Fabiano Caruana Joins Leaders at Sinquefield Cup

Fabiano Caruana joined the lead for the Sinquefield Cup, Photo Spectrum Studios

Fabiano Caruana won in round four of the 2018 Sinquefield Cup to join a five-way tie for first, along with World Champion Magnus Carlsen, previous Cup victor Levon Aronian as well as first time hopefuls, Alex Grischuk and Shakriyar Mamedyarov. With his victory, Caruana also leapfrogged Mamedyarov in rating- the two are neck and neck for the #2 rating spot in the World.

Caruana took down fellow American and Olympic team-mate Hikaru Nakamura, starting with a piece of preparation, 14.0-0-0, that he didn't deem as necessary to "save." In the ending, he played precisely to show the power of knight over bishop.

[pgn][Event "Sinquefield Cup"]
[Date "2018.08.21"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2822"]
[BlackElo "2777"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "2018.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "United States"]
[BlackTeam "United States"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "USA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "USA"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. g3 dxc4 6. Bg2 O-O 7. Ne5 Nc6 8.
Bxc6 bxc6 9. Nxc6 Qe8 10. Nxe7+ Qxe7 11. Qa4 c5 12. dxc5 Qxc5 13. Be3 Qc7 14.
O-O-O Ng4 15. Rd2 Nxe3 16. fxe3 Rb8 17. Rhd1 a5 18. Kb1 h6 19. Ka1 Rb4 20. Qc2
Rb8 21. Qe4 Bb7 22. Qd4 Ba8 23. e4 Rfc8 24. Qf2 Bc6 25. Qc5 Be8 26. Qxc7 Rxc7
27. Rd6 Kf8 28. Ra6 Rc5 29. Ra7 Rbc8 30. Kb1 Rh5 31. h4 Re5 32. Kc2 g5 33. Rf1
Kg7 34. Rb7 Kg6 35. Kd2 f5 36. hxg5 fxe4 37. Ke3 Bc6 38. Re7 Rxg5 39. Rxe6+ Kg7
40. Re7+ Kg6 41. Rd1 Kf6 42. Ra7 Ke6 43. Rh1 h5 44. g4 Be8 45. gxh5 Bxh5 46.
Nxe4 Rf5 47. Ra6+ Ke7 48. Nd6 Re5+ 49. Kd4 1-0 [/pgn]

In round five, Caruana has a big pairing, playing Black against reigning Sinquefield Cup champion Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

Graphics Spectrum Studios

Watch the games live and enjoy engaging commentary by Yasser Seirawan, Jennifer Shahade, and Maurice Ashley on the Official Grand Chess Tour Website and follow both the US Chess Twitter and the Grand Chess Tour feeds using the hashtag #GrandChessTour or #SinquefieldCup. The Sinquefield Cup runs from August 18-28 with rounds everyday at 1 P.M. CST (except for August 23, the rest day).