Planning: Move by Move: First the idea and then the move! by Zenón Franco

Author:Zenón Franco [Franco, Zenón]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Sports & Outdoors
ISBN: 9781781945216
Publisher: Everyman Chess
Published: 2020-02-09T18:30:00+00:00

Exercise: What to play now?

22 Rfe1!

Answer: Completing the regrouping manoeuvre begun with the previous move, White supports his centre and renews the threat of taking on b5.

Caruana wasn’t convinced at the time by 22 cxb5 Qxe5 23 Rxc5 for, despite being a pawn up his pawns are weak and his knight is out of play, which could allow Black to regain his pawn and achieve good play.

Eight years on, in contrast to the engines of that time, current engines agree with Caruana’s intuition after 23 ... Be6.

22 ... Be8

Resorting to 22 ... Qd4? 23 e6! fxe6? fails because of the intermediate move 24 Rcd1! and after the black queen retreats, for example with 24 ... Qf6, the pin is decisive after 25 dxe6.

22 ... bxc4? 23 Qxc5 is not acceptable either as Black loses a pawn without compensation.

23 cxb5

Now the game enters a critical stage. It could be said that Black has been successful in his counterattack, but precise calculation is required.

Caruana’s first idea was to play 23 Qc7 and in the event of 23 ... bxc4 24 Qxe7 Rxd5 to continue with 25 Ne4!, with ideas such as e6 and Nf6+, achieving a crushing initiative. But after looking more deeply he saw that Black’s idea was to play 23 ... Rac8! and now after 24 Qxe7 Rd7! 25 Qf6 Qxf6 26 exf6 bxc4, it’s possible that White could be slightly better, but as the d5-pawn is weak, Black achieves reasonable counterplay.

23 ... Rxd5 24 b6

This is why White took on b5 and it’s the most critical move, although objectively it may not be the best. The engines prefer the ‘inhuman’ 24 Ne2, which tactically supports the e5 pawn, since 24 ... Qxe5? is no good because of 25 Nc3. However, in practice this is not a natural move.

24 ... Rd2?

Black plays the most active move, but there is a tactical flaw.

Caruana was expecting 24 ... Rxe5, with a very unclear outcome. It seems Black has good chances of survival after 25 b7 Rb8 26 Qxa7 Rxe1+ 27 Rxe1 Bc6 28 Qxc5 Bxb7 29 Qxe7 Bc6, thanks to his strong bishop.

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