Fabiano Caruana and Magnus Carlsen at the 2014 Sinquefield Cup.
For months, the tournament organizers have been promoting the 2014 edition of the Sinquefield Cup as the strongest chess tournament ever assembled. To Fabiano Caruana, however, the 2014 Sinquefield Cup is just a walk in the park! To be fair, the pleasantly modest Fabiano never described it quite in that way but his actions do speak louder than Magnus Carlsen’s words. Fabiano Caruana has swept half of the world’s top ten chess players during the first five games of this double round robin event. Not since the time of Bobby Fischer has the chess world been treated to such a dominating performance on such a high stage and not since the time of Gioachino Greco has Italy been home to such a awe-inspiring chess talent.
Below I have assembled Fabiano Caruana’s chess games from the 2014 Sinquefield Cup and comments on his performance from chess celebrities on Twitter:
It seems this is Fabiano’s first rated tournament in U.S. since Oct 23, 2004, ‘NY October Action’. He was 2319 #SinquefieldCup14 #SinqCup
— Claudia Munoz (@chesscampeona) August 27, 2014
[Event "Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2014.08.27"] [EventDate "2014.08.27"] [Round "1"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Veselin Topalov"] [Black "Fabiano Caruana"] [ECO "A35"] [WhiteElo "2772"] [BlackElo "2801"] [PlyCount "68"] 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nc7 7. O-O e5 8. a3 Rb8 9. d3 Be7 10. Be3 O-O 11. Rc1 Bd7 12. Nd2 Nd4 13. Nc4 f6 14. f4 exf4 15. Bxf4 Nde6 16. Bd2 b6 17. g4 Be8 18. Be1 b5 19. Ne3 Bd6 20. Ncd5 Nxd5 21. Bxd5 Bf7 22. Nf5 Be5 23. Qd2 Nd4 24. Bxf7+ Rxf7 25. Rd1 Nxf5 26. gxf5 Qd4+ 27. Bf2 Qg4+ 28. Kh1 c4 29. Qc2 Re8 30. dxc4 Qh5 31. h4 Qg4 32. Qd3 bxc4 33. Qe3 Rfe7 34. b3 Bb2 0-1
I am simply amazed by Fabiano’s play. I am impressed. #SinquefieldCup14#sinqcup — Claudia Munoz (@chesscampeona) August 28, 2014
[Event "Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2014.08.28"] [EventDate "2014.08.27"] [Round "2"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Fabiano Caruana"] [Black "Maxime Vachier-Lagrave"] [ECO "B12"] [WhiteElo "2801"] [BlackElo "2768"] [PlyCount "59"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. Nf3 e6 5. Be2 c5 6. Be3 Qb6 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. O-O Qxb2 9. Qe1 cxd4 10. Bxd4 Nxd4 11. Nxd4 Bb4 12. Ndb5 Ba5 13. Rb1 Qxc2 14. Rc1 Qb2 15. g4 Bg6 16. f4 Be4 17. Rf2 Nh6 18. Bd3 Qb4 19. Rb1 Qc5 20. Nxe4 dxe4 21. Qxa5 O-O 22. Be2 e3 23. Rff1 Rfc8 24. Qe1 Qd5 25. Rb2 f6 26. Qg3 fxe5 27. fxe5 Rf8 28. Rxf8+ Rxf8 29. Qxe3 Nf7 30. Nc3 1-0
Me to 8 y.o “What’d you think of Carlsen-Caruana?” He revealed Magnus as hero & started crying. #awww #sinqcup http://t.co/i8e86hROBn in 20
— Jennifer Shahade (@JenShahade) August 30, 2014
