Moscow Candidates Comes Down to Karjakin-Caruana

The Moscow Candidates to determine a challenger to Magnus Carlsen comes down to the final round battle on Monday between GMs Sergey Karjakin and Fabiano Caruana. Both players have 7.5 points after a dramatic penultimate round. Anand is a half point behind but can also catch the leaders tomorrow if the game is a draw, and he scores a win vs. Svidler. Karjakin was in trouble against Aronian but managed to hold.

[pgn]

[Event "Moscow Candidates"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.27"]
[White "Aronian, Levon"]
[Black "Karjakin, Sergey"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "A29"]
[PlyCount "202"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8.
d3 O-O 9. a3 Be6 10. Be3 Qd7 11. b4 f6 12. Ne4 Nd5 13. Bd2 a5 14. Nc5 Bxc5 15.
bxc5 a4 16. Rb1 Rfb8 17. Qc2 Nde7 18. Rb2 Bb3 19. Qb1 Kh8 20. Rc1 Na7 21. Bb4
Nb5 22. Nd2 Bf7 23. e3 Bg6 24. Ne4 Nd5 25. Be1 Nxa3 26. c6 Qe7 27. Qa2 bxc6 28.
Rxc6 Bf7 29. Rc5 Nxe3 30. Qxa3 Rxb2 31. Qxb2 Nxg2 32. Kxg2 a3 33. Qb7 Qd8 34.
Qxc7 Qxc7 35. Rxc7 Bd5 36. Rc5 a2 37. Bc3 Bg8 38. Ba1 Rb8 39. Ra5 Rb1 40. Bc3
Rd1 41. Kf3 Rxd3+ 42. Ke2 Rd8 43. f4 Bc4+ 44. Kf2 exf4 45. gxf4 Kg8 46. Nd2 Bf7
47. Ke3 h5 48. f5 Rc8 49. Ne4 Bd5 50. Rc5 Rd8 51. Nd2 Bf7 52. Ra5 Rc8 53. Ne4
Bd5 54. Nc5 Re8+ 55. Kd3 Rd8 56. Bd4 Re8 57. Kd2 Ra8 58. Rxa8+ Bxa8 59. Ke3 Kh7
60. Kf4 Kh6 61. Ne6 Kh7 62. Nf8+ Kg8 63. Ng6 Kf7 64. Ke3 Bc6 65. Bb2 Bd7 66.
Ke4 Bc6+ 67. Kd4 Bd7 68. Nh4 Ba4 69. Ng2 Bc2 70. Ne3 Bb1 71. Kc3 Kg8 72. Nc2
Kh7 73. Nd4 Kh6 74. Bc1+ Kh7 75. Kb2 Kg8 76. Bd2 Kh7 77. Bb4 Kg8 78. Bc3 Kh7
79. Kc1 Kh6 80. h4 Kh7 81. Kd2 Kg8 82. Ke3 Kh7 83. Kf4 Bd3 84. Nc6 Kg8 85. Nb4
Bb1 86. Na6 Kf7 87. Nc5 Bc2 88. Ne4 Bd1 89. Ng3 Kg8 90. Ke3 Bc2 91. Bb2 Kh7 92.
Kf4 Bd1 93. Ne4 Bc2 94. Nd6 Kg8 95. Ke3 Kf8 96. Kd4 Ke7 97. Kc5 Kd7 98. Bc3 Bd3
99. Kd5 Bc2 100. Ne4 Bxe4+ 101. Kxe4 Kd6 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Meanwhile, Caruana had serious chances against Svidler but due to the 50 move rule, was unable to convert.

[pgn]

