SI 42.9 (B42)
Veselin Topalov
Fabiano Caruana
Wijk aan Zee 2012 (10)
Notes by Jeroen Bosch

---

Game of the Month February [SOS-3, Chapter 4, p.36] The first Super Tournament of the year has just ended in a resounding win for Levon Aronian. It was the Armenian's biggest success to date, but clearly many will follow. For Italy's top player Fabiano Caruana the 74th Tata Steel Chess Tournament was also the highlight of his career so far. A shared second place in Wijk aan Zee with Radjabov and Carlsen was his impressive result. In round 10 Caruana scored an important point against Veselin Topalov. He did so by employing an old SOS idea of Romanishin (see SOS-3), which recently entered mainstream theory; most notably after the games Karjakin-Svidler, Tal Memorial 2011, and Caruana-Nakamura, Reggio Emilia 2011/12. Let's see how things stand after 6... e5!? in the Sicilian Kan Variation.

1.f3 c5 2.e4

An interesting way to reach the Sicilian!

2...e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 a6 5.d3 f6 6.0-0 e5!?

First played by Dorfman in 1989, especially the efforts of Oleg Romanishin in the late 1990s deserve to be mentioned. See SOS-3 for some history and theoretical background. Here you will also find the strongest reply (a brilliant move by Peter Wells):

7.g5!

The main reply in recent years, although [7.f3 c6 8.g5 h6 9.xf6 xf6 10.c3 c5 11.d5 d8 is another common way of responding to 6...e5.

7...h6

Also of interest is 7...d6 8.f5 e6! while Romanishin's 7...d5 remains untested. Worse is 7...c6?! 8.f5 Accepting the piece is just bad: 7...exd4? 8.e5 a5 (8...e7 9.exf6 xf6 10.e1+ f8 11.xf6 xf6 12.h5 c6 13.d2) 9.d2.

8.xf6 xf6 9.f5

The most logical reply. The knight is placed on an active square and aims for d5 via e3. Here 9.f3 c5 10.c3 d6 11.d5 d8 12.c3 (12.h4!? 0-0 13.f5 xf5 14.exf5 d7= Romanishin, 2005) 12...c6 transposes to 7.f3 c6 8.g5 h6 9.xf6 xf6 10.c3 c5 11.d5 d8 12.c3 d6. Play was about equal in the following blitz game: 9.e2 c5 10.bc3 d6 11.d5 d8 12.c3 0-0 13.g3 e6 14.c2 d7 15.b3 g6 16.d2 g7 17.ad1 Z.Almasi-Giri, Beijing blitz 2011.

9...g6

9...d5 is bad - see the game T. Kosintseva-Hou Yifan, Hangzhou 2011. The alternative move order 9...c5?! 10.c3 g6 11.d5 d8 turns out badly for Black after 12.b4! xb4 (12...a7 13.d6++-; 12...f8 13.fe3+-) 13.xb4 gxf5 14.exf5+-.

10.e3 c5

10...d6?! 11.c3 leaves the bishop inside the pawn chain.

11.c3

An earlier Caruana effort (with White!) went: 11.d5 d8 12.b4 a7 13.a4!? d6 14.a5 e6 15.c4 0-0 16.d3 c6 17.c3 e7 (17...g7) 18.d2 c8 19.ac1 g7 20.h1 xd5 21.xd5 e7 ½-½ Caruana-Nakamura, Reggio Emilia 2011/12.

11...d6 12.cd5 d8 13.h1!?

Highly spectacular was the following short draw: 13.c3 e6 14.c2 0-0 15.g4 d7!? (15...g7) 16.xh6+ g7 17.f5+! gxf5 18.exf5 xd5 19.g4+ h6 20.h3+ g5!? 21.g3+ h5 22.g7í f3í 23.h7+ g5 24.g7+ h5 25.h7+ g5 26.g7+ h5½-½ Karjakin-Svidler, 6th Tal Memorial 2011;
13.b4 a7 14.a4 0-0 15.a5 e6.

