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This Grandmaster Lost in 9 Moves

He took the rook in the corner. Then he was offered the second one.

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This Grandmaster Lost in 9 Moves: the video's cover

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Fabiano CaruanaWins · material 25/39

Alireza FirouzjaK.O. · material 27/39

White: Fabiano CaruanaGrandmaster from the USA. World number 3 at the time.
Black: Alireza FirouzjaGrandmaster from France. The youngest player ever to pass 2800.
Event: Champions Chess Tour, CrunchLabs Masters, Division I quarterfinal, game 2
Place: Online, on chess.com
Date: 19 July 2024
Opening: Réti Opening, Anglo-Slav Variation (A11)
Result: 1-0Black resigned, a rook ahead, 9 moves
Video: 0:43Published 12 November 2026

The story

19 July 2024, an online rapid game: ten minutes each, two seconds a move. Fabiano Caruana, number 3 in the world, has White against Alireza Firouzja in game 2 of their quarterfinal at the CrunchLabs Masters.

The opening is quiet, and the queens come off on move 6. When White takes back with the a-pawn, the a-file opens for his rook. Nobody watching thinks about that yet.

On move 7 Firouzja plays 7...Be4, attacking the rook in the corner. It is the mistake. Caruana does not move the rook: 8.dxc6 takes a pawn and leaves it there. Firouzja takes it.

Then 9.Rxa7: the second rook is offered too, and it is the only move that wins. If Black takes this one, the c-pawn walks to the last rank and becomes a queen. Firouzja is a rook ahead, every move loses, and he resigns. Nine moves.

He said afterwards that he knew the trick, and that in the game he suddenly wondered what happens if he just takes the rook. He won the match anyway, 3 to 2.

Key moments

Frames from the video, one for each turning point.

7...Be4?
The mistake
The bishop attacks the rook in the corner. 7...Bxb1 kept the game level.
8.dxc6!
The first rook
The pawn takes on c6 instead. The rook on h1 is left for the bishop.
8...Bxh1??
Taken
Firouzja takes the rook. 8...Nxc6 kept the damage to a pawn.
9.Rxa7!!
The second rook
The only winning move. Black is a rook ahead, and every reply loses. He resigned here.
9...Rxa7 10.c7
Not played
Why the second rook cannot be taken: the pawn queens, and 12.Qd7 is mate.

Command list

Caruana vs Firouzja · 17 plies · 1-0

1.c4c6
2.Nf3d5
3.g3Bg4
4.Ne5Bf5
5.Qb3Qb6
6.cxd5Qxb3
7.axb3Be4?
8.dxc6!Bxh1??
9.Rxa7!!

The PGN file

[Event "Champions Chess Tour CrunchLabs Masters"]
[Site "Chess.com INT"]
[Date "2024.07.19"]
[Round "Div I Winners QF, game 2"]
[White "Caruana, Fabiano"]
[Black "Firouzja, Alireza"]
[Result "1-0"]
[TimeControl "600+2"]
[ECO "A11"]
[Opening "Reti Opening: Anglo-Slav Variation, with g3"]
[Source "The Guardian (Leonard Barden, 26 Jul 2024); MemoChess description; Chess.com day-3 report (nine-move resignation)"]

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. g3 Bg4 4. Ne5 Bf5 5. Qb3 Qb6 6. cxd5 Qxb3 7. axb3 Be4 8. dxc6 Bxh1 9. Rxa7 1-0

Behind the edit

What it took to turn 10 plies into 0:43 of video. Counted from the finished edit.

Effects: 373
Kinds of effect: 60
Sound cues: 19
Moves, each with its own light: 10
Seconds of video: 43

What we checked

Every caption in the video was checked against the sources. Some well-known stories did not survive.

A grandmaster lost in 7 moves.
The many videos with that title mix two games. In 2023, Brunello played the same 7...Be4 against Abasov, then refused the rook and resigned on move 20. Firouzja, a year later, took the rook and resigned on move 9. The count here is nine.
Firouzja was checkmated.
He resigned after 9.Rxa7. The video plays 9...Rxa7 10.c7 Nc6 11.c8=Q+ Nd8 12.Qd7 mate to show why the rook cannot be taken. Those moves were not played, and taking was not the longest defence: after 9...Nxc6 White wins the rook back and is simply winning.
He was losing on material.
He was ahead: a rook for three pawns. It did not matter. The ten best replies to 9.Rxa7 were checked, and all of them lose.
He did not know the trap.
By his own account he did. He told chess.com that he knew the tactic and wondered during the game what happens if he just takes.
It cost him the match.
It did not. Every game of the match was decisive, and Firouzja won it 3 to 2 in the tie-break.

Credits

Photos: Fabiano Caruana by Eldar Azimov (CC BY-SA 4.0), cropped and cut out, via Wikimedia Commons. Alireza Firouzja by Ahmed0112 (CC0), via Wikimedia Commons.
Music and voices: original.

Sources

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