[Event "Moscow Candidates"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.27"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Svidler, Peter"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C84"]
[PlyCount "231"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. d3 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. a4
Bd7 9. c3 O-O 10. Bc2 b4 11. Re1 Re8 12. Nbd2 Bf8 13. a5 g6 14. Bb3 Be6 15. Ba4
Bd7 16. Nf1 h6 17. Ng3 bxc3 18. bxc3 Bg7 19. h3 d5 20. exd5 Nxd5 21. Ne4 Nb8
22. Bb3 Be6 23. Bd2 Nd7 24. Ba4 f5 25. Ng3 c5 26. Bb3 Qc7 27. h4 N5f6 28. Bxe6+
Rxe6 29. h5 f4 30. Ne4 Nxh5 31. d4 Qc6 32. Qb3 c4 33. Qa4 Qd5 34. Rad1 Rae8 35.
dxe5 Nxe5 36. Nxe5 Rxe5 37. Bxf4 Qb5 38. Qxb5 Rxb5 39. Bd6 Kh8 40. g4 Nf6 41.
Nxf6 Rxe1+ 42. Rxe1 Bxf6 43. Re8+ Kg7 44. Bb4 Re5 45. Rc8 Re6 46. Rc7+ Kg8 47.
Rxc4 h5 48. Kg2 Kf7 49. Rc5 hxg4 50. Rc7+ Ke8 51. Rc4 Kd7 52. Rxg4 Be5 53. c4
Bc7 54. Kf3 Rf6+ 55. Ke3 Re6+ 56. Kd3 Rf6 57. Ke3 Re6+ 58. Kd3 Rf6 59. Rg5 Rxf2
60. Rxg6 Rf3+ 61. Kc2 Rf5 62. Rxa6 Kc8 63. Kd3 Rh5 64. c5 Kb7 65. Rg6 Bxa5 66.
Bxa5 Rxc5 67. Bb4 Rc6 68. Bd6 Kc8 69. Kd4 Rb6 70. Kd5 Rb7 71. Rg8+ Kd7 72. Bc5
Kc7 73. Rg6 Kd7 74. Rh6 Kc7 75. Rc6+ Kd7 76. Bb6 Ke8 77. Bd4 Kd7 78. Rd6+ Kc8
79. Ke6 Kc7 80. Ra6 Rb5 81. Ra1 Kc6 82. Rc1+ Kb7 83. Kd6 Ka6 84. Rc6+ Ka5 85.
Bc5 Rb7 86. Kd5 Kb5 87. Bd6 Ka4 88. Ra6+ Kb5 89. Ra1 Kb6 90. Rc1 Kb5 91. Rc6
Ka4 92. Bc5 Kb5 93. Rd6 Ka4 94. Kc6 Rb8 95. Rd3 Rc8+ 96. Kd5 Rd8+ 97. Bd6 Rc8
98. Ra3+ Kb5 99. Rb3+ Ka4 100. Rb4+ Ka5 101. Bc5 Rh8 102. Rb7 Ka4 103. Kc4 Rh4+
104. Bd4 Rh5 105. Bf2 Rg5 106. Rh7 Rg4+ 107. Bd4 Rg5 108. Rh8 Rb5 109. Ra8+ Ra5
110. Rb8 Rh5 111. Bf6 Ka5 112. Bc3+ Ka6 113. Bd4 Rh6 114. Be3 Re6 115. Rb3 Rc6+
116. Kd5 1/2-1/2

[/pgn]

Nakamura defeated Topalov with Black, looking to end his own tournament on a high note.

[pgn]

[Event "Moscow Candidates"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.03.27"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "D37"]
[PlyCount "80"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. a3 c5 7. dxc5 Bxc5 8. e3
Nc6 9. cxd5 exd5 10. b4 d4 11. exd4 Bxd4 12. Nxd4 Nxd4 13. Be3 Nf5 14. Qxd8
Rxd8 15. Be2 Nxe3 16. fxe3 Ng4 17. e4 Be6 18. O-O Ne3 19. Rfc1 Rd2 20. Bf3 Rad8
21. e5 b6 22. Ne4 Rb2 23. Re1 Nc4 24. Ng5 h6 25. Nxe6 fxe6 26. Rac1 Rd4 27. h3
b5 28. Rc3 Rdd2 29. a4 a6 30. Bb7 Nb6 31. axb5 axb5 32. Be4 Nc4 33. Rg3 Re2 34.
Ra1 Nxe5 35. Ra8+ Kf7 36. Bh7 g5 37. Bg8+ Kf6 38. Rf8+ Kg7 39. Re8 Ng6 40. Bxe6
Nf4 0-1

[/pgn]

Look for an update to this article with full breakdown of possible tiebreak scenarios. Find more information on the official site and watch the latest episode of Today in Chess produced by the STL Chess Club.