13...c6

13...e6 14.f4; 13...0-0 14.g4 (14.f4 exf4 15.xf4 d4=) 14...c6 transposes to the game. (14...g7!?)

14.g4 0-0 15.gf6+

15.xh6+ g7 16.g4 h4 with good compensation due to the attacking chances against the white king.

15...g7

Play is complicated but about equal. White has typical control over square d5, but Black has a powerful bishop on c5.

16.c3

16.d2!?.

16...e6

16...e7.

17.f4!?

17.c2 e7 18.b3 xd5 19.xd5 is equal.

17...xd5

17...e7?! 18.f5 xd5 19.exd5 xf5 20.h5+! h8 (20...gxh5 21.xf5) 21.xf5 favours White.

18.xd5 exf4 19.xf4 g5 20.f1

20.d2.

20...e5 21.d1 ae8 22.c2 h5 23.b3?

This is a mistake that allows Caruana to grab the initiative. Play is still equal after 23.g3 or 23.b4 a7 24.g3.

23...g4! 24.g3!

24.h3?! xe4! 25.xe4 f2+; 24.e1? xf4 (24...h4 25.h3 (25.xg4 hxg4-+) (25...xg4? 26.f6) 25...g3!-+) 25.xf4 (25.xf4 f2+ 26.g1 h3+ 27.f1 xf4 28.xf4-+) 25...f2+ 26.g1 (26.xf2 xf2-+) 26...xe4+ 27.h1 f2+ 28.g1 d3+-+.

24...xe4 25.xe4 f2+ 26.xf2?

Topalov typically goes for complications. They will turn out to favour Black.White would have had excellent drawing chances after 26.g2 xe4 27.e1 e8 (27...f2 28.e2 g4 29.f4) 28.f4 xf4 29.gxf4.

26...xf2 27.g2 c5 28.h4 f5 29.e2 g4

The immediate 29...g5 was also to be considered 30.c2 (30.hxg5 h4 31.f4 g4 32.d3 d5! 33.xd5 (33.d1 hxg3-+) 33...d6!-+) 30...d7 (30...g4?! 31.e4 d7 32.hxg5) 31.e7 (31.hxg5 e8 32.xe8 xe8 33.d3 h4! 34.gxh4£? a4! 35.d2 g4+-+; 31.e7 b5 32.b3 gxh4 33.gxh4 b6!?) 31...gxh4 32.b4! (32.f5+ h8 33.xh4 e8-+) 32...g4! 33.f5+ h8 34.de1 a7 35.xh4 g8

30.de1?

30.e7! b5 (30...g5 31.h1) (31.f1? gxh4 32.exf7+ xf7 33.xf7+ xf7 34.e3+ e6 35.xe6+ xe6-+) 31.f1.

30...g5!-+

The position is still highly complicated of course, but objectively Black has a winning position from now on.

31.e4

31.e3 xe3 (31...e4+) 32.xe3 gxh4 33.h1 g5! 34.f3 e8 35.xf7+ g6 36.xh4 e2+ 37.f2 xf2+ 38.xf2 d2+-+.

31...f5 32.1e2

32.hxg5 f2+ 33.h3 h4! 34.gxh4 f3+ 35.h2 f2-+.

32...gxh4 33.f4

A) 33.gxh4 g6+ 34.f3 (34.h3 f2!-+; 34.h2 g1+ 35.h3 f2-+) 34...e8!-+ 35.xe8 g4X;
B) 33.xh4 e8! 34.xe8? f2+ 35.h3 f1+ 36.h2 g1+ 37.h3 h1X.

33...g5 34.h1 d5!

34...hxg3-+.

35.xd5 hxg3 36.c4 h4+ 37.g2 h2+ 38.f3 h1+ 39.xg3 h4+ 0-1