Caruana Edges Out Kramnik In No Castling Masters Dortmund

GM Fabiano Caruana has been crowned the winner of the 2023 No Castling World Masters after scoring 4/6 in a double round-robin classical tournament in Dortmund, Germany, and finishing half a point ahead of GM Vladimir Kramnik.

As part of the 50th Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meet, Caruana and Kramnik were joined by GMs Pavel Eljanov and Dmitrij Kollars for the tournament, which was held alongside the Sparkassen Open A and B divisions as well as the NRW Cup in a week-long celebration of chess.

The former world champion Kramnik has for a long time been an advocate of No Castling chess and was once quoted as saying: "This would inevitably lead to a considerably higher amount of decisive games in chess tournaments until the new theory develops, and more creativity would be required in order to win." 

One of the key facets of No Castling chess is the fact that king safety suddenly becomes a real conundrum. Players must choose between leaving their king exposed in the center of the board or spending priceless tempi walking it to one of the corners.

In round one, the winner of the 2022 International Dortmund Chess Days Grandmaster Tournament, Eljanov, played a variation of the Colle System but, due to the nature of the variant, never found a safe haven for his king. Unfortunately for the Ukrainian GM, he was playing against none other than Kramnik, who brutally ended the game on move 26 after a ferocious kingside attack.

While Caruana kicked off the event with a 1.5/2 start, he spoke about the difficulty of adjusting to the format: "I'm not playing maybe the best moves, but I am trying to get some original positions." In round three the American was paired against his most dangerous competitor, Kramnik, who had started the tournament with 1/2. Notably, in round two, the 2022 winner, Kollars, managed to defeat Kramnik, mirroring his monumental victory over GM Viswanathan Anand in the previous edition.

Caruana opted for familiarity and played the Slav Defense: Quiet, Schallopp Defense, and both players elected to lock up the center. This decision made the position look more normal than in the previous rounds, but this allowed Kramnik to take charge as they reached an endgame where White held a strong edge.

With Eljanov picking up a win with White against Kollars, just one point separated first from last at the halfway point of the tournament. 

In round four, two draws transpired; however, Caruana's game became a talking point as he decided to play 1.b4!? against Kollars. The U.S. champion admitted later that he was skeptical of his position and said he was "lucky to make a draw." Though the position quickly transposed into the Santasiere's Folly, a rare variation of the Reti Opening which holds a reasonable win rate for White, Kollars was able to storm the queenside with pawns and break through on the c-file.

With his time dipping below one minute, Kollars showed respect for Caruana and repeated moves, securing half a point against the highest-rated player in the field.

The penultimate round saw the two heavyweights of the tournament clash, and a win for Caruana allowed him to take the sole lead heading into the final round. Playing with the black pieces, Kramnik showed a clever bit of preparation, selecting the affectionately known "Hungarian Dragon" as his weapon of choice.

The opening, where Black plays an early h5 to shut down White's typical Yugoslav Attack plans, would have worked a charm against lesser opponents, but Caruana quickly changed gears, busting open the center and trading the queens. The passage of play left Black's pawn structure in ruins, and Caruana deftly converted his advantage to move to 3/5.

Clearly benefitting from notes taken in his previous game, Caruana decided to take a page out of Kramnik's book and played the Hungarian Dragon against Eljanov, a gamble that paid off. Despite king safety problems arising in the middlegame, Caruana eventually worked his way into a winning rook and pawn endgame. 

On the board next to them, Kramnik won his game against Kollars in an attempt to heap pressure on Caruana, However, in the end, the world number-three proved too classy even without the ability to castle.

For his efforts in the event, Caruana received €5,000 and will head immediately to Zagreb, Croatia, for the Grand Chess Tour's SuperUnited Rapid and Blitz. Other winners in Dortmund included WGM Dinara Wagner, who added the NRW Cup title (a nine-round round-robin with players rated 2300-2500) to her growing trophy cabinet as well as GMs Alexander Donchenko and Frederik Svane, who won the Sparkassen Open A division with scores of 7.5/9.

Standings

All Games

The No Castling Masters took place June 26-July 2, 2023, in Dortmund, Germany. The format was a four-player double round-robin. The time control was 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, plus a 30-second increment starting on move one.