Fabiano Caruana Teaches Us A RIDICULOUS Alpha-Zero Attack — Petroff DESTROYED! (Fabi vs Bluebaum!)

The video analyzes a chess game from round six of the Candidates tournament between Fabiano Caruana, referred to as Fabi, and Mattius Bluebound. The opening discussed is the Petroff Defense, known for its solidity and difficulty for White to gain an advantage, leading some top players to avoid 1. e4 entirely. Fabi, after opening with 1. c4 and 1. Nf3 in his previous White games, returns to his preferred 1. e4. Bluebound, who frequently plays the French Defense and the Petroff, opts for the Petroff Defense with 1... e5 2. Nf3 Nf6. The main line of the Petroff is deeply analyzed, making it challenging to achieve an interesting game. Fabi deviates from the main line by playing 3. Nxe5 d6, and instead of the standard 4. Nf3, he plays the trendy but engine-disliked 4. Nc4. This move is not considered strong by chess engines like Stockfish or AlphaZero, but it serves to avoid the deeply analyzed main lines and create more original, less forcing positions, breaking Black's pattern recognition. No other opening features the knight moving from f3 to e5 to c4 so early. After 4... Nxe4, the typical move at this point, especially among strong players, is Queen to E2, which pins the knight and often leads to an early endgame. However, Fabi plays 5. Nc3, a move that has been played before but is less common. Bluebound responds with 5... Nxc3. Instead of recapturing with the knight, Fabi plays 6. dxc3, which is a common idea to open the scope for the c1 bishop and control central squares. While this creates doubled c-pawns, which can be seen as a weakness, Fabi's bishops become active, and his queen has flexible squares. White maintains a flexible setup, able to castle either kingside or queenside. Black's position is also solid with no immediate pawn weaknesses, leading to an interesting game. Black plays 6... d5, gaining space and pushing back White's knight. Fabi moves his knight to e3, pressuring d5. Black defends the pawn with 7... c6, establishing a pawn structure similar to the Caro-Kann Defense. At this point, the standard moves for White, according to engines and human intuition, would be bishop d3 and kingside castling, possibly followed by a kingside attack. However, in a Candidates tournament, players often seek unique ways to surprise their opponents. Fabi plays 8. Bd2, a seemingly passive move for the bishop. The idea behind this move is to prepare for long castling, bringing the queen to e2, f3, or h5, and then launching a kingside attack. Bluebound spends five minutes before playing 8... g6, choosing to fianchetto his bishop to g7. While this is a common idea for beginners, top-level players are often cautious about it due to the attacking possibilities it opens up (e.g., h4, h5, f4, f5). Fabi immediately responds with 9. f4, signaling a kingside pawn storm and committing to a kingside attack, sacrificing kingside castling. After 9... Bg7 10. Qf3 Nd7, Fabi castles queenside (11. O-O-O). His plan is clear: to advance the f, g, and h pawns down the board against Black's kingside. Black cannot castle long due to the weakening c6 move and open space, so he is forced to castle short, directly into White's attack. Bluebound plays 11... Nc5, eyeing the critical e4 square for his knight. Fabi continues with 12. f5, threatening f6 to block Black's bishop. Bluebound responds with 12... O-O, castling kingside and placing his king directly in the path of White's pawn storm. Fabi continues his attack with 13. g4. Bluebound plays 13... Ne4, bringing his knight to a very active and strong outpost, attacking White's d2 bishop. To remove this knight, White would have to give up his strong light-squared bishop, which is crucial for the attack. Fabi brings his last piece into play with 14. Bd3, completing his development. Bluebound makes his first inaccuracy with 14... Re8. The engine suggests that taking on d2 (14... Nxd2) would have been better, as it would unleash Black's g7 bishop. Fabi immediately punishes this inaccuracy with 15. Nxe4 dxe4, and then 16. h4, initiating a triple pawn attack with the f, g, and h pawns marching down the board. Black plays 16... Be5, an unusual move aiming to bring the bishop out from g7, possibly preparing Queen to f6. This move's intention is unclear. Fabi opens a second line of attack with 17. c4, pressuring d5 and aiming to trade off his doubled c-pawn. Black responds with 17... Qb6, threatening checkmate in one. Fabi blocks with 18. c3, which strengthens the center but slightly weakens the kingside. Bluebound then plays 18... Qa5, attacking the a2 pawn. Fabi ignores this threat and plays 19. h5, sacrificing the a2 pawn to continue his kingside attack, demonstrating that his attack is more important than a single pawn. If Black takes on a2, White's attack with 20. Qxg6 is overwhelming. Bluebound plays 19... g5, attempting to keep his kingside together. Fabi takes on d5 (20. cxd5), which opens up the c-file and leaves Black's rook on e8 undefended. Black plays the intermediate move 20... Rf4, attacking White's queen. Fabi moves his queen back to e2. After 21. ... cxd5, Fabi plays 22. Kb1, defending the a2 pawn. Bluebound makes another mistake with 22... Ra4, a logical-looking move threatening a2, but the rook is misplaced. The engine suggests moves like Queen to a6, Rook to e4, or Bishop to d7. Fabi capitalizes on this with 23. c4, creating a discovered attack on the queen and threatening Nxd5. Black plays 23... Qa6, trying to pin the c4 pawn to the queen. Fabi, however, plays 24. Nxd5, opening a discovered attack on Black's bishop on e5, winning the d5 pawn but sacrificing a2. Bluebound plays 24... f6, a move often advised against. Fabi continues his relentless attack with 25. Bc3, aiming to remove the bishop from e5, which is blocking the critical e8 square. If Black takes on c3, Queen to e8 check would be completely winning for White. Bluebound plays 25... Qxc4. Fabi delivers the finishing blow with 26. Nxf6+, a knight sacrifice. If Black takes the knight (26... Bxf6), then 27. Qe8+ forces 27... Kg7, and 28. h6# is checkmate. If the king moves to f8 or f7, White takes the bishop. If the king moves to h8, 27. Rd8+ forces 27... Kg7, followed by taking on e5. In the game, Bluebound takes the knight with 26... Bxf6, leading to a forced mate. Fabi plays 27. Qe8+ Kg7, and then 28. h6#, delivering checkmate with the "AlphaZero pawn." Fabi demonstrates a spectacular way to crush the Petroff Defense, ending the game in round five of the 2026 Candidates tournament against Mattius Bluebound.