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MA: Can you ever have imagined that you would have started five and 0 against this gang?
FC: I couldn’t have dreamed I would have started with a perfect score. All the games are going well for me; I have been playing well but there has been some luck involved.
MA: You had the chance to play 44…Bh4 against Nakamura and nail it. You pointed out that you missed this. When you saw he could bring his queen in and create some perpetual check chances did you feel something was wrong now having to work so hard to win the game?
FC: I completely missed Bh4. It would have been a nice way to end the game, but I just didn’t see it.
MA: Were you happy to see that he played 48. f5 instead of 48. Kf1?
FC: I can’t say that I was happy, I had about two minutes and it was difficult to calculate everything, a lot of check and I was afraid I would blunder my bishop and lose.
MA: What have you done differently for this tournament to make you play so well?
FC: I wish I knew. I am playing the way I normally do but I am playing more quickly, taking less time and more confidently. In the middle game here it was quite complicated but I made decent moves at a good pace and it helped me later on.
MA: The other players are happy to see a rest day. Are you happy to do so, you’re playing so well?
FC: Very happy. The results may not show it but all the games have been difficult. I am tired. It is good to take a break.
MA: Are you interested in 10 and 0?
FC: I don’t think that will happen but I am interested in winning as many games as possible. If Magnus were doing it, we wouldn’t be so surprised. But for me it is unusual.
MA: What is your favorite nickname? We have been using Fabulous Fabiano, Mr. Perfect or Don Fabiano?
FC: (modestly) People who know me just call me Fabby. I don’t really like nicknames.
Fabiano Caruana was born in Miami, Florida on the 30th of July, 1992, and is solely of Italian ancestry, since all eight of his great grandparents originate from Italy. Fabiano also has dual citizenship – currently he holds passports from both the United States and Italy.
At the age of four the family moved from Miami to Park Slope Brooklyn (Bobby Fischer's former neighborhood). There, at the age of five, in an after school program at Temple Beth Elohim, his chess journey began. Within six months he played his first tournament at Susan Polgar's club in Queens, New York. Susan's club helped start his chess career. Later he played at many clubs within the New York City area. Fabiano's trainers were National Master Bruce Pandolfini and GM Miron Sher. He also trained with GM Pal Benko, when Pal was spending summers in New Jersey, and via the Internet with GM Gregory Kaidanov.
By the age of twelve Fabiano was a FIDE Master, having won two gold medals and one silver medal at the Pan-American Youth Championships, and also multiple national scholastic championships. He also set the record – at the age of ten – of the youngest ever American to defeat a grandmaster in a USCF sanctioned tournament, surpassing the record previously held by GM Hikaru Nakamura.
Having decided to pursue chess professionally, it was time to move forward, and Europe was the place to be. So, in November of 2004 the family moved from Brooklyn to Madrid. This ended his early chess years in the United States.
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Caruana seemed to be constantly in time trouble in the last part of the game today. This may be because the time limit is 40 moves in 90 minutes, and 30 moves for the rest with a 30 second increment a move.
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Europe-Echecs tweet: Caruana 5 – Rest of the World 0! They did not know it was impossible so they did it (Mark Twain)
- Caruana thought for over 11 mins on move 45, and is now in time pressure!
(Lennart Ootes tweet) – Five out of five. Where does this end?
(Jonathan Tisdall tweet) – Really don’t understand the way Aronian is playing. Cannot remember him being so out of form.
Caruana has White later today against Topalov in his quest to remain perfect. I'm not sure that's an advantage however given this little statistical oddity. In 8 previous encounters between the two, the score is 3/1/4 in Caruana's favour. All 4 wins (3 by Caruana and 1 by Topalov), however, have come with the Black pieces (:
I wouldn't think he can win 10 in a row. It seems only a matter of time before he draws or loses. Particularly in that company.
He's young and I think we'll be hearing a lot more from him in the next few years.
Caruana's games have shown some nice ideas. His play seems to flow and he makes it look easy, which it's not.
He can draw his remaining games and win the event. I wouldn't be surprised to see some draws. It's doubtful his intent is to completely embarrass his opponents.
I thought Carlsen would do better. Maybe he believes his press clipping on how great he is.
Yasser and Shahade were discussing the odds of Caruana specifically going 6-0 to start this event. Yasser said that someone had told him it was 3%. Shahade thought it closer to .3%. I think even that is optimistic. Seems to me should be something closer to .05%, even taking into account that when you are 4-0 in a RR you have a much better chance of winning than if you are 2-2, for example.
"Tom is a well known racist, and like most of them he won't admit it, possibly even to himself." - Ed Seedhouse, October 4, 2020.
The odds of 6/6 at this level of play, where draws often seem routine, have to be small.
My rule of thumb on picking pro sports winners, like in baseball or hockey is that after a team has won 3 games in a row bet them to win until they lose. An exception would be an east coast team finishing game and flying to the west coast for a game the next day.
There are still 4 games to go and there are mathematical chances of someone else winning but it's not very likely.
I don't believe your last sentence is correct. That's the odds of Caruana starting 6-0. If we assume that every player has a roughly equal chance (probably not true) then it would be 6x that, no? Also 60% chance of a decisive game at this level seems awfully high, though obviously not in this event. ;-)
MA: I want to know what have you been eating? What did you have for breakfast this morning?
FC: Eggs and bacon.
MA: Good old American breakfast. Congratulations on your game (with Topalov). Could you imagine it would go this way?
