Clutch Chess Day 1: Nakamura Leads as a Pawn Strikes

Photo: ChessKelly / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Hikaru Nakamura finished the first day of Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown in Saint Louis with 4 points out of 6 and no losses. Javokhir Sindarov is half a point behind him on 3.5. Fabiano Caruana has 2.5, and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu has 2.

Remember the rule from our preview: the same win is worth more each day. On Tuesday a win was 1 point and a draw was half a point. On Wednesday a win is worth 2 points and a draw is worth 1. On Thursday a win is worth 3 points and a draw is still worth 1. With 12 points to win on Wednesday and 18 on Thursday, nobody is out of it.

The table after Day 1

| Player | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points | |---|---:|---:|---:|---:| | Hikaru Nakamura | 2 | 4 | 0 | 4 | | Javokhir Sindarov | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3.5 | | Fabiano Caruana | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2.5 | | Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 |

Nakamura beat Caruana and Praggnanandhaa, both with the white pieces. Sindarov won the first game of the day against Praggnanandhaa and then drew his other five. Praggnanandhaa lost three games, but he won the last game of the day, against Caruana, so he starts Wednesday with a smile.

All 12 games

| White | Black | Result | Moves | |---|---|:---:|---:| | Praggnanandhaa | Sindarov | 0-1 | 48 | | Caruana | Nakamura | ½-½ | 68 | | Sindarov | Praggnanandhaa | ½-½ | 59 | | Nakamura | Caruana | 1-0 | 51 | | Nakamura | Praggnanandhaa | 1-0 | 43 | | Sindarov | Caruana | ½-½ | 67 | | Praggnanandhaa | Nakamura | ½-½ | 41 | | Caruana | Sindarov | ½-½ | 80 | | Praggnanandhaa | Caruana | 0-1 | 32 | | Nakamura | Sindarov | ½-½ | 51 | | Caruana | Praggnanandhaa | 0-1 | 68 | | Sindarov | Nakamura | ½-½ | 117 |

The last game of the day was the longest. Sindarov and Nakamura played 117 moves, and it was drawn. The shortest was the one we will look at now, because a single pawn decided it.

The game of the day: Praggnanandhaa against Caruana

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu 0-1 Fabiano Caruana Clutch Chess: Champions Showdown, Saint Louis · Day 1, third round, first game White: Praggnanandhaa (2730) · Black: Caruana (2682) · FIDE rapid ratings

Both players had 10 minutes for the whole game, plus 5 seconds after every move. That is fast. Mistakes come when the clock gets low, and you will see one at the end.

1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Bd3 b6 5.O-O Bb7 6.b3 Be7 7.Bb2 O-O 8.c4 dxc4 9.bxc4 c5 10.Qe2 cxd4 11.exd4

It began as a quiet Queen's Pawn opening. Both sides brought out their pieces and castled, and our engine called the position level.

11...Nbd7 12.Nc3 Re8 13.Rad1 a6 14.Ne5 Qc7 15.f4 Nf8 16.g4 Rad8 17.g5 N6d7 18.Be4 b5 19.Qf3 Bxe4 20.Nxe4 bxc4

Praggnanandhaa sent his pawns up the board, f4, then g4, then g5, like a wave rolling toward the black king. Caruana answered on the other side of the board. He pushed his b-pawn to b5 and then took White's pawn on c4 with it, so he ended up with a pawn of his own on c4.

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After 20...bxc4, White to move. Look at the black pawn on c4. There is no white pawn in front of it on the b, c or d files, so nothing can stop it by capturing it with a pawn. Chess players call that a passed pawn.

Analyze this position in the full game

Keep an eye on that pawn. A passed pawn is a pawn with no enemy pawn in front of it on its own file or the two files beside it. It can walk all the way to the last row and turn into a queen. That is called promotion. Passed pawns get stronger the closer they come.

