Sinking the field

Fabiano Caruana has dominated the Sinquefield Cup in St Louis in a way that almost defies belief. The Italo-American grandmaster, just 22 years old, reeled off seven straight wins against an elite field which included the world champion, Magnus Carlsen, as well as two Olympiad gold medal winners. The final scores out of 10 were as follows: Caruana 8½, Carlsen 5½, Topalov 5, Aronian and Vachier-Lagrave 4, Nakamura 3.
 
To my mind, the most astonishing fact of all is that in every round from one to nine, until he conceded a well-played draw in round ten, Caruana achieved a winning position. This kind of dominance has not been seen since the best days of Garry Kasparov or Bobby Fischer, with whom Caruana is increasingly being compared.
 
First of all, here is Caruana’s dramatic demolition of the world champion.
 
Carlsen-Caruana: Sinquefield Cup, St Louis
 
In this wild position, where White’s rook and knight have hacked their path into the very vitals of the black camp, Caruana now fights back with a series of moves which exploit the exposed situation of White’s king.