FC: I got my position out of the opening. I had prepared this line. So I was very comfortable and he was a bit rattled, which is normal when you are surprised from the opening and against someone who is playing instantly and has everything analyzed. Later he blundered when his position was pretty unpleasant and 23.. Nc6 just loses on the spot. He probably thought that his king could go to g7.. and after 26. Qh5 Rdf8 27. Rf6 it’s over immediately.
MA: You spent some time here.
FC: I’m sacrificing a piece so I have to double check to make sure that I haven’t missed something.
MA: People are comparing your performance with greats such as Karpov in 1994, that’s twenty years ago.
FC: In terms of play I am not even close to Karpov. I didn’t really expect I could do anything like this.
MA: You could go ten and 0…
FC: I’m not even thinking about that, I just want to play normal chess.
MA: You are facing Vachier-Lagrave tomorrow?
FC: I’m Black and as Black you are under a bit of pressure to equalize the game. He is a very dangerous player and I have to keep control and play a solid game.
MA: You have a 2830 rating, does that make any sense?
FC: It’s unexpected; I’ll try to keep a rating like that in the future if I can play good chess.
_____
Maurice Ashley also interviewed Topalov, who is showing up to talk even when he loses. Both were amazed at Caruana’s preparation. Veselin said that he missed Qh5.
He said that in terms of history, Caruana’s performance is comparable to Linares 1994 and San Luis.
Magnus Carlsen and Maurice Ashley - the WC said that he kept missing stuff. In general he said that he has played three good games with Black and three terrible ones as White and he doesn’t know why.
Carlsen said that he thought that Topalov played horribly today. No one is going to catch Caruana. Today, he lost the very little hope that he had of winning the tournament.
He wouldn’t bet on Fabiano winning the game as Black tomorrow against Vachier-Lagrave because he is a pretty solid player. Carlsen seemed down because he had a good position today and he screwed up so that put him in a bit of a foul mood.
________
Mark Crowther in The Week in Chess elaborated on historical precedents of winning streaks:
Veselin Topalov was involved in two of the most frequently mentioned winning streaks at the start of events and he rates this one above those. Topalov himself started with 6.5/7 in San Luis in 2005 but pointed out a couple of the players weren't in good shape. Topalov beat Leko, drew with Anand from a winning position, then beat Morozevich, Adams, Svidler, Polgar and Kasimdzhanov before drawing out the 2nd half for victory. He seemed to rate Anatoly Karpov's 6/6 at the start of Linares 1994 more highly where he beat Lautier, Bareev (he dropped a rook in an inexplicable way), Illescas, Topalov, Ivanchuk and Polgar before a Kasparov draw in Round 7.
Garry Kasparov's major winning streak came in Wijk aan Zee 1999. After a first round draw with Ivanchuk he beat Van Wely, Yermolinsky, Topalov, Reinderman, Piket, Shirov, Kasimdzhanov and Ivan Sokolov, 8 games before being held by Anand.
_______
eastside writing in the USCF Forum:
Fine opened 5.5/6 at AVRO 1938.
Korchnoi opened 8/8 at Wijk aan Zee 1968.
Kasparov finished 12/14 at Tilburg 1989.
Karpov finished 11/13 at Linares 1994.
Carlsen finished 8/10 at Nanjing 2009.
If one was making a list of the best top-tier tournament starts and/or performances ever, this isn't a bad start (though certainly not at all conclusive.)
IMO, Caruana's 6/6 start at this event may already be the best-ever start at a top-flight tournament. (Fine played a similarly elite field, but did give up a draw, while Wijk aan Zee was not the event in 1968 that it would become later.)
Also IMO, Kasparov's result, while massive, was in a Category 15 event. Karpov's result, which I think most people consider superior to Kasparov's, was in a Category 18 event.
Probably the best comparison over the last 15 years might end up being Carlsen in 2009. Caruana has already won as many games in St. Louis as Carlsen did in Nanjing, and has done it against a Category 23 field. Looked at another way: Caruana is 3 points up with 4 rounds to go, which means the race for first is over.
I'm not a great chess historian by any means, but if Caruana goes an undefeated 8/10, given the unrelenting strength of this field (MVL is the "weakie", by rating), I'd have to call that the greatest elite tournament result ever. (Debating this, BTW, is part of the fun we get to have as chess fans.)
_________
From chess.com:
For those expecting MVL to play it safe tomorrow against Caruana, think again.
"I'm not going to make a draw tomorrow," the Frenchman said. "As good as he is, I'm still White."
Asked how chess fans will receive him if he breaks up the "perfect game," MVL laughed and said, "I really couldn't care less."
________
- Caruana, unlike Naka, Carlsen, and many others before him, has a humility and a friendly nature that makes him very likable, and I was rooting for him from the start. What a performance, and I am absolutely stunned that anyone can win 6/6 against 2700-2800s.
- Easy with the words boys and girls. Carlsen is not in top shape now, yet he is holding second so far. It is OK if he is not first at every tournament.
Stockfish gave 14. Qa4 as questionable and the same to Black’s reply 14…Qh4 At that time MLV had 23 minutes left on his clock and Caruana 47. At move 17. Kd2 the ratios were 8 minutes to 40 minutes.
Comments on chessbomb: - mvl should resign; every kid can see this is a mate in 112
- Check Caruana's shoes.
- Fischer once won the U.S. Championship 11/0. Afterwards Benko congratulated second-place Larry Evans for the victory, and Fischer for the exhibition.
- but fischer had the unfair advantage of being fischer.
- One good tournament and everyone thinks Caruana is the next Fischer.. LOL
Last edited by Wayne Komer; Wednesday, 3rd September, 2014, 06:49 PM.
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