[Event "Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2014.08.29"] [EventDate "2014.08.27"] [Round "3"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Magnus Carlsen"] [Black "Fabiano Caruana"] [ECO "C24"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "68"] 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb3 Bb4+ 6.c3 Bd6 7.Bg5 dxe4 8.dxe4 h6 9.Bh4 Qe7 10.Nbd2 Nbd7 11.Bg3 Bc7 12.O-O Nh5 13.h3 Nxg3 14.fxg3 Nc5 15.Bxf7+ Kxf7 16.Nxe5+ Kg8 17.Ng6 Qg5 18.Rf8+ Kh7 19.Nxh8 Bg4 20.Qf1 Nd3 21.Qxd3 Rxf8 22.hxg4 Qxg4 23.Nf3 Qxg3 24.e5+ Kxh8 25.e6 Bb6+ 26.Kh1 Qg4 27.Qd6 Rd8 28.Qe5 Rd5 29.Qb8+ Kh7 30.e7 Qh5+ 31.Nh2 Rd1+ 32.Rxd1 Qxd1+ 33.Nf1 Qxf1+ 34.Kh2 Qg1+ 0-1
Impressed by the way Caruana outplayed Aronian at #SinqCup. Fabiano’s 4/4 score in such a strong tournament is beyond spectacular! — Natalia Pogonina (@Pogonina) August 31, 2014
[Event "Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "0:20:33-0:23:33"] [Date "2014.08.30"] [EventDate "2014.08.27"] [Round "4"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Fabiano Caruana"] [Black "Levon Aronian"] [ECO "C78"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "99"] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 O-O 8.Nc3 d6 9.a3 Na5 10.Ba2 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.b4 Nc6 13.Bd2 d5 14.Re1 Qd6 15.Na2 Nd7 16.Qe2 d4 17.Reb1 Nb6 18.Nc1 Na4 19.Nb3 Rf7 20.Rc1 Rd8 21.Ng5 Rf6 22.Qh5 h6 23.Nf3 Rdf8 24.Rf1 R8f7 25.Rae1 Bf8 26.h3 g6 27.Qh4 Qe7 28.Qg3 Bg7 29.Na5 Nxa5 30.Nxe5 Nb7 31.Nxg6 Qd8 32.e5 Rf5 33.f4 c5 34.Nh4 Rh5 35.Nf3 Kh7 36.Qg4 Rhf5 37.Nh4 Kh8 38.Nxf5 Rxf5 39.Qg6 Qe7 40.g4 Rf8 41.f5 Qe8 42.Qxe8 Rxe8 43.f6 Bf8 44.f7 Re7 45.Rf6 Nb6 46.Bxh6 Nd7 47.Ref1 cxb4 48.axb4 Bxh6 49.Rxh6+ Kg7 50.Rh5 1-0
Would love 42…Qe4+ for Caruana, but anything wins. He needs a new nickname! Mr. Perfect, Fabulous, Fab Five, Clark Kent?#SinqCup — Jan Gustafsson (@GMJanGustafsson) August 31, 2014
[Event "Sinquefield Cup"] [Site "0:02:33-0:02:33"] [Date "2014.08.31"] [EventDate "2014.08.27"] [Round "5"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Hikaru Nakamura"] [Black "Fabiano Caruana"] [ECO "D11"] [WhiteElo "?"] [BlackElo "?"] [PlyCount "134"] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nbd2 Bf5 5.Nh4 Be4 6.f3 Bg6 7.e3 e6 8.g3 Be7 9.a3 Nbd7 10.cxd5 cxd5 11.Nxg6 hxg6 12.Bd3 e5 13.O-O O-O 14.Qb3 Qc8 15.Nb1 exd4 16.exd4 Nb8 17.Nc3 Nc6 18.Be3 Qd7 19.Rad1 Rfd8 20.Rfe1 Ne8 21.Bf2 Nc7 22.Bf1 Bf6 23.Qa2 g5 24.b4 g6 25.Qd2 Kg7 26.b5 Ne7 27.Be3 Ne6 28.Bh3 Nf5 29.Bxf5 gxf5 30.f4 g4 31.Qd3 Rac8 32.Rc1 Rc4 33.Ne2 Nc7 34.Nc3 Rc8 35.h3 gxh3 36.Kh2 Nxb5 37.Nxb5 Qxb5 38.Kxh3 Qd7 39.Kg2 b5 40.Rb1 a6 41.Rbc1 Qe6 42.Bf2 Rxc1 43.Rxe6 fxe6 44.g4 fxg4 45.Qe2 Kf7 46.Qd3 R1c2 47.Qh7+ Ke8 48.f5 Bxd4 49.Qg6+ Kd8 50.Qxe6 Rxf2+ 51.Kg3 Rc3+ 52.Kxg4 Rg2+ 53.Kf4 Rf2+ 54.Kg4 Kc7 55.Qe7+ Kb6 56.Qd8+ Rc7 57.Qxd5 Bc5 58.Qd8 Kb7 59.f6 Bxa3 60.Qd5+ Kb6 61.Qd8 Bc5 62.Qb8+ Rb7 63.Qd8+ Ka7 64.Qd5 Bb6 65.Kg5 Rc7 66.Kg6 b4 67.Qe6 Bd4 0-1
Caruana defeated Carlsen, Aronian, Naka, MVL and Topalov – 5/5 at #SinqCup. Tournament of a lifetime or the rise of a new #chess king?
— Natalia Pogonina (@Pogonina) September 1, 2014
Chess Musings 