Caruana v Firouzja Miniature

[Nick Burrows]

I think the time control was 10 +2s

[Event "Division I"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2024.07.19"] [Round "1"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Firouzja, Alireza"] [Result "*"] [ECO "A11"] [WhiteElo "2763"] [BlackElo "2873"] [PlyCount "17"] [EventDate "2024.??.??"] 1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Bg4 4. Ne5 Bf5 5. Qb3 Qb6 6. cxd5 Qxb3 7. axb3 Be4 8. dxc6 Bxh1 9. Rxa7 *

[Roger de Coverly]

Taking the Rook is the one move blunder. The recapture on c6 is necessary. A superficial stockfish analysis asserts that White is a bit better after this, so perhaps chalk that up to openings research by Caruana or his support team. The idea of Nf3-e5 coupled with Qd1-b3 is known of course, but perhaps not believed to lead anywhere.

[Ian Thompson]

so perhaps chalk that up to openings research by Caruana or his support team.

I doubt it. The Rxa7 idea is well-known. There are quite a few examples of it in my database, such as the games below. I'm pretty sure I saw a "find the winning move" position featuring it a few months ago.

[Event "Hessen ch U18"] [Date "1998.??.??"] [White "Kritz, Leonid"] [Black "Schwarz, Karsten"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2185"] 1. d4 d5 2. e3 Bf5 3. c4 c6 4. Qb3 Qb6 5. cxd5 Qxb3 6. axb3 Bxb1 7. dxc6 Be4 8. Rxa7 Rxa7 9. c7 1-0 [Event "Debrecen op"] [Date "2001.??.??"] [White "Popovics, Adam"] [Black "Hegedus, Gyorgy"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2306"] [BlackElo "2107"] [PlyCount "29"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 Bg4 5. Qb3 Qb6 6. h3 Bf5 7. g4 Qxb3 8. axb3 Bc2 9. g5 Ne4 10. cxd5 Nxc3 11. dxc6 Be4 12. Rxa7 Rxa7 13. c7 Nc6 14. c8=Q+ Nd8 15. f3 1-0 [Event "Ruhrgebiet Regionalliga 0304"] [Date "2004.03.07"] [White "Dick, Matthias"] [Black "Mueller, Michael2"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1997"] [BlackElo "2179"] 1. d4 d5 2. Nf3 Bf5 3. c4 c6 4. Qb3 Qb6 5. cxd5 Qxb3 6. axb3 Bxb1 7. dxc6 Be4 8. Rxa7 Rxa7 9. c7 Nc6 10. c8=Q+ Nd8 11. Ne5 Nf6 12. e3 Bc6 13. Bc4 e6 14. O-O Bb4 15. Qb8 1-0 [Event "Manaus IRT da FAX"] [Date "2011.07.30"] [White "Souza Neves, Andrey Marcelo"] [Black "Da Silva, Mikhail Zoltan Iwan"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [WhiteElo "2094"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Bf5 3. c4 c6 4. Qb3 Qb6 5. cxd5 Qxb3 6. axb3 Bxb1 7. dxc6 Be4 8. Rxa7 Rxa7 9. c7 Nc6 10. c8=Q+ Nd8 11. e3 e6 12. Bb5+ Bc6 13. Bxc6+ bxc6 14. O-O Bd6 15. Ne5 Ne7 16. Qxd8+ Kxd8 17. Nxf7+ Kd7 18. Nxh8 Ke8 19. f4 Kf8 20. f5 exf5 21. g4 Kg8 22. gxf5 Kxh8 23. e4 Rb7 24. e5 Bb4 25. f6 gxf6 26. exf6 Nd5 27. Bg5 Kg8 28. Ra1 Kf7 29. Ra6 Rc7 30. Kg2 Nxf6 31. Bxf6 Kxf6 32. d5 Ke7 33. Rxc6 Rxc6 34. dxc6 Kd6 35. c7 Kxc7 36. Kh1 Kb6 37. Kg2 Kb5 38. Kh1 Bd2 39. Kg2 Kb4 40. Kh1 Kxb3 41. Kg2 Kxb2 42. Kh1 Kc3 43. Kg2 Kd3 44. h4 Ke4 45. h5 Kf4 46. h6 Kg4 47. Kh1 Bxh6 48. Kg2 Be3 49. Kh1 1/2-1/2 [Event "Leipzig op"] [Date "2016.03.15"] [White "Zaerban, Jan Christopher"] [Black "Urban, Thomas"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "1895"] [BlackElo "1226"] 1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 c6 3. d4 Bf5 4. Qb3 Qb6 5. cxd5 Qxb3 6. axb3 Bxb1 7. dxc6 Be4 {[#]} 8. Rxa7 Rxa7 9. c7 1-0

[Kevin Thurlow]

Agadmator said the idea was 100 years old https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1xp0JkearI&t=300s

[MJMcCready]

Miniatures at the highest level are virtually unheard of thee days.

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Miniatures at the highest level are virtually unheard of thee days.

You cannot consider any game played at a time control of 10 +2s to be "the highest level".