As I was about to make fun of one more failed attempt of playing the Benko Gambit, I suddenly found out that I had played this position with Black myself. The past always comes back to haunt us. To be fair, I managed to get a pretty good position against a strong opponent.
1. d2d4  1... g8f6  2. c2c4  2... g7g6  3. h2h4 As elite grandmasters show us in every tournament, it's possible to play anything in the opening these days, you just have to be well prepared. I guess I'm making this sound easier than it really is. The idea of this move is not so complex: White wants to play h5 at some point. This is mainly targeted against the Grunfeld Defence. I hope the reader is not offended by this spoiler, but it's curious that this pawn never managed to fulfill its destiny and stayed on h4 for the remainder of the game. 3... f8g7  4. b1c3  4... e8g8 Vachier-Lagrave accepts to play a King's Indian. Can this be considered Caruana's first victory in this game, or am I exaggerating $2 5. e2e4  5... d7d6  6. f1e2 [%c_effect e2;square;e2;type;GreatFind;persistent;true] The best way to make sense of the pawn on h4. Vachier-Lagrave himself has some experience on the white side of this position. 6... c7c5  7. d4d5  7... b7b5 [%c_effect b5;square;b5;type;Interesting;persistent;true] Black chooses an improved version of the Benko Gambit. 8. c4b5 