Chessable Houska's Caro

Vugar Gashimov Memorial 2014 (4)

Caruana catches Carlsen by defeating him in Gashimov Memorial Round 4

Fabiano Caruana defeated Magnus Carlsen. He was also the last player to beat him. Photo ©

Fabiano Caruana defeated Magnus Carlsen. He was also the last player to beat him. Photo © | http://shamkirchess.az/

Magnus Carlsen was defeated by Fabiano Caruana in Round 4 of the Gashimov Memorial. Carlsen last lost 31 games ago, again against Caruana in June 2013 at the Tal Memorial. The game itself was not terribly special, Caruana improved with 13.Ne4 in a Berlin Defence over a previous game against Ponomariov, Carlsen just didn't settle on a good setup, was obviously not happy with the way things were going and just dropped a pawn for no compensation. Caruana took his time to convert but Carlsen never looked like escaping. Carlsen said that he thought from the morning "it's a bad day" and he just seemed out of sorts. Caruana's calculations throughout the game just seemed better than Carlsen's. With five rounds a rest day and five rounds Carlsen wasn't the only player who seemed in need of a day off.

Sergey Karjakin was feeling the pace a little after some long games and played a sharp variation of the Caro-Kann he knew led to a dynamic draw with best play but hoped his opponent Shakhriyar Mamedyarov wouldn't find his way through, he did and a quick but probably theoretically important, draw was agreed.

Teimour Radjabov and Hikaru Nakamura played a complex Slav where Nakamura seemed to have almost equalised but the Rook ending whilst probably never more than drawn allowed his opponent to really make him work hard for quite a long time before the game ended in a draw.

Round 4 standings: Caruana, Carlsen 2.5/4pts, Karjakin, Radjabov, Nakamura 2pts, Mamedyarov 1pts.

Round 5 Pairings Thurs 25th April 2014: Mamedyarov-Caruana, Carlsen-Radjabov, Nakamura-Karjakin.

Round 4

Caruana vs Carlsen

Caruana vs Carlsen. Photo © http://www.shamkirchess.az.

"I got a small advantage out of the opening, I played this line against Ponomariov but I played instead of 13.Ne4, 13.e6 here which is not very dangerous. White has a bit of an advantage, it's quite unpleasant for black to play, mainly it seemed like a blunder. 23...Re8 is a blunder, OK after 23...c6 it's very unpleasant for black but still chances to hold. After this I don't know what black's going to do. e6, Nc7 is always coming. After I win this pawn it should be pretty easily winning." Caruana

Carlsen resigns

Carlsen resigns. Photo © http://www.shamkirchess.az.

"I agree with Fabiano he was a little bit better from the opening. I think c5 was inaccurate [...] I was fixated on this Bg3 and I was thinking that having the d4 square would be an asset for black but it actually turns out it's the d5 square that is weak not the d4 square and then of course Kc8 is a blunder and then I'm a pawn down with a bad position." - Carlsen

Radjabov vs Nakamura

Radjabov vs Nakamura Photo © http://www.shamkirchess.az.

"It's a long tournament, today I felt from the morning that it's a bad day, I'm not feeling well and then it's tough against such a good opponent, maybe I should have played something different in the opening because it's not such a good idea to play like this when you're not in such an inspired mood." - Carlsen

Mamedyarov vs Karjakin

Mamedyarov vs Karjakin Photo © http://www.shamkirchess.az.

Vugar Gashimov Mem 2014 Shamkir AZE (AZE), 19-30 iv 2014 cat. XXII (2780)
1 2 3 4 5 6
1. Caruana, Fabiano g ITA 2783 * * 1 . ½ . ½ . ½ . . . 2879
2. Carlsen, Magnus g NOR 2881 0 . * * ½ . . . 1 . 1 . 2866
3. Karjakin, Sergey g RUS 2772 ½ . ½ . * * ½ . . . ½ . 2 2784
4. Radjabov, Teimour g AZE 2713 ½ . . . ½ . * * ½ . ½ . 2 2771
5. Nakamura, Hikaru g USA 2772 ½ . 0 . . . ½ . * * 1 . 2 2784
6. Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar g AZE 2760 . . 0 . ½ . ½ . 0 . * * 1 2591
Round 4 (April 23, 2014)
Caruana, Fabiano - Carlsen, Magnus 1-0 53 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Karjakin, Sergey - Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar ½-½ 26 B12 Caro Kann Advanced
Radjabov, Teimour - Nakamura, Hikaru ½-½ 67 D11 Slav Defence
Vugar Gashimov Mem B 2014 Shamkir AZE (AZE), 19-30 iv 2014 cat. XVII (2663)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
1. Bacrot, Etienne g FRA 2722 * . . . ½ . 1 ½ . 1 3 2806
2. Eljanov, Pavel g UKR 2732 . * 1 ½ . ½ . . . ½ 2756
3. Wojtaszek, Radoslaw g POL 2716 . 0 * 1 . . . . 1 ½ 2759
4. Motylev, Alexander g RUS 2685 . ½ 0 * ½ 1 . . . . 2 2656
5. Abasov, Nijat g AZE 2516 ½ . . ½ * . . ½ ½ . 2 2699
6. Mamedov, Rauf g AZE 2660 . ½ . 0 . * . 1 ½ . 2 2701
7. Guseinov, Gadir g AZE 2621 0 . . . . . * ½ ½ 1 2 2674
8. Wang, Hao g CHN 2734 ½ . . . ½ 0 ½ * . . 2542
9. Safarli, Eltaj g AZE 2656 . . 0 . ½ ½ ½ . * . 2541
10. Durarbayli, Vasif g AZE 2584 0 ½ ½ . . . 0 . . * 1 2504
Round 4 (April 23, 2014)
Eljanov, Pavel - Motylev, Alexander ½-½ 52 D11 Slav Defence
Wojtaszek, Radoslaw - Safarli, Eltaj 1-0 36 D70 Gruenfeld Defence
Abasov, Nijat - Bacrot, Etienne ½-½ 34 C67 Ruy Lopez Berlin
Mamedov, Rauf - Wang, Hao 1-0 75 C05 French Tarrasch
Durarbayli, Vasif - Guseinov, Gadir 0-1 39 E60 King's Indian without Nc3

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