US Chess Champion Fabiano Caruana is off to a sizzling start at the
Vugar Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerbaijan (May 25-June 7.) He scored 3.5/4 and
catapulted back to #2 in the World on the live rankings list.
[pgn]
[Event "Vugar Gashimov Mem 2016"]
[Site "Shamkir AZE"]
[Date "2016.05.26"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Harikrishna, Pentala"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[WhiteElo "2804"]
[BlackElo "2763"]
[ECO "B48"]
[Opening "Sicilian"]
[Variation "Taimanov variation"]
[WhiteFideId "2020009"]
[BlackFideId "5007003"]
[EventDate "2016.05.26"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Qf3 Nf6 8.
O-O-O Nxd4 9. Bxd4 e5 10. Be3 d6 11. h3 b5 12. Bd3 b4 13. Nd5 Nxd5 14. exd5 a5
15. Kb1 Be7 16. g4 O-O 17. g5 Ba6 18. Qe4 g6 19. h4 Rfc8 20. Rc1 Qd7 21. Bxa6
Rxa6 22. f4 Qf5 23. Qxf5 gxf5 24. c3 bxc3 25. Rxc3 Rxc3 26. bxc3 Ra8 27. Kc2 Rb8
28. Rf1 e4 29. a4 Kf8 30. h5 Ke8 31. Rg1 Kd7 32. Bd4 Kc7 33. g6 fxg6 34. hxg6
hxg6 35. Rxg6 Rf8 36. Rg7 Kd7 37. c4 Ke8 38. Kc3 Bh4 39. Ra7 Be1+ 40. Kc2 Rg8
41. Ra8+ Kf7 42. Ra7+ Ke8 43. Ra8+ 1/2-1/2[/pgn]
[pgn]
[Event "Vugar Gashimov Mem 2016"]
[Site "Shamkir AZE"]
[Date "2016.05.27"]
[White "Eljanov, Pavel"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[WhiteElo "2765"]
[BlackElo "2804"]
[ECO "D91"]
[Opening "Gruenfeld"]
[Variation "5.Bg5"]
[WhiteFideId "14102951"]
[BlackFideId "2020009"]
[EventDate "2016.05.26"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bg5 Ne4 6. Bf4 Nxc3 7. bxc3 c5 8. e3
O-O 9. Be2 dxc4 10. Bxc4 Nd7 11. O-O Nb6 12. Bb3 c4 13. Bc2 Nd5 14. Qd2 Nxf4 15.
exf4 Be6 16. a4 Bd5 17. Ne5 e6 18. Rfb1 Rb8 19. Qe3 a6 20. a5 b5 21. axb6 Rxb6
22. g3 Rxb1+ 23. Rxb1 Bxe5 24. Qxe5 Qa8 25. h4 Bh1 26. Kf1 h5 27. Ke1 a5 28. Ra1
Qg2 29. Rxa5 Qg1+ 30. Ke2 Bg2 31. Qe3 Rb8 32. Ra2 Bh3 33. Kd2 Bf5 34. Qe1 Qg2
35. Bxf5 exf5 36. Kc2 Qb7 37. Kd2 Qg2 38. Kc1 Qf3 39. Rc2 Ra8 40. Qe2 Qh1+ 41.
Kd2 Ra1 42. Qe8+ Kg7 43. Qe5+ Kh7 44. Qe2 Rb1 45. f3 Rg1 0-1[/pgn]
[pgn]
[Event "Vugar Gashimov Mem 2016"]
[Site "Shamkir AZE"]
[Date "2016.05.28"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Hou, Yifan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[WhiteElo "2804"]
[BlackElo "2663"]
[ECO "C80"]
[Opening "Ruy Lopez"]
[Variation "open, Bernstein variation"]
[WhiteFideId "2020009"]
[BlackFideId "8602980"]
[EventDate "2016.05.26"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5
Be6 9. Nbd2 Nc5 10. c3 Be7 11. Bc2 d4 12. Nb3 d3 13. Bb1 Nxb3 14. axb3 Bf5 15.
Re1 O-O 16. Be3 Qd5 17. Bd4 Rfd8 18. h4 Bg6 19. b4 d2 20. Qxd2 Bxb1 21. Raxb1
Bxb4 22. Qf4 Be7 23. e6 fxe6 24. Qg4 Nxd4 25. Nxd4 Bf6 26. Nxe6 Rd7 27. Re3 h5
28. Qg6 Rf7 29. Rbe1 Rc8 30. Nf4 Qd7 31. Qxh5 Re7 32. Nd5 Rf7 33. Rd1 Qc6 34.
Nf4 Rd7 35. Re8+ 1-0 [/pgn]
[pgn]
[Event "Vugar Gashimov Mem 2016"]
[Site "Shamkir AZE"]
[Date "2016.05.29"]
[White "Mamedov, Rauf"]
[Black "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[BlackTitle "GM"]
[WhiteElo "2655"]
[BlackElo "2804"]
[ECO "C53"]
[Opening "Giuoco Piano"]
[WhiteFideId "13401653"]
[BlackFideId "2020009"]
[EventDate "2016.05.26"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3 a6 6. O-O d6 7. a4 Ba7 8. Bg5 h6
9. Bh4 g5 10. Bg3 Ne7 11. d4 Nxe4 12. Nxe5 O-O 13. Nxf7 Rxf7 14. Bxf7+ Kxf7 15.
f4 g4 16. f5 Nxg3 17. hxg3 Ng8 18. Qxg4 Qg5 19. Qxg5 hxg5 20. Nd2 Nf6 21. Nf3
Nh7 22. g4 Bd7 23. Rfe1 Rg8 24. Kf2 Nf6 25. Kg3 c5 26. Re2 cxd4 27. cxd4 Bb6 28.
b3 Bc6 29. Rae1 Ba5 30. Re7+ Kf8 31. R1e2 Bd8 32. R7e6 Bd7 33. R6e3 Nd5 34. Re4
Nc3 35. d5 Bf6 36. Nd2 Rg7 37. Re1 Nxe4+ 38. Nxe4 Re7 39. Kf3 Kg7 40. Rh1 Be8
41. Nxd6 Bf7 42. Nxf7 Kxf7 43. Rc1 Bd4 44. Rc4 Bb6 45. Re4 Rxe4 46. Kxe4 Ke7 47.
b4 Bd8 48. a5 Kd6 49. Kd4 Bf6+ 50. Kc4 Bg7 51. b5 Bf6 0-1[/pgn]
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