Ray Robson vs Fabiano Caruana, Petroff Defense C42
2018 US Chess Championship, Round 6, St. Louis, 04/23/18
Fabiano Caruana won another brilliant game at the US Championship! He faced Ray Robson with the black pieces and played his signature Petroff Defense (also known as the Russian Game or Petrov’s). By now this opening has become his main weapon against e4, and not many players have managed to beat him in it. He seems to be perfectly prepared. This is probably what he had prepared for the Candidates Tournament but didn’t have a chance to use it. Who knows how deep his preparation goes, but he seems to be one step ahead much too often. This is justifying his reputation as a player who gets most of his wins in the opening and early middlegame.
They played a common line in the Petroff, but Fabiano played a novelty soon out of the opening. He sacrificed a central pawn! It gave him a lot of compensation because he had the bishop pair and the initiative but the advantage wasn’t that huge. Not enough to win, that is.
He didn’t outplay Robson. He bluffed him! Caruana played a dubious pawn sack in a situation in which Robson’s king was very unsafe. It wasn’t clear whether he would have clear compensation, but it was obvious that Robson had to take. The line was easy enough, and, even though it seemed he might hang in three, he must have seen that he has two different moves that safeguard the king. He didn’t take. If he had taken the pawn Caruana’s position would have been busted! Now it was the other way around and Robson soon resigned.
This is what makes Fabiano Caruana such a strong player. He was willing to risk even though he had a safe draw. He wanted to win! Who is the favorite? Magnus or Fabiano?
2018 US Chess Championship, standings after rd. 6:
Samuel Shankland 4.5/6
Wesley So 4/6
Fabiano Caruana 4/6
Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian 3.5/6
Yaroslav Zherebukh 3/6
Hikaru Nakamura 3/6
Awonder Liang 2.5/6
Aleksandr Lenderman 2.5/6
Zviad Izoria 2.5/6
Jeffery Xiong 2.5/6
Ray Robson 2/6
Alexander Vasilyevich Onischuk 2/6
Game moves:
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 c6 10. Kb1 d5 11. c4 Nb6
12. cxd5 Nxd5 13. Bc4 Bf5 14. Bxd5 cxd5 15. Qxd5 Qc8 16. Nd4
Bg6 17. Ka1 Re8 18. Rhe1 Bf6 19. c3 Re5 20. Qb3 a6 21. Bf4
Rxe1 22. Rxe1 Qd7 23. Be5 Re8 24. f4 Bd8 25. a4 h6 26. Rd1 Qg4
27. Rd2 b5 28. axb5 axb5 29. Qd1 Qd7 30. f5 Bg5 31. Rd3 Bxf5
32. Nxf5 Qxf5 33. Bg3 Ra8+ 34. Kb1 Rd8 35. Kc2 b4 36. cxb4
Rc8+ 37. Kb3 Qe6+ 38. Rd5 Rd8 39. Kc4 Qc6+ 0-1