Yaroslav Zherebukh vs Fabiano Caruana, King’s Indian Attack (A07) (by transposition)
2018 US Chess Championship, Round 10, St. Louis, 04/28/18
Caruana played a marvelous attacking game against Zherebukh! After opening with a close Sicilian, Zherebukh went for a King’s Indian Attack setup (preparing f4, fianchettoing kingside) which Caruana met with almost perfect play. As soon as white tried pushing his own plan of f4 through, Caruana exploited the weaknesses it created and started putting on attacking pressure not many people could resist for long.
After about 10-12 moves the game was decided. Zherebukh was stuck with a useless bishop on g2 which couldn’t move, he had far too many weak squares in the position, and Caruana’s pieces were dominating entire board. Soon tactical problems began to appear and the position was no longer sustainable. The advantage was insurmountable and Zherebukh first lost the exchange and then the game.
Caruana is now in 2nd place coming into last round! The amazing Sam Shankland holds the for in clear first with 0.5 more than Fabiano. That means that he gets to decide his own fate, and Caruana will have to win and pray for Shankland to stumble in order to become the US Champion!
Standings after round 10:
Samuel Shankland 7.5/10
Fabiano Caruana 7/10
Wesley So 6/10
Jeffery Xiong 5/10
Aleksandr Lenderman 5/10
Hikaru Nakamura 5/10
Awonder Liang 4.5/10
Ray Robson 4.5/10
Zviad Izoria 4.5/10
Varuzhan Eduardovich Akobian 4/10
Yaroslav Zherebukh 4/10
Alexander Vasilyevich Onischuk 3/10
Game moves:
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 a6 4. g3 b5 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. d3 Nc6
7. O-O d6 8. Ng5 h6 9. Nh3 Nf6 10. f4 Be7 11. f5 b4 12. Ne2
exf5 13. Rxf5 O-O 14. c4 bxc3 15. bxc3 Ne5 16. c4 Bc8 17. Rf1
Rb8 18. Nhf4 g5 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. cxd5 Bf6 21. d4 cxd4 22. Nxd4
Bg4 23. Qa4 Nd3 24. Qc4 Rb4 25. Qxd3 Bxd4+ 26. Be3 Bxa1
27. Rxa1 Qf6 28. Re1 Rc8 29. h3 Bd7 30. Qxa6 Rc2 31. Rf1 0-1