World Candidates 2020: Caruana openings Part I

 Fabiano Caruana will play MVL in Part II world Chess Candidates.

Here's a round-up of the openings he used so far in this tournament

With Black

Round 1: Spanish Defense against MVL

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. c3

d6 9. d4 Bb6 10. a5

11. h3 O-O 12. Be3

 exd4 13. cxd4 Nb4 14. Nc3 Bb7 15.Ng5 Qe7 16. e5 dxe5 17. Nxf7 e4  eventually 1/2-1/2

He played the same opening against Grischuk in round 6 and drew the game as well.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O b5 6. Bb3 Bc5 7. a4 Rb8 8. c3

d6 9. d4 Bb6 10. a5 Ba7 11. h3 O-O 12. Be3 Re8 13. Ng5 Rf8 14. Nf3 Re8 15. Re1

exd4 16. cxd4 Nxe4 17. d5 Bxe3 18. Rxe3 Na7 19. Qd4 1/2-1/2

Against 1 d4 he played the Slav against Ding Liren

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 

e6 7. f3 Bb4 8. Nxc4O-O 9. Kf2 e5 10. Nxe5 Bc2 11. Qd2 c5 12. d5 Bb3 13. e4 Re8 14. Qf4 c4 15. Nxc4Nbd7 16. Be3 Nf8 17. Bd4 Ng6. Caruana lost that game.

He repeated the Slav against Giri in Round 5

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. e3 Bf5 5. Nc3 e6 6. Nh4 Be4 

7. f3 Bg6 8. Bd2Be7 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Qc2 Nbd7 11. O-O-O Nb6 12. c5 Nbd7 13. Kb1 Qb8 14. h4

This game ended up in 1/2-1/2 Note that Giri castled long and played 14 h4!?

With White

Caruana played 1 d4 and scored a win against Alekseenko by playing a Saemisch variation

he also played 1 d4 against Nepo and they reached the following position

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 7. Bc4 c5 8.

Ne2 O-O 9. O-O Nc6 10. Be3 b6 

11. Qd2 Bb7 12. Rfd1 cxd4 13. cxd4 Rc8 14. Rac1Na5 15. Bd3 Qd7 16. h4 Rxc1 17. Rxc1 Rc8 18. h5 Rxc1+ 19. Qxc1 Qc8 20. h6. The game ended in a draw

1/2-1/2

Finally in round 7, Caruana chose 1e4 against Wang Hao

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Nc3 Nxc3 6. dxc3 Be7 7. Be3 O-O

8. Qd2 Nd7 9. O-O-O Nf6

 10. Bd3 c5 11. Rhe1 Be6 12. Kb1 Qa5 13. c4 Qxd2 14. Nxd2 Rad8 15. f3 b6 16. g4 d5 17. g5 Nh5  Eventually 1/2-1/2