Barden’s Counter-Attack

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin – Fabiano Caruana
9th London Chess Classic; London, December 5, 2017
Sicilian Defence B48

Finally something happened in London. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qf3 Ne5 8. Qg3 b5. Just an excerpt from Karjakin’s “book”: 8. ... h5 9. f3 b5 10. 0-0-0 d6 11. f4 Ng4 12. e5 dxe5 13. fxe5 Nxe3 14. Qxe3 Bd7 15. Be2 g6 16. Qf3 Rc8 17. Rhf1 Rh7 18. Kb1 Bb4 19. Ne4 Qxe5 20. h4 f5 21. Ng5 Re7 22. Qb7 Bc5 23. Ngf3 Qc7 24. Qxa6 Bxd4 25. Nxd4 Kf8 26. c3 Nf6 27. Bxb5 Bxb5 28. Qxb5 e5 29. Qa6 Kg7 30. Ne6+ Rxe6 31. Qxe6 Re8 32. Qd6 Qb7 33. Rfe1 Re7 34. g3 Ne4 35. Qb4 Qxb4 36. cxb4 Nxg3 37. b5 f4 38. b6 f3 39. Rg1 Ne2 40. Rgf1 e4 41. a4 Ng3 42. Rf2 1 : 0 Karjakin – Giri, Grand Prix 2014-2015, 2nd stage, Tashkent 2014. 9. 0-0-0 Nf6 10. f4 Neg4 11. Bg1 h5 12. e5 b4 13. Na4 Nd5 14. Nb3. The alternative was 14. h3 Nh6 15. Bd3 g6 16. Be4 Bb7 17. Qf3 Nf5? (17. ... Rc8! seems okay for Black) 18. Nxf5 gxf5 19. Bxd5 Bxd5 20. Rxd5! exd5 21. Nb6 and Black is about to disintegrate, Fier – Leenhouts, 9th Batavia Chess Tournament, Amsterdam 2017. 14. ... Bb7 15. Nac5 Bc6! Caruana’s cooked menu new item. For 15. ... Rc8 16. Bd3 a5 see Nepomniachtchi – 王玥 (Wáng Yuè), 4th SportAccord World Mind Games, Blitz Event, 北京 (Běijīng) 2014. 16. Ne4. 16. Kb1 a5 also seems comfortable for Black. 16. ... f5 17. h3 h4 18. Qe1 fxe4 19. hxg4 Nxf4 20. Rxh4 Rxh4 21. Qxh4 Qxe5 22. Bd4 Ng6 23. Qh3 Qg5+ 24. Kb1 Bd5 25. Bg1? In spite of his minus Pawn, perhaps White could still have hope to hold his own, but not longer after the text, a mistake that allows Black to develop his dark-squared Bishop. 25. ... Be7 26. g3 Ne5 27. Be2 Nf3 28. Bxf3 exf3 29. Bd4 Kf7 30. Nc1 d6. “That’s how you cyberbully someone out of his opening repertoire straight into a win!”, Grandmaster Anish Giri tweeted. 31. Nd3 e5 32. Bf2 Be6 33. Nxb4 e4 34. Qh1 Rc8 35. Nxa6. Desperation. 35. ... Qa5 36. Qh5+ Qxh5 37. gxh5 Bg5. White is a Pawn up, but only to go a very short way. 38. Re1 Bc4 39. Nb4 Re8 40. Re3 Bxe3 41. Bxe3 Re5 42. g4

42. ... Rg5! 0 : 1. “Yesterday I could have been clear first. Now I am clear last”, Karjakin then said.