21.Nc6 Rc8 22.Nxe7+ Rxe7 23.Ba3 Ng6 24.f5 exf5 25.Qxf5 Rxe4 26.Qxe4 Qa5

White's knight jumped to c6 and attacked the rook on d8 and the bishop on e7 at the same moment. That is a double attack. Black saved the rook, White traded the knight for the bishop, and Praggnanandhaa had the better game. Over the next few moves our Stockfish run had him ahead by between one and two pawns.

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After 26...Qa5, White to move. The black queen attacks the bishop on a3. The calm 27.Bc1 saves it and keeps White clearly better.

Analyze this position in the full game

Here the game turned. Praggnanandhaa played 27.Qf5, which attacked the knight on d7 but left his own bishop where it was. Caruana took it with 27...Qxa3, and White took the knight back.

27.Qf5 Qxa3 28.Qxd7 Qe3+ 29.Rf2 Rf8 30.Qf5 c3 31.Kh1 Ne7

The trade of a bishop for a knight left the game close to level. But look at what had happened to Black's pawn. It had walked from c4 to c3, and it now stood two steps from the first row. By this point each player had less than a minute left on the clock.

Can you find the move?

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After 31...Ne7, White to move. Black's pawn is on c3, and the black queen on e3 attacks the white rook on f2. White's other rook is on d1, on the first row. Only two moves keep the game close. Can you find one?

Analyze this position in the full game

White has 44 legal moves here, and our engine says only two of them hold the balance: 32.Qf4 and 32.Qc2. Every other move loses by more than five pawns.

Why those two? The pawn on c3 is dangerous, and both moves aim straight at it. 32.Qf4 offers a queen trade. When the queens come off the board, the pawn loses its helper, and White's rooks can deal with it. 32.Qc2 puts the white queen right in front of the pawn, so it cannot move. Chess players call that a blockade.

32.Qf3 c2

Praggnanandhaa played 32.Qf3. It looks natural, because it offers a queen trade too. But after 32...c2, the game was over.

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After 32...c2, White to move. The pawn on c2 attacks the rook on d1, and the black queen on e3 attacks the white queen on f3. White cannot save everything.

Analyze this position in the full game

Caruana did not take the queen. He played an in-between move, a pawn move first, and the pawn now attacks the rook on d1. If White takes the black queen with 33.Qxe3, then 33...cxd1=Q+ makes a new black queen with check. If White moves the rook away instead, Black can promote on c1 and stays far ahead. Our engine said Black was ahead by more than five pawns, and that is where the game ended.

What to learn

1. Know your pawns. A passed pawn is a plan all by itself. When you have one, look for ways to push it. When your opponent has one, count how many steps it needs.
2. Before every move, ask what the other side wants. Caruana's pawn on c3 wanted to go to c2. Only moves that stopped that idea were good.
3. A queen trade can be a defence. Trading queens is not only for players who are ahead. It can switch off the enemy's best attacker.
4. Slow down on the clock. Praggnanandhaa was better for a long stretch. Two mistakes cost him the point, the second with less than a minute on his clock, and the best players in the world make those too.

The rest of the day

Praggnanandhaa got his point back in the last game of the day. Caruana had the white pieces, and the game went to a long bishop ending. Praggnanandhaa won it after 68 moves, so Caruana and Praggnanandhaa each beat the other once.

Sindarov, who plays Gukesh Dommaraju for the World Championship in Geneva next month, drew five of his six games and lost none. Nakamura won twice with White and drew four times, and he is the player to catch.

Play starts at noon Central Time on Wednesday, October 28, and you can watch on the Saint Louis Chess Club's YouTube channel.

How we checked: results and standings match the Saint Louis Chess Club's official game list, and every game was replayed move by move from the official broadcast record. Engine numbers come from our own Stockfish 17.1 Lite, depth 18 over the whole game and depth 22 for the position after 31...Ne7.

Read next

Nakamura and Caruana met in the Candidates in April too: Nakamura's rooks on the seventh row beat Caruana.