Sergey Karjakin has proven to be a real connoisseur of the Double Fianchetto, and his inventive novelty in Jakovenko-Karjakin is a testament to his level of understanding and preparation in this line.
The novelty in question occurred after 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 b6 3.g3 c5 4.Bg2 Bb7 5.0-0 g6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.d4 cxd4 8.Qxd4 d6 9.Rd1 Nbd7 10.Be3 Rc8 11.Rac1 a6 12.b3 0-0 13.Qh4 Rc7 14.g4:
Here the theoretical endorsement belongs to 14...h6 (see the ChessPublishing.com archives for Bu - Shchekachev). Karjakin instead played the outwardly ridiculous 14...Rc8!?, tossing two tempi to the wind!
The most human explanation of 14...Rc8!? I can muster is as follows: in exchange for 'losing' two tempi Black has encouraged White to further loosen his position (g3-g4), thereby cutting White's own queen off from the queenside. The counterthrust ...b6-b5! now gains in strength (possibly in conjunction with a discovered attack on c3 by ...Nf6-xg4). The rook facilitates this plan in slyly returning to c8, making way for counterplay with ...Qd8-a5.
This is more or less how the game proceeded: 15.Bh3 (White has several options here that deserve attention) 15...b5! 16.cxb5 Qa5! 17.Bd2 Bxf3! 18.exf3 axb5 19.g5 b4!
and Black expertly navigated the complications to reach an opposite-color bishop middlegame in which he outplayed his strong opponent.
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