Fabiano Caruana vs Zviad Izoria, Giuoco Piano (Italian Game) C53
2018 US Chess Championship, Round 4, St. Louis, 04/21/18
Caruana was sharing first place after round 3 (with Akobian and Wesley So), and he was on the way to another astonishing performance, similar to those at the Grenke Classic and at the Candidates. In round 4 he faced Zviad Izoria, a strong grand master rated 2559 ELO.
They played a sort of standard Italian in which Zoria deviated from the theory early on with (h6 instead od a6 or 0-0). That didn’t mean much, though, and both sides continued developing according to normal principles of the Giuoco Piano. Fabiano went for the typical knight maneuver (also for the Ruy Lopez) of going to d2, f1, g3 and attacking f5, and Zoria managed to tangle his pieces a bit with a series of weird moves.
This gave Caruana a slight edge and attacking prospects, but he didn’t use this opportunity as he always does (at least in the last year). Instead of putting on more pressure he seemed to play too passively. This gave Zoria counter play and he managed to equalize. In the end, they were in a drawing endgame in which Caruana lost the thread and the game. He miscalculated (truth be told a very complex line) the position and had to resign. He is no longed sharing first place and lets hope he can get back in the running for the US Championship!
Standings after rd.4:
Samuel Shankland 3/4
Wesley So 3/4
Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian 3/4
Fabiano Caruana 2.5/4
Hikaru Nakamura 2/4
Yaroslav Zherebukh 2/4
Zviad Izoria 1.5/4
Jeffery Xiong 1.5/4
Ray Robson 1.5/4
Aleksandr Lenderman 1.5/4
Awonder Liang 1.5/4
Alexander Vasilyevich Onischuk ¼
Game moves:
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. O-O h6
7. Re1 O-O 8. h3 a5 9. Nbd2 a4 10. Nf1 Bd7 11. d4 Bb6 12. Ng3
Re8 13. Bf1 Qb8 14. d5 Ne7 15. Nh4 Kh7 16. Qf3 Qd8 17. Bd2
Neg8 18. Nhf5 g6 19. Ne3 Kg7 20. Nc4 Ba7 21. Be3 Bxe3 22. Qxe3
Nh7 23. f4 b5 24. Nd2 exf4 25. Qxf4 Qf6 26. Qe3 Ne7 27. Qf3
Rab8 28. a3 c5 29. Rad1 Nc8 30. Qe3 Nb6 31. Nf3 Ng5 32. Nh2
Nh7 33. Be2 Qg5 34. Qf2 Qf6 35. Qe3 Qg5 36. Qf3 Qf6 37. Bd3
Qxf3 38. Nxf3 f6 39. h4 h5 40. Kf2 Nf8 41. Nd2 Nc8 42. Rb1 Ne7
43. Ngf1 Ng8 44. Ne3 Nh6 45. Be2 f5 46. b3 axb3 47. Rxb3 c4
48. Rb4 fxe4 49. Reb1 Ra8 50. a4 Rxa4 51. Rxa4 bxa4 52. Ndxc4
Nf7 53. Rb7 Kf6 54. Bd1 Ra8 55. Nb6 Rd8 56. Nec4 Bb5 57. Nd2
Bd3 58. Ke3 Ne5 59. Bxa4 g5 60. hxg5+ Kxg5 61. Nxe4+ Bxe4
62. Kxe4 Nfg6 63. Nd7 Rc8 64. Bc6 Nxc6 65. dxc6 Rxc6 66. Kd4
Nf4 67. c4 Nxg2 68. Kd5 Rc8 69. Nb6 Ne3+ 70. Ke6 Rc6 71. Kd7
Nxc4 72. Kxc6 Na5+ 73. Kxd6 Nxb7+ 74. Kd5 Kf4 75. Nc4 h4
76. Nd2 h3 77. Nf1 Nd8 78. Kd4 Nf7 79. Kd5 Ne5 80. Kd4 Ng4
81. Kd3 Kf3 82. Kd4 0-1