Caruana, F.. – Vachier Lagrave, M..

2842 2021 · White wins (resignation, time or agreement)

Poisoned Pawn Sicilian: Caruana (2842) against Vachier-Lagrave (2767) in 2021, straight into 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2, the sharpest line in the book. Queens came off early and the game boiled down to a long rook-versus-knight endgame, where accuracy decided things: 82% for White, 76% for Black. The turning point came deep in that endgame: 55...Nh6 swung the evaluation from 0.0 to +1.7, and 62...Ne7 let it drift from +0.1 to +2.3. White gave ground back with 67.Ra3 (from −2.3 to −0.3), but 68...Nh6 pushed the needle from +2.2 to +4.1 and Caruana converted. The lesson: in long endgames, an aimless knight costs more than any opening slip.

Caruana, F..(2842)—

-0.3

Vachier Lagrave, M..(2767)—

Analysis mode

1/5

Starting position

Accuracy

Vachier Lagrave, M..75%

Caruana, F..82%

Analysis mode

Mistake 1 / 5

Starting position

Engine lines

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.13.14.15.16.17.18.19.20.21.22.23.24.25.26.27.28.29.30.31.32.33.34.35.36.37.38.39.40.41.42.43.44.45.46.47.48.49.50.51.52.53.54.55.56.57.58.59.60.61.62.63.64.65.66.67.68.69.70.71.72.73.74.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

61.

62.

63.

64.

65.

66.

67.

68.

69.

70.

71.

72.

73.

74.

Caruana, F.. – Vachier Lagrave, M..

Synthesis

Starting position

Engine lines