Who Played with the LEAST Accuracy on Day 5? (FIDE Candidates)

We often watch grandmasters play moves so good we question rather or not they are humans. But in the end, we can occasionally see the they are, in fact, human. 

Though they do make mistakes, they still are the best players in the world. This blog is not intended to shame ANYONE. Rather just to show we are all human.

THE GAME: Caruana Vs Bluebaum (75.2% accuracy)

Opening

The game stared with E4, E5, NF3, NC6. Among chess masters, this opening only has a 21% win-rate for black (39% for white, 40% draw) After d6, the win-rate drops to only 18% (36% white and 46% draw)! This game as not in the slightest lost, but it is statistically better for white (+.5 but way better in master games). 

When did advantage slip?

The game was almost even until the move 14. E8? where the advantage dropped from 0.49 to 0.88. Now yes, this position is still very even, but it is the start of a slow but sure win for white in this case.

When did the advantage ACTUALY slip?

Now 14. E8 was the start, but when did it actually slip. Well that would be 18. Qa5? (marked correctly). This time the advantage went from (about) 0.7 to 2.2 (I would need to let the engine run longer, as I only ran it to 26)! Why is this move bad? Well because of the move h5! This move adds LOTS of pressure to the king.

Back in it?

A few moves later, Fabi played the move 20. cxd5, which is considered a miss by the engine. The better move was to play Nxd5!!, sacrificing the knight!

Seriously, where is the brilliant?

The Blunder

on move 22, the move ra4?? was played. This gave back Fabi the advantage of 3.5. This move is a blunder because of c4, which is a discovered attack. 

Another move I think is brilliant

The move Nf6+ is only considered the best move, even though it sacrifices the knight (I guess grandmasters are just too good for brilliants) The move played by black was taking the "free" knight which leads to a painful pawn checkmate by the h pawn. (if that pawn feels familiar to you, reread the section about when the advantage slipped)

Conclusion

What a great game by both players! Even though one had to lose, (well, technically they could have drawn but...) we still got to see wonderful play by grandmasters! It is important to note that accuracy doesn't dictate the skill level of a player. Just because I played a game with higher accuracy, it doesn't mean I would win.