Download PGN of April ’22 Dragon Sicilian games
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Maroczy Bind 7.f3 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 Bg7 9.Be3 0-0 10.Qd2 Be6 11.Rc1 Qa5 12.b3 Rfc8 13.Be2 a6 14.Na4 [B36]
So certainly after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 d6 7.f3 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 Bg7 9.Be3 0-0 10.Qd2 Be6 11.Rc1 Qa5 12.b3 Rfc8 13.Be2 a6 we understand 14.Na4 to be more ambitious than 14 Nd5 and likewise following 14...Qxd2+ 15.Kxd2 Nd7 16.g4 rather than the main line of 16...f5, it is 16...Rcb8 that remains intriguing. Black is obviously looking to get in ...b5 to challenge and expose White’s queenside and specifically after 17.Nc3 b5 18.Nd5 Bxd5 19.cxd5 it is 19...Nc5! that is such a crucial move:
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The key point behind this move is that after 20 Bxc5 dxc5 21 Rxc5 Bh6+ 22 Kd3 Bf4! the ‘Dragon’ bishop finds itself on a different dominant post. Hence in Song, E - Belous, V White budged the knight through 20.b4 but even though 20...Na4 left the knight on rim, it still had the c3 and b2 squares in its sights. Indeed then 21.Rc2 a5 22.a3 Bb2 saw Black continue actively with 23.Rb1 Bxa3 24.bxa5 Rxa5 following and White soon to fall foul of a sneaky trick!
Maroczy Bind 6...Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.Be3 Bg7 9.Be2 0-0 10.Qd2 a5 11.0-0 a4 12.Rad1 Qa5 13.Bd4 [B36]
Following 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.Be3 Bg7 9.Be2 0-0 10.Qd2 a5 11.0-0 a4 12.Rad1 Qa5 13.Bd4 in Ganguly, S - Quesada Perez, Y, rather than the most common 13...Be6, Black opted to play 13...Bd7 out of the firing line of a future f2-f4-f5 thrust and potentially with a view to switching it to c6.
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Here White typically plays 14 Qe3 to tee up a future Nd5 without the queens being traded but instead 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.Nd5 Qxd2 16.Rxd2 Kg7 occurred in this month’s offering. Then 17.c5 threw the cat amongst the pigeons with my then finding myself analysing the endgame after 17...Be6 18.cxd6 exd6 19.Nxf6 Kxf6 20.Rxd6 Black played actively with 20...Rfd8 21.Rb6 Kg7 22.Rd1 Bxa2 23.Rxb7 Bb3 24.Rxd8 Rxd8 but whilst I suspect it should be a draw with best play, inaccurate defence meant White was able to convert his extra pawn advantage.
Maroczy Bind 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Be2 d6 9.0-0 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Bd7 11.Qd3 [B38]
In 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Be2 d6 9.0-0 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Bd7, to date 11 Qd3!? is best by test although then after 11...Bc6 it is 12 b4 that we are used to seeing. There are other moves too but in Ponkratov, P - Kovalev, A though we were treated to a 100% genuine novelty in the form of 12 h4!?:
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Usually in this sort of system Black looks to dabble in a ...Nd7-c5 manoeuvre but the text gives Black something to think about as it prepares the ‘softener’ h4-h5. Black then chose to react swiftly on the queenside with 12...a6 13.Rac1 b5 14.cxb5 axb5 15.a3 Qb8 16.f3 b4 but sadly after 17.Na2 he overlooked the tactic 17...Nh5! with instead 17...b3? 18.Nb4 Ba4 19.Qd2 Qb7 20.Rc3 leaving White comfortably in the driving seat.
Dragon 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Re1 Nc6 9.Bb3 Bd7 10.Nf3 [B70]
Following 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 , regards the ‘Modern Classical’ variation of 6.Bc4 I have implied recently that it’s starting to lose its ‘Modern’ tag as more non-Yugoslav Attackers are tending to return to 6 Be2 and the original Classical variation. Furthermore though I have intimated that after 6...Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Re1 Nc6 9.Bb3 Bd7 more might turn towards 10.Nf3 to try and prove an advantage and guess what, judging by outings this month, that seems true too!
