Atticus

The Epistle to Dr Arbuthnot by Alexander Pope contains a memorable excoriation of his fellow wit and former friend Joseph Addison. When they fell out, Pope lampooned Addison as Atticus (Cicero’s Athenian correspondent) in The Epistle, the most telling phrase of which runs, ‘Willing to wound and yet afraid to strike.’ There could not be a better epithet to encapsulate the London World Championship, which finished this week. In previous articles I focused on missed wins in Game 1 (Magnus Carlsen) and Game 6 (Fabiano Caruana). This week: Caruana’s failures to strike in Game 8.

Caruana-Carlsen: World Championship (Game 8), London 2018; Sicilian Defence

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e5 This move is the hallmark of the Sveshnikov Variation of the Sicilian Defence. Black accepts a very obvious weakening of the pawn structure in return for free piece play. 6 Ndb5 d6 7 Nd5 The main lines of the Sveshnikov occur after 7 Bg5 which is a direct attempt to exploit Black’s self-inflicted wound on d5. 7 … Nxd5 8 exd5 Nb8 9 a4 Be7 10 Be2 0-0 11 0-0 Nd7 12 Bd2 f5 13 a5 a6 14 Na3 e4 15 Nc4 Ne5 16 Nb6 The knight is well-placed here as it controls key squares on the queenside. However, if play erupts on the other wing it will find itself misplaced. 16 … Rb8 17 f4 exf3 18 Bxf3 (see diagram 1) 18 … g5 Very aggressive and, in retrospect, a mistake. Carlsen weakens his own king in an attempt to attack White’s. More circumspect would be 18 … Nd7, challenging the black knight, followed by … Bf6. 19 c4 f4 20 Bc3 Bf5 21 c5 This is an excellent pawn sacrifice that enables White to exploit the weaknesses in Black’s position.