Caruana Wins in All-American Battle

In the battle between our two American World Championship hopefuls, Fabiano Caruana topped Hikaru Nakamura.

[pgn] [Event "Candidates 2016"] [Site "Moscow, Russia"] [Date "2016.03.20"] [White "Caruana Fabiano (USA)"] [Black "Nakamura Hikaru (USA)"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C65"] [PlyCount "65"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. Qe2 Re8 8. Nc4 Nd7 9. Bd2 Bd6 10. O-O-O b5 11. Ne3 a5 12. Nf5 a4 13. Bg5 f6 14. Be3 Nc5 15. g4 Be6 16. Kb1 b4 17. g5 b3 18. Rhg1 bxa2+ 19. Ka1 Bxf5 20. exf5 a3 21. b3 Na6 22. c3 Bf8 23. Nd2 fxg5 24. Rxg5 Nc5 25. Rg3 e4 26. Bxc5 Bxc5 27. Nxe4 Bd6 28. Rh3 Be5 29. d4 Bf6 30. Rg1 Rb8 31. Kxa2 Bh4 32. Rg4 Qd5 33. c4 1-0 [/pgn]

This was Fabiano's first victory after seven draws. This puts him equal with Anand at 4.5/8 and just a half point behind tournament leaders Karjakin and Aronian. Nakamura came into the game on a high note, defeating Topalov in his first victory of the tournament. Tomorrow he faces tournament leader Karjakin, which will be a key battle for him to bounce back, and for American fans.

[pgn] [Event "Candidates 2016"] [Site "?"] [Date "2016.03.19"] [White "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Black "Topalov, Veselin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "D12"] [WhiteElo "2790"] [BlackElo "2780"] [PlyCount "77"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Bg6 7. Nxg6 hxg6 8. Rb1 Nbd7 9. c5 a5 10. a3 Be7 11. g3 e5 12. Bg2 e4 13. b4 axb4 14. axb4 Nf8 15. b5 Ne6 16. Bd2 O-O 17. Na4 Ng5 18. h4 Nf3+ 19. Bxf3 exf3 20. bxc6 bxc6 21. Nc3 Bxc5 22. dxc5 d4 23. exd4 Qxd4 24. O-O Qg4 25. Re1 Rfd8 26. Rb2 Rd4 27. Re7 Rad8 28. Qb3 Rf8 29. Qd1 Rfd8 30. Qb3 Rf8 31. Nd1 Nd5 32. Re5 Kh7 33. Kh2 Nf6 34. Be3 Rb8 35. Qxb8 Rxd1 36. Rb1 Qd7 37. Rg5 Ne4 38. Rxd1 Qxd1 39. Qf4 1-0 [/pgn]

In round eight, the Saint Louis Chess Club debuted the show "Today in Chess", with recaps of the event from GMs Maurice Ashley, Yasser Seirawan, and Eric Hansen.