Carlsen Vs Caruana London Game 1

Title Match  2018

Game #1

There are lucky escapes, and there are incredibly, mindbogglingly, superlatively  fortunate escapes. Fabiano Caruana had one of the latter in the first game. By move 30, it was obvious that black had a serious edge, with the bishop pair, and excellent chances of exploiting an exposed king. By move 35, black was totally winning.

The machines indicated that there were multiple ways to take the full point. What's more, the advantage was stable. It wasn't one of those dynamic situations where a tactical shot arises suddenly out of the blue and disappears equally quickly if it's not exploited.  

Black held all the trumps. He could push and probe, until he found a way to slide in, via the weak long dark diagonal (a1-h8), or via the g-file. Every black piece was poised for an assault with the Bishop unchallengeable on the diagonal, the Rook positioned perfectly on the g-file, and the Queen ready to switch between g-file and the diagonal, as any opportunity arose.   

White was defending from move to move, trying to counter specific threats. Eventually, if black played normally, white would be too stretched to defend the weak pawns on h3,a2, c2, and protect his king, which was a big, fat target in mid-board. It was an objectively lost position and to add to his woes, Fabiano was down to less than a minute on the clock. Carlsen had 20-odd minutes and he had conducted the game impeccably to create those winning chances.

But somehow the world champion failed to put it away. Somewhere on the road to the time control, Carlsen blew his chances. They reached move 40, with black still holding an edge but the win had evaporated.  Caruana gratefully forced an exchange of queens and then defended perfectly for the next 70-odd moves to split the point.

 This epic could help define the match. We learnt several things. One is that Carlsen retains the ability to almost effortlessly create winning chances from roughly equal positions. Another is that Carlsen continues to be plagued by nerves when it comes to converting. For some reason, and nerves is pretty much the best explanation one can find for this, his pluperfect technique has disappeared in the last year or two. This was the second time in the recent past (Altibox being the first)  that Caruana escaped with a draw, after conceding a stable advantage to the Norwegian.

On his part, Fabiano displayed ice-cold pragmatism, strong nerves and the ability to keep defending without committing any outright blunders in an inferior position. He also showed perfect technique, once he saw the road to a draw and it really wasn't quite as easy as it looked.  

But Caruana needs to be very worried about his opening repertoire if he's going to concede equality so very early with white. He also needs to be concerned about being outplayed so comprehensively in a quiet position, which both know very well.

Caruana's choice of 1.e4 was no surprise really since he's a king pawn player by preference. Carlsen's Sicilian was mildly surprising, and must have been prepared for this match. Caruana picked a Rossolimo with BB5 rather than heading for an open scrap with d4. He's played this quite often,. including against Carlsen so again, no surprise.

Sicilian Rossolimos are quiet lines that supposedly give white a small, stable advantage, while blunting black's chances of creating sharp, messy counterplay.  But by move 12 or so, this position looked potentially advantageous for black!

(diagram)  After move 10.

In this position, black has the bishop pair and a grip on d4. He also has a clear plan if white does nothing. Black will look for Ne6-d4 , double major pieces (Qd6/ Rd8) on the d-file,  and start pushing pawns on the queenside. An exchange on d4 will leave black with straightforward play. He would capture with either cd4 or Rxd4 depending on circumstances and continue pushing queenside pawns. If white tries to evict the Kt with Ne2/ c3, the weak d3 pawn will come under pressure.

So white decides to lash out with f4, following up with g4, trying to raise hell on the kingside before he's smothered on the queenside. Carlsen responded beautifully. He castled queenside and pushed g5 and then sacrificed his f-pawn to open the kingside. This cool, active defence from black leads to a situation where white has weaknesses in front of his king. He's forced to evacuate with Kg1-f2-e2.

After 33--- Qg5!, it's just lost. The h-pawn push will force the Kt to a passive position, unblocking the g-file and then, it's party time.

Diagram, after move 33- Qg5

Now, Black has chances of penetrating along the 1-h8 diagonal - if Qb2 comes in for instance, the king position will fall apart. He also has chances of suddenly getting Rg3, with rampant passed pawns and a squash. Or, Rg1 may come, with an attack on the back two ranks. Plus, black can start pushing his queenside pawns to blast the queenside open. White has nothing to compensate for all of this, and he had less than a minute on the clock by now.

On the next four/five moves, Carlsen missed literally a half-dozen wins, maybe more. One or more of these attacking themes was always working. He had 36.-- Qg7 (threat Qb2); he had 38. -- Rg3!  39. Nxg3 hxg3 40. Rg2 Qa1!;  he had 39. --b5! with b4 to come; he had 40-- Qg1 (repeating) 41. Nf1 b5! or even 40.--Qg3!?.   

But Carlsen seemed unwilling to calculate, or commit to a final assault, while Caruana was just surviving on 30 second increment/ move. Carlsen finally released the pressure on move 40, when he took Bxc3? 

Diagram after 41. -- Bd4

On move 42 , Caruana exchanged queens and then proceeded to play perfectly to hold an ending where Carlsen kept trying until move 115. White's defensive idea of e5-e6-e7 push, combined with Kt swinging to f5 and the b4 break, requires both good calculation and technical understanding. The rook ending is ultimately trivially drawn even though black keeps an extra pawn.

So it's even-steven and back to the drawing board for both players, I guess. Caruana has to shore up his opening preparation and his middlegame transition plans. Carlsen has to overcome whatever psychological blocks prevented him from finishing off a game where he achieved such an overwhelming advantage. Which is easier?