CARUANA vs CARLSEN – GAME 3 WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2018

This is game 3 of the World Chess Championship Match 2018, fully annotated. It is between Fabiano Caruana with White against Magnus Carlsen with Black.

This game features a Sicilian Rossolimo. To learn more about the Sicilian Rossolimo, here is the best instruction book I could find on Amazon.

Caruana,Fabiano (2832) - Carlsen,Magnus (2835)

World Chess Championship 2018 London (3), 12.11.2018

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.0–0 Qc7 7.Re1 e5 8.a3 [8.Be3 b6 9.a3 (9.h3 Nf6 10.Qd2 0–0 11.Bh6 Nh5 12.Nc3 Bxh6 13.Qxh6 Nf4 14.Ne2 Nxe2+ 15.Rxe2 f6 16.Nd2 Be6 17.Rf1 g5 18.h4 g4 19.f3 Qg7 20.Qe3 Rf7 21.f4 Re8 22.Ref2 Ree7 23.Qg3 Rc7 Kotan,L (2347)-Karlik,V (2283)/Tatranske Zruby 2001/CBM 084 ext/1–0) 9...Nf6 10.b4 cxb4 11.axb4 0–0 12.h3 Nh5 13.Nc3 Nf4 14.Bxf4 exf4 15.Qd2 h6 16.e5 g5 17.d4 Bf5 18.Ne4 Rad8 19.Nd6 Be6 20.c4 Rxd6 21.exd6 Qxd6 22.c5 bxc5 Shirov,A (2690)-Illescas Cordoba,M (2635)/Madrid 1996/CBM 053/½–½ (76)] 

8...Nf6 9.b4 0–0 10.Nbd2 B31: Sicilian: 2...Nc6 3 Bb5 g6

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10...Bg4N [10...cxb4 11.Bb2 Nh5 12.axb4 Nf4 13.Ra3 Re8 14.Qa1 a6 15.d4 exd4 16.Bxd4 Bxd4 17.Nxd4 Qe7 18.Rf3 Nxg2 19.e5 Nxe1 0–1 Kaiszauri,K (2405)-Cramling,D (2355)/Boras 1979/MCD] 

11.h3 Bxf3 

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12.Nxf3 [Instead of 12.gxf3 cxb4 13.axb4 Qd7µ] 

12...cxb4 13.axb4 a5 14.bxa5 Rxa5 15.Bd2 Raa8 16.Qb1 Nd7 17.Qb4 Rfe8 18.Bc3 b5 19.Rxa8 Rxa8 20.Ra1 Rxa1+ 21.Bxa1 Qa7 22.Bc3 Qa2 23.Qb2 Qxb2 24.Bxb2 

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24...f6 Secures g5 

25.Kf1 Kf7 26.Ke2 Nc5 27.Bc3 Ne6 28.g3 Consolidates f4 

28...Bf8 29.Nd2 

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29...Ng5 Black threatens to win material: Ng5xh3 

30.h4 White threatens to win material: h4xg5 

30...Ne6 31.Nb3 h5 32.Bd2 Bd6 

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33.c3 Covers b4+d4 

33...c5 34.Be3 Ke7 35.Kd1 Kd7 36.Kc2 f5 37.Kd1 fxe4 38.dxe4 

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38...c4 Black threatens to win material: c4xb3 

39.Nd2 Nc5 40.Bxc5 Bxc5 41.Ke2 Kc6 42.Nf1 b4 43.cxb4 

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43...Bxb4 Black has a new passed pawn: c4.  

44.Ne3 White threatens to win material: Ne3xc4 

44...Kc5 45.f4 exf4 46.gxf4 White has a new passed pawn: e4 

46...Ba5 47.f5 gxf5 

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48.Nxc4 [¹48.Nxf5 Kb4 49.e5³] 48...Kxc4–+ 49.exf5 ½–½