Caruana Captures Clear Lead in Cup, Faces Carlsen Next

World Championship challenger Fabiano Caruana was the first person to take the clear lead at the Sinquefield Cup today with a win over Sergey Karjakin. Karjakin was in a difficult position when 27...f6 caused immediate catastrophe after 28. Rd1!

[pgn][Event "Sinquefield Cup 2018 | Saint Louis"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2018.08.24"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "E20"]
[WhiteElo "2822"]
[BlackElo "2773"]
[PlyCount "59"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[SourceVersionDate "2018.08.24"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. g3 O-O 5. Bg2 d5 6. Nf3 dxc4 7. O-O Nc6 8. Qa4
Bd7 9. Bg5 a5 10. Bxf6 Qxf6 11. a3 Bxc3 12. bxc3 Qd8 13. Qxc4 a4 14. Nd2 Na5
15. Qb4 Ra7 16. Rab1 b6 17. e3 Bc6 18. Bxc6 Nxc6 19. Qb5 Qa8 20. c4 Rd8 21.
Rfc1 e5 22. d5 Nb8 23. c5 Ra5 24. Qb2 Qxd5 25. cxb6 cxb6 26. Nc4 Rc5 27. Qxb6
f6 28. Rd1 Qxd1+ 29. Rxd1 Rxd1+ 30. Kg2 1-0[/pgn]

On "Sinquefield" Saturday at 2  PM ET, Caruana faces Magnus Carlsen in a much anticipated prelude to their World Championship match. Furthering the drama, a win for Fabiano would move him over Magnus to the #1 player in the World. https://twitter.com/davehill77/status/1033128271171514370 IM Eric Rosen will be taking over the US Chess twitter again on Saturday for round seven-join the conversation by mentioning @USChess or using the hashtag #SinquefieldCup or #GrandChessTour. https://twitter.com/IM_Rosen/status/1033092589778612226 Follow along with commentary by Yasser Seirawan, Jennifer Shahade, and Maurice Ashley on the Official Grand Chess Tour Website. The Sinquefield Cup runs from August 18-28 with rounds everyday at 1 P.M. CST.