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Caro Crush!

Published on: 2015-03-19

Check out this excellent Caro-Kann game annotated by Roger Rudolph.

Qatar Masters, Round 1, 11-26-2014, ECO B18
Pontus Carlsson 2492 vs Evgeny Tomashevsky 2714
1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5 5.Ng3 Bg6 6.h4 h6 7.Nf3 Nd7 8.h5 Bh7 9.Bd3 Bxd3 10.Qxd3 e6 11.Bd2 (white wins 38.8% - draws 43.6% - black wins 25.7% according to chessgames.com) Ngf6 12.0-0-0 Be7 13.Ne4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nf6 15.Qd3 c5 After 15...c5 white wins 50% and black wins 50% with no draws. I wouldn't put too much stock in these tatistics unless there is a great imbalance in them. 16.Qb5+ Qd7 17.Qxd7+ Nxd7 18.Be3 cxd4 19.Bxd4 Bf6 20.Be3 Rc8 21.Nd2 Ke7 22.Ne4 Rc4 23.f3 Rhc8 24.Rd2 Be5 Black is starting to inch his way to a slight advantage with this move. 25.Rhd1 R8c7 26.b3 R4c6 27.f4 Nf6 28.Nxf6 Else 28. fxe5 Nxe4 29. Re2 Ng3 and wins the h5 pawn. Bxf6 29.c4? Best to hunker down and try to cover the black square weaknesses. 29.c4? leads to further weakening of the black squares and worsening of white's bad bishop to say nothing of allowing a nasty invasion of the black bishop.b5 30.c5 Bc3 31.Rc2 b4 32.a4 a5 33.g4 f5! 34.Rg2 fxg4 35.Rxg4 Kf6! The king goes for a walk in White Square Park! 36.Rg6+ Kf5 37.Kb1 Bf6 38.Rgg1 Ke4 39.Rg3The black bishop/rook partnership with the aid of the black king dominate matters completely. Rxc5!! 40.Bxc5 Rxc5 41.Rh3 With the f4 and h5 pawns both hanging white has to choose which to defend. Kxf4 42.Rc1 Bc3 43.Rf1+ Kg4 44.Rh2 Be5 45.Rg2+ Bg3 Black boldly builds further bridges and the invasion continues. 46.Rfg1 Rc3 47.Kb2 Re3 48.Ka2 e5 49.Rc1 Kf3 50.Rb2 Be1! 51.Rc5 Bc3 Returning to the ranch. 52.Rc2 Bd4 53.Rxa5Small price to pay for the ensuing mate threat. Re1 54.Rb2 e4 55.Rf5+ Ke3 56.a5 Rc1 57.Rb5 Kd3 58.Rxb4 Bxb2 59.Kxb2 Rc2+ 60.Ka3 e3 61.Rh4 Rc1 62.Rh3 Kd2 In football terms black is playing in the red zone. 63.Kb4 e2 64.Rh2 Kd3 65.Rxe2 Kxe2 66.a6 Black's remaining task: prevent the white queenside pawns from queening. Ra1 67.Kb5 Kd3 68.b4 Kc3 69.Kc5 Rxa6 70.b5 Ra5 71.Kc6 Kb4 72.b6 Rxh5 All in all, a sweet Caro Crush! 0-1

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