Caruana wins 20th Sigeman & Co with 2853 performance

Fabiano Caruana won the 20th Sigeman & Co tournament in Malmö, Sweden on Wednesday. The Italian grandmaster scored a splendid 5.5/7 which was half a point more than Peter Leko and good for a 2853 performance rating. Anish Giri and Nils Grandelius shared third place with 4/7.

A convincing victory for Fabiano Caruana in Malmö | Photos © Calle Erlandsson

After enjoying a rest day, on Sunday the players continued the tournament in Malmö with the 4th round. At that point Fabiano Caruana, who had started with two White games, was leading the pack with 2.5/3. He then drew twice, against Emanuel Berg and Li Chao, which allowed Nils Grandelius to catch the Italian in the lead in round 5 on Monday.

[Event "20th Sigeman & Co"]
[Site "Malmo SWE"]
[Date "2012.05.14"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Grandelius, N."]
[Black "Hector, J."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D17"]
[WhiteElo "2556"]
[BlackElo "2560"]
[PlyCount "101"]
[EventDate "2012.05.09"]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. Ne5 e6 7. f3 Bb4 8. Nxc4
O-O 9. Kf2 c5 10. e4 Bg6 11. Na2 Nc6 12. Nxb4 Nxb4 13. Qb3 Nxe4+ 14. fxe4 Bxe4
15. Bd2 Nc2 16. Rc1 Nxd4 17. Qe3 Qd5 18. Qf4 Rad8 19. Ne3 Qc6 20. Bc3 e5 21.
Qxe5 Rfe8 22. Qg3 Qf6+ 23. Kg1 Qh6 24. Re1 f5 25. Qf2 f4 26. Bxd4 cxd4 27. Nc4
d3 28. h4 Bf5 29. Rxe8+ Rxe8 30. Qd4 Qh5 31. Nd6 Rf8 32. Qd5+ Kh8 33. Nxf5 d2
34. Qxd2 Qxf5 35. Rh3 Qc5+ 36. Qf2 Qb4 37. b3 h6 38. Rf3 a6 39. g3 b5 40. axb5
axb5 41. Rxf4 Rxf4 42. Qxf4 Qxb3 43. Qf8+ Kh7 44. Qf5+ Kg8 45. Qd3 Qe6 46. Qxb5
Qe3+ 47. Kh2 g5 48. Bc4+ Kf8 49. Qf5+ Ke7 50. Qh7+ Ke8 51. Bb5+ 1-0

Grandelius beat Hector and joined Caruana in the lead

In round 6 the tournament seemed already decided, because Caruana defeated Grandelius in the direct encounter.

[Event "20th Sigeman & Co"]
[Site "Malmo SWE"]
[Date "2012.05.15"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Caruana, F."]
[Black "Grandelius, N."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B52"]
[WhiteElo "2770"]
[BlackElo "2556"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2012.05.09"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. O-O Nf6 6. Qe2 Nc6 7. c3 e6 8.
d3 Be7 9. Rd1 O-O 10. Nbd2 Ng4 11. d4 cxd4 12. cxd4 d5 13. e5 Nh6 14. Nb3 Nf5
15. Bf4 Qd8 16. Rac1 Rc8 17. Rc3 Bb4 18. Rcd3 Be7 19. a3 a5 20. Nbd2 a4 21. Nb1
b5 22. g4 Nh4 23. Nxh4 Bxh4 24. Nc3 Rb8 25. Rh3 Bg5 26. Bg3 b4 27. Nxa4 bxa3
28. Qc2 h6 29. Qxc6 axb2 30. Qc2 Qa5 31. f4 Rfc8 32. Nc5 Qb4 33. Qb1 Qc3 34.
Kg2 Rxc5 35. dxc5 Rb3 36. Rf1 Ra3 37. Rf2 Ra1 38. Qxb2 Qe1 39. Rh5 g6 40. fxg5
gxh5 41. Qb8+ Kg7 42. Rxf7+ 1-0

Grandelius and Caruana during their post-mortem

However, Peter Leko won against Berg and so the Hungarian was now in second place, just half a point behind Caruana. Anything could happen in the last round, but thanks to a convincing victory with Black over Hector, Caruana finished clear first anyway.

[Event "20th Sigeman & Co"]
[Site "Malmo SWE"]
[Date "2012.05.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Hector, J."]
[Black "Caruana, F."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C29"]
[WhiteElo "2560"]
[BlackElo "2770"]
[PlyCount "60"]
[EventDate "2012.05.09"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bb4 7. O-O O-O 8.
Ne2 Bg4 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Kh1 Ng5 11. d3 f6 12. Bxg5 fxg5 13. c3 Be7 14. Qa4 Bd7
15. Nd2 c5 16. Rxf8+ Bxf8 17. Qb3 Bf5 18. c4 Rb8 19. Qc3 d4 20. Qc2 Qe8 21. Ng3
Bg6 22. Re1 g4 23. h3 Qe6 24. hxg4 Qxg4 25. Ndf1 Be7 26. b3 Bh4 27. Qd1 Qxd1
28. Rxd1 Re8 29. Ne2 Bh5 30. Rd2 Bg5 0-1

Another excellent performance for Caruana

Leko also won his last game, and so finished in clear second place, also staying undefeated. His last move of the tournament was a nice one.

[Event "20th Sigeman & Co"]
[Site "Malmo SWE"]
[Date "2012.05.16"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Li Chao2"]
[Black "Leko, P."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "E06"]
[WhiteElo "2703"]
[BlackElo "2723"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1R6/8/7p/8/2kb1K2/1p5r/8/4N3 b - - 0 75"]
[PlyCount "1"]
[EventDate "2012.05.09"]

75... Be5+ $1 0-1

Leko can be satisfied too about his tournament - we'll see him soon in Moscow!