Caruana vs MVL: 13 months, one game, and the letting go of wants (1/2)
After more than a year, FIDE Candidates finally resumed. Chess gained massive popularity in this period, a significant amount of top players got actively involved in streaming, online tournaments got huge in number-- one player though, remained completely on the sidelines, almost as if the identity got erased.
13 months later, seeing the first round of the second half of Candidates 20-21, it became clear what Fabiano Caruana was doing. Seeing the game you almost get the feeling he was using this entire 13 months just to prepare for this one game. But him and new opening ideas are nothing different now, is it? Yet seeing this one game you know he's used his time to full effect-- letting go of the "wants" of online blitz; for greater good.
Now, of course this is not to say online chess is not important. It is, for various reasons, but Caruana could clearly see his priorities. Just one game, but he seems to be at his fierce best; an unbelievable opening idea, but even more impressive was how he pushed towards a win in the endgame.
Over the years, Caruana has given birth to a plethora of new opening ideas, and also kept getting very often what he wanted from those weapons. However, the problem remained not consistently being able to keep that momentum when his preparation came to an end. This was a pattern in WCC 2018 as well.
Today, that was somewhat different. He got an advantage, kept it, was able to increase it, and played a wonderful game. Still, excellent defense by Maxime-Vachier Lagrave under harsh conditions both on the board and on the clock reduced the game to a "tablebase" draw.
Back to that later. Let's start from the beginning. The analysis will be a step-by-step breakdown. (Let me know in the comments section if this is a good format)
Very interestingly, in the press conference, Fabi said this idea is for just the one game- if Black sees it at home there are numerous ways to hold the balance, including what MVL did up till a certain point. It is very easy to say its all about computers but psychology plays a big role. Very often in top level chess these days you would hear people say that it is a one-off idea like Fabi did. So the computer directly does not give any big advantage; but what must be looked at is the practical value of the suggestions. If a line ends in equality it doesn't mean you stop there. It's important to understand the line, how easy or difficult would it be for the opponent to navigate through these complications with limited time on clock... Such things are what makes human chess so fascinating and enjoyable!
Part 2 Coming Soon
