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When I first saw this chess game, I knew that I had to annotate it.

F. Caruana has had one of the highest (on-line) ratings in the world, he is known to be nearly impossible to beat in rapid chess. This player has developed rapidly over the last 5 (or so) years, making him - in my mind, anyway - one of the world's top players ... (and) probably the biggest threat to GM Magnus Carlsen and possibly his next challenger.

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  GM F. Caruana (2781) - GM M. Carlsen (2872);  
  [A11]  
 Rapid Event, Chess Challenge 
   Zürich, SUI /  (R#4) / 04,02,2014.  

  [ A.J. Goldsby I ]  

I thought that I would briefly annotate this game ... 
(When a player as strong as Magnus Carlsen loses, one always wonders what went wrong and exactly what the losing move was.) 

     1.Nf3 Nf6;  2.g3 d5;  3.Bg2 c6;  4.0-0 Bf5;  5.d3 e6;   

Caruana - so far - has chosen a solid, (if a slightly inferior); opening,  ... ... ... 
obviously an attempt to get Carlsen away from his normal opening preparation. 

One even wonders if this was not a prepared line by White, according to the online video, he played his moves very quickly. 

Now White quickly strikes at the center. 

     6.c4! Nbd7!?;  7.cxd5! cxd5;  8.Be3!? Bc5;  9.Bxc5 Nxc5;  10.Nc3 0-0;  11.Qd2 h6;     

Take a look at this position.   

   r2q1rk1/pp3pp1/4pn1p/2np1b2/8/2NP1NP1/PP1QPPBP/R4RK1 w - - 0 12   

I would award Black a slight edge, as the second player has more space ... 

     12.Rfc1 Rc8;  13.b4 Ncd7;  14.a4 Qe7;  15.Nb5 a6;   16.Nbd4 Bg6;  17.Nb3 e5;    

Now - because he dominates the center, and has more space, it would seem that Black is slightly better. 

     18.Nh4 Bh7;  19.Bh3 d4;   20.Nf3 Rxc1+;  21.Rxc1 Nb6;  22.a5 Nbd5;  
     23.Rc5 Rd8;  24.Na1!?,     

This is a doubtful idea, it can never be a good idea to place a Knight in the corner. However, one of Caruana's strength's is knowing the difference between a slightly inferior position and a very bad one. (He also played all of his moves very quickly.) 

               [ >/=  (Better was:)  24.Bg2,  when White may have a slight disadvantage,   
                         but you need a microscope just to see it. ]   

Now Carlsen - probably already short of time - plays a bad move. 
(One has to guess that some sort of miscalculation - or oversight - was involved.) 

Instead of 24...e4?!; simply (say) 24...Bg6; leaves Black with a really easy game. 

     24...e4?!;  25.Nxd4 exd3;  26.exd3 Bxd3!?;     

This looks like a bad idea, simply 26...Re8; is preferred by Fritz 13.  

     27.Qxd3 Nxb4;   28.Qc3 Ne4;     

Take a look at this position ...    

   3r2k1/1p2qpp1/p6p/P1R5/1n1Nn3/2Q3PB/5P1P/N5K1 w - - 0 29   

Carlsen appears to be forking Caruana's Queen and Rook.   

     29.Nf5!,  (Zwischenzug.)   

This must have been the move that Magnus missed. 

               [ Probably Magnus had looked at:  </=  29.Qxb4 Qxc5;  30.Qxc5 Nxc5;   
                 31.Nab3 Nxb3;  32.Nxb3 Kf8;  33.Bg4,  "~"  (Unclear, close to equal?)    
                 thinking it was at least a draw for Black. ]    

     29...Qf8[];  (BOX - only move.)    

This looks forced.   

               [ Even worse was:  </= 29...Nxc3;  30.Nxe7+ Kf8;  31.Rxc3 Rd1+;  32.Bf1 Rxa1;  
                  33.Rc4 Kxe7;  34.Rxb4 Rxa5;  35.Rxb7+,  "+/-"  (Winning edge for White.)   
                  when White has an easy win. (Easy - for this level of player - at any rate.) ]    

     30.Qxb4 Nxc5;     

White now has two pieces for a Rook plus one Pawn. It's a nice edge for White to be sure, but the game is far from over.   

******************************************************************************************************************************************    

Now the two players jockey for position ... 
(Each player is just trying to slowly improve his game without making a mistake or creating another weakness.) 

     31.Nc2 Nd3;  32.Qc3 g6;  33.Nfd4 Nc5;  34.Bg2 Qd6;  35.h4 h5;  
     36.Qe3 Qf6;  37.Nf3 Qf5; 38.Nfd4!? Qf6;  39.Kh2 Kg7?;  (Bad idea.)      

This was another critical error, by simply playing his Queen to the d6-square, it does not appear that White has made significant progress. (One has to wonder how Magnus could have played such a lemon. I have to conclude that Black was simply short of valuable thinking time.)   

     40.Qc3! Nd7;    

Black is just trying to stay alive ...   

               [ Of course not:  </=  40...Qxf2??;  41.Ne6+ Kg8;  42.Qg7#. (Check-mate.) ]    

     41.f4 b5;  (hmmm)    

Originally I had thought that this move was a mistake, but Black did not have a lot of decent alternatives. 
(A lot of strong programs also choose this move for Black.)    

   3r4/3n1pk1/p4qp1/Pp5p/3N1P1P/2Q3P1/2N3BK/8 w - b6 0 42   

Now in a very bad position - and also short of time - Carlsen proves that he is human ... and plays two virtual blunders in a row. 
(42...Kg8[]; was probably the only hope for Black here.)   

     42.Nb4 Nb8??;  43.Nd5 b4??;  44.Nf5+!,  "+/-"   Black Resigns. 

Any move by the Black King simply drops the lady, and Pawn-takes-Knight is answered by simply QxQ+, 
when Black (also) cannot recapture. 

A nice win by GM Fabiano Caruana, who is one of the best fast/rapid players in the whole world. 

   Copyright (c) A.J. Goldsby, 2014.  All rights reserved.