Iron nerves

The game that clinched Magnus Carlsen’s victory in the Gashimov Memorial came, fittingly, in a last-round cliffhanger against his closest rival, Fabiano Caruana. Both players were on 5½ points out of 9 possible, hence a win for either grandmaster would determine the laurels in his favour. A draw, leaving them both tied on 6 points, would have been a reasonable solution, honourable to both sides, but Carlsen is at his most deadly in these tense situations — one of the attributes he has taken from the great psychologist Emanuel Lasker. As it was, Caruana, despite playing with the black pieces, also seemed determined to play for a win, repeating his exploit against Carlsen from the first half of the tournament. Caruana gambitted a pawn, threw caution to the winds and would probably have triumphed against an opponent with lesser defensive skills and more fragile nerves than the world champion.
 
Carlsen-Caruana: Vugar Gashimov Mem, Shamkir 2014; Reversed Grunfeld
 
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 g3 Bg7 4 Bg2 c5 5 c3 d5 A bold decision indeed. If he wanted a draw then 5 …cxd4 6 cxd4 and only now 6 … d5 is a reliable continuation. 6 dxc5 The best way to hope for an advantage. White seizes the pawn and makes it clear that he does not fear Black’s ability to gain compensating ground in the centre and on the kingside. 6 … 0-0 7 0-0 a5 8 Be3 Nc6 Throwing down the gauntlet in irrevocable fashion. Black could grovel for a draw here with 8 … Ng4 9 Bd4 e5 10 h3 exd4 11 hxg4 dxc3 12 Nxc3 Bxg4 13 Qxd5 Qxd5 14 Nxd5 Na6. 9 Na3 a4 10 Qc1 e5 11 Rd1 Qe7 12 Nb5 Be6 13 Ng5 Bg4 14 Nd6 h6 Uncompromising battles have now been joined. Here 14 … Bxe2 fails to the counter-stroke 15 Rxd5 Nxd5 16 Bxd5 with a winning concentration of power against the pawn on f7.