Nakamura's Rooks on the Seventh Row Beat Caruana

Photo: ChessKelly / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Two white rooks are standing side by side on the seventh row, deep in Black's half of the board. The rook on d7 attacks the pawn on g7, the rook on a7 is lined up right behind it, and the black king on h7 has very little room.

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Position after 31.Rdd7, with Black to move. White's rooks on a7 and d7 are lined up on the seventh row. The rook on d7 attacks g7, with the other rook backing it up.

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Chess players have a nickname for rooks like these: pigs on the seventh, because they gobble up everything on that row. This was the moment Hikaru Nakamura's first win of the Candidates Tournament began to take shape.

Hikaru Nakamura 1-0 Fabiano Caruana FIDE Candidates Tournament 2026, Paphos, Cyprus · Round 8 White: Hikaru Nakamura (2810) · Black: Fabiano Caruana (2795)

Nakamura had not won a game in the first seven rounds, according to the official broadcast results, and he had lost to Caruana in round 1. This was his first win of the event.

A level middlegame

The game began as an English Opening, with 1.c4.

1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Bf4 d5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Nxc6 bxc6

After the knight trade, Black took back with the b-pawn, so the pawn on c6 had no pawn beside it on the b-file. Our own Stockfish 16 run, at depth 18, called the game almost exactly level, and it stayed that way for a long time.

9.Bd2 Bb4 10.Qa4 a5 11.e4 Nxc3 12.bxc3 Be7 13.Be2 O-O 14.Bf4 Ba6 15.Bxa6 Rxa6 16.Rd1 Qb6 17.O-O Qb5 18.Qc2 Bc5 19.c4 Qb7 20.Be5 Qe7 21.Qd3 f6 22.Bd6 Bxd6 23.Qxd6 Qxd6

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Position after 23...Qxd6, with White to move. White takes back with the rook, and the game becomes an endgame with two rooks each.

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Rooks on the seventh row

24.Rxd6 Rb8 25.Rxe6 Rb2 26.Re7 Rab6 27.Ra7 Rxa2 28.h3

Both sides went hunting pawns with their rooks. White's rook reached the seventh row first. The engine still called it close to level, about a third of a pawn for White.

28...h5

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Position after 28...h5, with White to move. White's second rook on f1 is ready to join the first one on the seventh row.

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Our engine marked this as the moment the game turned. After 28...h5 it rated White more than a pawn better. The engine preferred 28...Rab2, keeping the rooks busy.

29.Rd1 Rbb2 30.Rd8+ Kh7 31.Rdd7

White's second rook came to d1, then d8 with check, and then d7. Now both white rooks were on the seventh row, and that is the position at the top of this article.

Collecting pawns

31...Rxf2 32.Rxg7+ Kh8 33.Rh7+ Kg8 34.Rag7+ Kf8 35.Rf7+ Kg8 36.Rhg7+ Kh8 37.Rg6 Rf4 38.Rfxf6 Rxf6 39.Rxf6

The two rooks gave check after check, and took the g7 and f6 pawns along the way. Then a pair of rooks was traded.

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Position after 39.Rxf6, with Black to move. One rook each is left. White has four pawns, Black has three.

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39...Kg7 40.Rxc6 Rc2 41.Rc5 Kg6 42.Rxa5 Rxc4 43.Re5 h4 44.Kf2 Rc2+ 45.Kf3 Rc3+ 46.Kg4 Rg3+ 47.Kxh4 Rxg2

White took more pawns. After move 47 White had a rook and two pawns against a lone rook, and the engine rated White more than three pawns better.

The long finish

48.Rf5 Rg1 49.Rf4 Ra1 50.Kg3 Rg1+ 51.Kf3 Rf1+ 52.Ke3 Re1+ 53.Kd4 Ra1 54.Rf5 Rh1 55.Rf3 Ra1 56.h4 Ra4+ 57.Ke5 Ra5+ 58.Kf4 Rh5 59.Kg4 Re5 60.Rf4 Kh6 61.Kf3 Kg6 62.Ke3 Ra5 63.Rg4+ Kf6 64.Rg5 Ra1 65.Rf5+ Kg6 66.h5+ Kh6 67.e5

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Final position, after 67.e5. White's e- and h-pawns are both passed, and the white rook and king are ready to push them. Caruana resigned.

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Winning a rook endgame with extra pawns still takes patience. Nakamura kept his king close to the pawns, avoided the checks, and pushed. After 67.e5 Caruana resigned.

What this game teaches

1. Rooks love the seventh row. From the seventh row, a rook attacks the pawns that have not moved yet, and it hems in the enemy king.

2. Two rooks on the seventh are even stronger. With both rooks on d7 and a7, White could give check after check and pick up pawns.

3. A small pawn move can open the door. 28...h5 let White bring the second rook in with tempo. The engine preferred keeping Black's rooks active.

4. Converting takes patience. Nakamura needed almost thirty more moves after winning the pawns. He kept the king safe from checks and pushed his passed pawns.