24.Rxg7+ put a white rook on g7 with check, and GM Alexey Sarana (Serbia, 2666) took it with the king. Three moves later, 27.Bxh7, the black queen was off the board.
Stockfish wanted 24...Qxg7, taking with the queen instead. White would still have been clearly better (+1.99). After 24...Kxg7 it counted the position as winning for White (+2.91), and 25.Bf5, attacking the queen on h7, came next. The move was played with 2:45 left on the clock.
GM Fabiano Caruana (United States, 2789) won in 43 moves in round 8 of the Olympiad in Samarkand, and the United States beat Serbia 3½–½.
Stop the replay at 24.Rxg7+ and decide for yourself: king or queen? Then play the position on against the engine.
- White
- GM Fabiano Caruana, 2789 · United States of America
- Black
- GM Alexey Sarana, 2666 · Serbia
- Result
- 1–0 in 43 moves
- Opening
- Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation, Zagreb Variation · B91
- Event
- 46th FIDE Chess Olympiad Samarkand 2026, Open, Round 8 · Samarkand, Uzbekistan
- Key move: {0}
- 24...Kxg7
- Engine’s choice
- 24...Qxg7