London Classic 01 b

Event "London Chess Classic" Date "2014.12.10" Round "1" White "Adams, Michael" Black "Caruana, Fabiano" ECO "C90" WhiteElo "2745" BlackElo "2745" 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. d3 d6 9. c3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. Nbd2 Nc6 12. Nf1 h6 13. Ne3 Re8 14. a4 Be6 Black took a long time here, so he must have been unfamiliar with this line. But a few moves later, Adams too needed a long time. 15. h3 Bf8 16. Nh2 b4 with this move we are leaving the Spraggett-Sargissian, Linares Open 2013 game, which contimued with 16...d5 and ended in a draw. 17. Bb3 Rb8 18. Bc4 bxc3 19. bxc3 d5 a pretty tame Spanish game so far, but things are about to change. 20. Bxa6 Qa5 Adams avoids the exchanges in the center for a bit and instigates the exchange of the LSBs instead. Interesting. 21. c4 Qxa6 22. exd5 Bxd5 23. cxd5 Nb4 This Knight threatening the -d3-pawn is a bit of a drawback of this move order I would have thought. White will now start defending it with the Rook or instigate a skirmish on the kingside with a Knight exchange if he wants to deplete the officers. 24. Ra3 Nfxd5 25. Neg4 f6 26. Nf1 Rbd8 It seems a shame to take the Rook off the -b-file, which is usually its best position. 27. Ng3 c4 ==== Here the fireworks start. The move is somewhat illogical because it opens the third rank for the rook and makes the upcoming sacrifice pretty strong. 27... Kh8 17 would have given Black a solid advantage. Adams now sacrificed his Knight for a pawn. A good idea? We shall have to wait and see. 29... Kh8 Caruana wanted to keep the h7 square free for his queen. 30. dxc4 Ne7 he could have put the Knight on -f4- or -c2- with good effect. 31. Qh5 preventing the pawn to travel down on the h-file ...Ng8 32. Nf5 likewise stopping the pawn to travel on the -f- file. In fact, White seems to bring the black kingside to a standstill ..Qb7??? Surely she would have been better employed on -a7. Caruana's last few moves haven't done him much good. More a matter of him losing rather than Adams winning. But maybe the white sacrifice had a psychological effect on Caruana's confidence. 33. Rg3 Qh7 ?? Now Adams has to take advantage of the situation, and move his rook to the center: 34.Re4. But he doesn't. He lamely takes the Knight away and foregoes a wonderful ending if he had brought the last piece into the attack. 34. Nh4 from now on it will be a long slog for Adams to extract a win. I hate it when these wonderful chances get ignored. Something lost form the work of art created by two players. Ne7 35. Ba3 Nbc6 36. Kh2 Bg7 37. Bxe7 Nxe7 38. Rd1 Qg8 38... f5 39. Rxd8 39. Qf7 Qg8 19 39... Rxd8 40. Qf7 18 39. Rb1 Rb8 40. Rd1 Red8 41. c5 Rxd1 42. Qxd1 Black has managed to fend off the attack but White still has good compensation in the two queenside passed pawns and the Bishop on g7 being inactive. Rb4 6 42... Qc8 43. a5 Ra8 13 43. Qd7 Rxh4 44. Qxe7 Rd4 44... Rxa4 45. Rxg7 Qxg7 46. Qe8+ 18 45. c6 45. a5 was stronger Qf8 46. Qc7 Rc4 47. c6 18 45... Qf8 46. Qb7 46. Qc7 Rxa4 14 46... Rb4 47. Qd7 Rd4 48. Qb7 Rb4 49. Rc3 f5 50. Qd7 Rd4 51. Qe6 Rd6 52. Qxd6 Qxd6 53. c7 e4+ 54. g3 Bxc3 55. c8=Q+ Kh7 56. Qxc3 f4 57. gxf4 Qxf4+ 58. Qg3 Qd2 59. Qc7+ Kg6 60. Qb6+ Kh7 2 60... Kf5 61. Qc5+ Kg6 62. Kg2 18 61. Qb7+ Kh8 62. Qa8+ 1 Kg7 63. Qxe4 Kf6 63... Qxf2+ 64. Qg2+ 18 64. Qf3+ Kg6 65. Kg2 Qa2 66. Qe4+ Kf6 67. Qf4+ Kg6 68. Qd6+ Kg7 69. Qe5+ Kh7 70. a5 Qg8+ 71. Kh2 Qf7 72. Qe4+ Kg7 73. a6 A nice win for Adams who must be commended for his brave sacrifice on h6. It was perfectly timed with time pressure coming upon both the players. That made Caruana's defensive task quite difficult. Though Adams was not the most precise, his sacrifice was good enough to set high practical problems for the Italian. 1-0