2022 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz

[Geoff Chandler]

Caruana did not seemed phased by it. Probably used to it, he has played Nakamura at chess in
all it’s various guises 148 times so he may have witnessed it or experienced it first hand before.
(though not too often regarding their non-classical score. It’s 53 – 20 with 28 draws to Nakamura.)

Caruana is also a chessboard pro, the win was fairly simple once the Bishop was pinned and Fab had spotted
the trap Bh7+ by playing Kh7. If the position was more complicated then he may have had cause to complain.

If you look at the clip it appears Nakamura realised he had blundered on move 70 just before Caruana played 72.Kh7.

'The good players curse,' which is the...curse of being a good player.
A weaker player would not a have realised a few moves after playing 70.Rxf5 that 70.Ke4
held the position together. They would have blissfully played on thinking 70.Rxf5 was forced
and not back tracked their thoughts which led to the OTB histrionics. Sometimes it’s good not knowing how badly you play.

[David Sedgwick]

The official commentary for Day 4 can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwZ6VYSS_NQ.

[David Sedgwick]

The official commentary for Day 5 can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW6EwNAdbPw.

[David Sedgwick]

Closing Ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vKZyR9DcMQ