Not even the greatest chess players of the world are immune to the effects of time trouble, and while Fabiano Caruana’s comeback at the St. Louis Rapid & Blitz was very impressive, he and his closest rivals will wonder what could have been had those final rounds played out differently.
For the first time in the history of this competition, winning the rapid portion of the event didn’t lead to an overall win; while wildcard Ray Robson took off to a storming start in the slower time control, it was his closest challengers Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fabiano Caruana who took the bull by the horns once blitz began. After a topsy-turvy set of games, they found themselves in a decider match in the final round of the competition.
This was a notable comeback from the American, who was without a win after the first five rounds in the tournament yet somehow found a way to get himself back into contention by the end of the rapid games. After the first day of blitz, MVL was two points clear and was a clear favorite heading into the last set of matches but his repeated stumbles gave his rivals an opportunity to catch up.
Last year, French phenom Alireza Firouzja won the event with 26 points in dominating fashion—this time around, it was clear that the members of the closely matched field would keep each other to a lower total.
Perhaps the Robson-Caruana game was the best encapsulation of just how tight the margins were at the tournament. Win it, and Caruana would guarantee himself the tournament win with a round to spare.
Instead, the back-to-back US champion found himself down a piece for limited compensation but managed to weave an attack and keep the game alive, somehow simplifying into the well-known theoretical draw of rook versus rook and bishop. It was a very impressive performance ultimately marred by a moment where he flagged on move 111 and lost the game outright after having worked hard to get back into the match.
Therefore, it all came down to the final round of play where Caruana only needed a draw with the White pieces against MVL, who was unable to capitalize on this stumble. The Frenchman found ways to keep pushing even as they continued to trade off pieces, and with seconds left on their clocks, all three results seemed possible.
Caruana missed a forced draw on move 54, then immediately blundered, but he found a way to trap MVL’s rook and extinguished the game, splitting the points to secure the narrowest of tournament victories.
Next up, the Sinquefield Cup—one of the most prestigious invitationals—is set to take place in the same venue, featuring classical time controls instead. Caruana’s win puts him in pole position in the Grand Chess Tour, while Anish Giri, Alireza Firouzja, and Wesley So will battle it out for a likely Candidates spot.
The chess action will continue on Nov. 21.
