Chess: Fabiano Caruana ends winless run after Magnus Carlsen’s taunt

Fabiano Caruana is fighting back in the final rounds of the $194,000 US title contest this weekend after the world No 2 and defeated title challenger endured a record run of 27 classical games stretching back five months without a victory, plus a taunt from Magnus Carlsen, who tweeted “When your winless streak matches your age” after the 26th in the series.

The world champion’s jibe was arithmetically precise. Caruana, 26, had not won a classical game since October, drawing his last four at the Olympiad, all 12 classical games in their world title match before Carlsen won the rapid play-off, all four at the London Classic, and his first five in St Louis. He also had a loss (to Peter Leko) and a draw in the German Bundesliga.

Memories of his gruelling series with Carlsen are still fresh in Caruana’s mind, as he told a chess.com interviewer: “After the world championship, I needed a break. I was pretty wiped out emotionally and physically. It’s not pleasant but I think it’s worth it. I can’t say there’s any joy, except for the satisfaction if you win.”

Carlsen surely remembered well that he had recently suffered his own record streak, halving 21 games in a row.

This weekend, with three rounds to go in the race for the US crown, Caruana is attempting a late surge, helped by the lack of a clear leader in the first half of the tournament. He won in round six, then in round seven against the “blindfold king” Timor Gareev in a 125-move marathon where Gareev reached the theoretical draw of rook against rook and bishop, only to blunder at the end.

Gareev had actually drawn the identical ending against Samuel Sevian in a 117-mover in round four at St Louis. In truth, R+B v R is anything but easy and England’s veteran endgame specialist Keith Arkell has famously won it on around 20 occasions with no draws.

After eight of the 11 rounds in St Louis, the leaders were Hikaru Nakamura and Leinier Domínguez 5.5/8, Caruana 5, Wesley So 4.5. Speed specialist Nakamura, Caruana and So are all former US champions. The odd man out among the US 2016 Olympiad gold medal team is Domínguez, and victory for the former Cuban No 1 could spark controversy.

Domínguez, 35, is a five-time Cuban champion who in his eighth and final Olympiad appearance for his former country won the board one silver medal, unbeaten, at Baku 2016. He has been resident in Florida and did not play any classical chess for two years until he switched federations in December 2018, to conform with the transfer rules of Fide, the global chess body.

The Cuban federation did not like it:“We do not accept that Leinier (Domínguez) can change federation or play for any other country. It is not a matter of compensation, it is a matter of principle.” Before they switched to the US, Caruana made four Olympiad appearances for Italy and So four for the Phillippines.

The final decisive championship rounds are free to view, with move by move computer and grandmaster commentaries, starting at 6pm GMT on all three days.

Vladislav Artemiev led the European championship at Skopje, Macedonia, with an unbeaten 8/10 before Friday afternoon’s final round. The top seeded 21-year-old is the star of the chess world in first quarter of 2019. He won at Gibraltar, winning or drawing against several of the favourites, and was the best scorer for Russia’s gold medallists in the world team championship. His final round draw at Skopje gave him the European crown on tie-break from Sweden’s Nils Grandelius.

Artemiev got married three months before his brilliant run began (his wife, he says, is a 2100-rated player). He has been compared to the legendary tactical genius Mikhail Tal, partly due to opening choices like Artemiev v David Paravan from Skopje: 1 Nf3 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5 5 e3 e6 6 Nxd5 exd5 7 b4!? c4 8 Bb2 Bxb4 9 Bxg7 Rg8 10 Be5. Artemiev later retreated his B to g3, sacrificed it to h5-h4xg3, and won a wild game.

However, his normal style is more reminiscent of Boris Spassky’s powerful play, as in this week’s game where he controls the board by Bb5xNc6, lifts both rooks via the third rank to the king’s side, then breaks through with a rook sacrifice followed by a queen sacrifice. There are a few inaccuracies, but it is best to play the game through for its overall effect.

Asked who would be Russia’s next team leader after the former world champion Vlad Kramnik’s recent retirement, the experienced Alexander Grischuk replied: “We had Chuck Norris in the team. Vlad Artemiev, he was like Chuck Norris! Maybe you cannot call him the leader yet, but he has the potential to be the leader.”

Artemiev’s surge has carried him to world No 13, where he is already just ahead of the retired Kramnik. He is the youngest among the top 20, and only Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda and China’s Wei Yi are a year or two younger among the top 30.

A place among the eight 2020 candidates to challenge for Carlsen’s crown is already a possibility for Artemiev, although his road to the candidates is narrow. The just finished European championship is a qualifier for the 128-player 2019 World Cup, whose two finalists become candidates, along with the winner of Fide’s new 100-player elite Swiss. They will test whether he is the real deal.

3612 1 Qf4! Resigns. If Nxf4 2 Rf8 mate.