Greetings to all chess fans! The game I'm going to show occurred in the Total World Championship in Budapest. It was a game by USA's Fabiano Caruana and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu of India. The game started with 1. c4 e6 2. g3 d5 3. Bg2 c6 4. Nf3 b5 5. cxb5 cxb5 6. O-O Nf6 7. d3 Be7 8. Be3 O-O 9. Nbd2 a5 10. Nb3 a4 11. Nbd4 b4 12. Rc1 Bb7 13. Qd2 Ra6 14. Rc2 Nbd7 15. Rfc1 Qb8 16. Bh3 Ba8 17. b3 axb3 18. axb3 h6
The game was pretty even until Black made the move h6. It's pretty provocative as it's possible to sacrifice the bishop for two pawns. Piece sacrifices to open up the opposing king's position is possible when it's difficult for the pieces to come to the defense of the king. Looking at Black's position, his queen is trained on the queenside, he has a bad bishop and his rook is hanging on a6. The rook on a6 is the key in the tactics that follows. 19. Bxh6 gxh6 20. Qxh6 Nh7
Nh7 is logical to guard the g5 square. The bishop can come to g7 to help defend his king. The problem is the loose rook on a6. Fabi exploits this beautifully. 21. Bf5
Threatening mate on h7. Black cannot take the bishop because it will open his rook to attack. 21. ...Ndf6 22. Rc7 Qe8
Black still can't take the bishop. exf5 Nxf5 threatens mate on g7 as well as the bishop on e7. 23. Ne5 Bd8 24. Rd7 Bc6
Black tries to activate his bishop but White's attack is unstoppable at this point. 25. Rxd8 Qxd8 26. Nxe6 { White wins. } 1-0
Black resigns because it's mate in three. 26. ...fxe6 27. Bxe6+ Rf7 28. Qg6+ and mate follows.
