Fabiano Caruana won his Round 6 game of the US Chess Championship against Elshan Moradiabadi and extended his lead in the tournament. Fabiano joined the US championship live studio for the post-game interview and explained that he chose the random line in the opening that Moradiabadi hasn’t played before: “I’ve played a very random line which I knew a little bit. I mean I didn’t know much and I didn’t know how to prepare this opening because Elshan isn’t really an 1.e4 player but he was playing in this tournament so I figured he has some idea in mind. But he had no games in this line, so I just decided to play it“. Caruana added that he was already out of the book at the 7th move after Elshan’s 7.Bg3. (Replay the game here)
Speaking about his popularity in Saint Louis as he lives nearby the Saint Louis Chess Club, Caruana revealed that he gets recognized on the street: “I got recognized, but I can’t say it’s because of me. I think it’s more because of Hans. I get stopped often and asked about beads. And it happens more often than I’d like to admit!” See the complete interview within the Day 6 live video coverage
