Fabiano Caruana vs Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian, French Defense, Steinitz Variation (C11)
2018 US Chess Championship, Round 7, St. Louis, 04/25/18
Fabiano Caruana is having the year of his life! After having won the Candidates and the Grenke Classic, he is now in first place at the US Championship as well! There are still 4 rounds to go, but the way he’s playing I doubt anyone will be able to stop him!
Today he played Akobian with white. Akobian went for his signature French Defense, in which he knows the plans and the theory well. Caruana does as well it seems. He was one step ahead at each move and he didn’t give Akobian a chance to equalize! Before you knew it, the standard blocked French central structure was open in white’s favor and Fabiano had a deadly attack! Akobian tried to get counter play instead of defending and ended up resigning a few moves later. Caruana played such a precise attacking game that it resembles Fischer’s easy wins over no-names at the US Championships in the sixties. Akobian fell without a fired bullet, there was no time.
Fabiano is at a whole different level and no one seems to be able to challenge him. His match against Carlsen is coming up in a few months and I believe it’s clear who the favorite is.
Standings after round 7:
Fabiano Caruana 5/7
Samuel Shankland 5/7
Wesley So 4.5/7
Yaroslav Zherebukh 3.5/7
Aleksandr Lenderman 3.5/7
Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian 3.5/7
Hikaru Nakamura 3/6
Jeffery Xiong 3/7
Awonder Liang 2.5/6
Zviad Izoria 2.5/6
Ray Robson 2/6
Alexander Vasilyevich Onischuk 2/7
Game moves:
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. f4 c5 6. Nf3 Be7
7. Be3 Nc6 8. Qd2 b6 9. Bb5 Qc7 10. O-O-O a6 11. Bxc6 Qxc6
12. f5 c4 13. f6 gxf6 14. exf6 Bxf6 15. Rhf1 b5 16. Qf2 b4
17. Ne2 b3 18. Ne5 Bxe5 19. Qxf7+ Kd8 20. dxe5 bxa2 21. Kd2
Rf8 22. Qxh7 Rxf1 23. Rxf1 d4 24. Qg8+ Kc7 25. Nxd4 Qd5
26. Qxe6 Qa5+ 27. c3 Nxe5 28. Rf7+ Nxf7 29. Bf4+ Kb7 30. Qxf7+
1-0