Fabiano Caruana vs Awonder Liang: game review

19.gxf6! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Takes the pawn on f6.
• Creates a passed pawn on f6: no enemy pawn can stop it any more.
• The next best move, 19.Ndxe4, would drop White's winning chances from 57% to 38% (−1.33).
• 19.gxf6 creates a passed pawn on f6 and trades pawns.
• Trades pawns.
• Pushes a pawn towards the Black king, to pry open lines in front of it.

22…Bxg2! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Takes the bishop on g2.
• The next best move, 22…Rf7, would drop Black's winning chances from 52% to 29% (+2.47).
• 22…Bxg2 trades off the attacked bishop instead of losing it to Nxb7.
• White was threatening Nxb7, winning a knight. The bishop takes something with it instead.
• Trades bishops.
• The bishop on g2 can be taken by the king or the queen on g4.

26…Be7 is a mistake: Black's winning chances go from 40% to 20%.

• White answers 27.Ng4.
• Better was 26…Qa7 (+1.09): adds a decisive attacker on the d4 pawn: 3 attackers against 2 defenders.

Better: 26…Qa7 adds pressure on the d4 pawn. After 27.Ng4 Rad8 28.Nef6+ Bxf6 29.Nxf6+ Rxf6 30.Bxf6 Rf8, Black is two pawns down (+1.09).

29.d6! The only good move here: every alternative is clearly worse.

• Pushes the passed pawn to d6, close to promotion.
• Attacks the bishop on e7.
• The next best move, 29.Qh1, would drop White's winning chances from 88% to 74% (+2.88).
• 29.d6 pushes the passed pawn to d6 and attacks the bishop on e7.
• Black answers 29…Bh4, leaving White with an isolated pawn on d6.
• Engine line: 29…Bh4 30.Ngf6+ Bxf6 31.Nxf6+ Kf8 32.Rd5 (+4.98).

• Both sides followed opening theory up to 8…Be7: 16 moves in all, 8 by White and 8 by Black.
• Theory runs out after 8…Be7: too few games between strong players reached this position to go further.