 Ne5 19. Re2 Nf5 20. Bxe5 dxe5 21. d6 Nxd6
22. Qd5+ Nf7 23. Ne4 Rb8 24. Qxc5 Qxc5 25. Nxc5 b6 26. Ne4 Bf5
27. Nc3 Rbd8 28. a4 a5 29. Bd5 Rfe8 30. Bxf7+ Kxf7 31. Rf1 Ke6
32. Rfe1 Kf6 33. Rf1 Ke6 34. Rfe1 Kd6 35. Re3 Kc6 36. Nb5 Re7
37. g4 Bd3 38. Nc3 Bc4 39. Rc1 Kb7 40. Re4 Rd4 41. Kg1 Bb3
42. Kf2 Rd2+ 43. Re2 Rf7+ 44. Ke3 Rd4 45. Nb5 Rdd7 46. Nc3 Rf4
47. Rd2 Rfd4 48. Rf2 Bxa4 49. Rf6 Bc6 0-1
*The Benoni Defense (A61) is considered unsafe for black because of the weak d6 pawn which can’t be defended by a pawn. That structural weakness is called “the backwards pawn”. White will often mount more and more pressure until the pawn is indefensible.
The most common way to enter the Benoni is with the moves:
1. d4 Nf6
2. c4 c5
3. d5
There are several key variations of the opening:
Czech Benoni: 3… e5
Old Benoni: 1. d4 c5
Modern Benoni: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6