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Yes we know that 10 Bg5 and 10 h3 are most usual and I need to clarify that the occasional White player is looking towards 10 Nf3 for an advantage but they are yet to really find one!
Previously we’ve seen Black play 10...Bg4 on the site whilst also discussing 10...Ng4 but the selected 10...Rc8 in Schneider, J - Can, E is also very sensible too. Maybe further down the line we’ll see 11 Bg5 here but in this game White immediately cracked on with 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 and after 12...Ne5 13.Nxe5 Bxe5 14.c3 b5 a structural imbalance meant both sides had their plans. Yes White’s space advantage meant he was planning on transferring forces for a kingside offensive whilst 15.a3 a5 16.Be3 b4 saw Black deploy a minority attack to try and create some White queenside pawn weaknesses. Unfortunately after 17.axb4 axb4 18.Bd4 bxc3 19.bxc3 Bxd4 20.Qxd4 Re8 21.h4 Rb8 22.Ba4 Bxa4 23.Rxa4 Qb6 whilst White’s ambition against a significantly higher rated opponent was commendable with 24.Qd2 in fact after 24...Qb2 he should probably have acquiesced to a queen trade and a drawn rook ending. Alas instead 25.Qg5?! Qxc3 26.Rae4?! Kg7 27.h5 h6 28.Qg4 g5 ultimately saw him over-press his way to a two pawn deficit and defeat.
Yugoslav Attack 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bc4 e6 12.Bb3 [B76]
Yes it would certainly appear that after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0-0-0 d5 the odd looking system 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bc4 is here to stay with the jury out regards 11...e6 12.Bb3 Bb7 as to whose light-squared bishop is worse! White looks to clamp with 13.Na4 when in Martin Duque,J - Gavarrete, N Black immediately prevented the invasion on c5 with 13...Nd7. When we recently investigated this position White opted for 14 h4 but instead here White ‘chilled’ for a bit with 14.Kb1:
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However then 14...Qc7 15.Bf4 encouraged a flurry of activity through 15...e5. As it happens 16.Bh6?! could have been punished by 16...d4! but instead 16...Nf6? 17.Nc5 Rfd8 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Qc3! d4 20.Qc4 saw the white queen eek its way in to a strong post with the springboard for the then seen 20...Rd6 21.c3 Rad8 22.Qxf7+ tactic.
Yugoslav Attack 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Nxc3 13.Qxc3 Bh6+ 14.Be3 Bxe3+ 15.Qxe3 Qb6 [B76]
Recently after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Nxc3 13.Qxc3 Bh6+ 14.Be3 Bxe3+ 15.Qxe3 Qb6 we have been investigating White’s attempts to try for an advantage without grabbing the pawn on e7 and the game Sethuraman, S - Minzer, C gave us the chance to check out another in the form of 16.Qc3:
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After 16...Be6 17.h4 it’s clear that White would still like to deliver mate on h8 but the reality is that an endgame is most likely and through 17...Rfd8 18.Re1 Qd4 19.Qxd4 Rxd4 that indeed was the case. White then engaged in the rook lift 20.Re3 to offer up the option of laterally attacking those black queenside isolanis and the main discussion in the game revolved around how big an issue those weaknesses are with queens and knights not present. The game continuation of 20...Rad8 21.Be2 h5 22.g3 Kf8 23.Re1 R8d7 24.Rc3 R4d6 25.f4 Ke8 26.b3 Kd8 27.a4 Rb7 28.Kb2 Kd7 suggested nothing significant and if anything Black started to move forward before tragically erring.
All in all not really the sort of annotation I like to do and not the result Black deserved!
Take care all, Chris
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To get in touch with me subscribers can email me at Chris Ward@ChessPublishing.com.