Download PGN of August ’21 Dragon Sicilian games

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Yugoslav 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Qe1 e5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Bc4 Be6 14.Ne4 Qc7 15.Bc5 Rfd8 16.g4 Nf4 [B76]

With the game Haubro, M - Blomqvist, E a good example it seems to me 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 10.Qe1 e5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Bc4 Be6 14.Ne4 Qc7 15.Bc5 Rfd8 16.g4 the move 16...Nf4 is pretty much an equaliser:

Although 16...h6 maintains the knight on d5 and hence more tension in the position, the text has performed reasonably for Black in over 200 practical games. After 17.Bxe6 Rxd1+ 18.Qxd1 Nxe6 19.Qd6 there is absolutely nothing wrong in Black trading queens although 19...Qb7!? arguably demonstrated greater ambition. There are tactics revolving around ...Bf8 (and after Qxe5 a sneaky return to g7 for the bishop) but after 20.Rd1 Qb5 White then blundered a piece through 21.Qd3? Qxd3 22.Rxd3 f5 23.Rd6 Re8 It wasn’t easy to convert following 24.Bxa7 fxe4 25.fxe4 Kf7 26.c3 Bf8 27.Rxc6 Ra8 28.Be3 Rxa2 29.Kb1 Ra4 30.b4 although Black probably needed to hold his nerve and not prematurely simplify through 30...Bxb4?! 31.Rc4! Ra3 32.Rxb4 Rxc3 33.Bf2 which ultimately ended in a draw.

Yugoslav 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Rb8 13.e5 Nd7 14.h4 Nxe5 15.h5 Bf5 16.g4 f6 17.Qe3 [B76]

After last month’s excitement 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.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Rb8 13.e5 Nd7 of 14 Rh4, in Beerdsen, T - Erigaisi, A we get to revisit 14.h4 with following the now accepted sequence of 14...Nxe5 15.h5 Bf5 16.g4 f6, rather than get it trapped, White retreat her majesty with 17.Qe3. White still intends action on the kingside but after 17... Bd7 18.hxg6 Black has a handy intermezzo in the form of 18...Qb6!:

A big point is that 19 Qh6? would now allow 19...Qxb2+ 20 Kd2 Nxf3+ followed by the handily defensive ...Ng5. Hence 19.gxh7+ Kh8 20.Qxb6 axb6 21.Be2 when 21...Rf7 is quite satisfactory for Black. He is destined to regain that h7-pawn and retains the better structure although in truth there was more excitement in the eventually drawn endgame than there should have been!

Yugoslav Attack 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Rb8 13.e5 Nh5 [B76]

Sticking with the same variation but 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.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Rb8 13.e5 the game Perez Candelario, M - Vassallo Barroche, M allowed 13...Nh5 to enter the party (and for that matter 13...Ne8 which is investigated in the notes).

There is definitely something to be said for leaving the bishop unobstructed (e.g. to side-step those e5-e6 disruptor ideas) but 14.g4 Ng7 15.h4 has a slightly ropy feel about it. My feeling after 15...Qb6 16.Bd3 f5 17.exf6 Rxf6 18.h5 gxh5 19.Qxh7+ Kf7 White would be comfortably better after 20 b3! but 20.Rxh5? handed the initiative over to Black. Indeed following 20...Qxb2+ 21.Kd2 Qb4 22.g5 Black could have tried for a lot more than the draw that he now took via a perpetual through 22...Re6! instead. Possibly food for thought but maybe just more of the nibbles variety!

Yugoslav Attack 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Qd6 [B76]

Justified by it being so in vogue right now, making it a treble this month, following 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.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 the game Gokerkan, CK - Van Dael, S brings us the new to the site 12...Qd6:

Her majesty then is nudged up a bit with the flexibility of travelling the kingside or queenside whilst immediately preventing e4-e5. White persevered with his usual h-file aspirations but after 13.h4 Rb8 14.Bc4 it seems that both 14...d4 and 14...Be6 have some merit to them. Instead Black riskily dabbled in 14...Qg3 15.Bb3 e6 when after 16.h5 he probably needed to take that pawn. Instead 16...Ba6? 17.Rh3 Qxg2 18.Rdh1 Rb7 19.Nd1! Ne8 20.Ne3 left a big White initiative although there were some twists and turns on route to that eventual White victory!

Yugoslav 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 e5 13.Bc5 Be6 14.Ne4 Re8 15.h4 [B76]

Following 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 d5 having seen the 10 Nxc6 bxc6 11 Bh6 system take centre stage this month, the game Goganov, A - Paravyan, D sees us return to the 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 e5 13.Bc5 Be6 14.Ne4 Re8 old main line only after 15.h4 Black not replying with either 15...h6 or 15...Nf4 but rather with 15...h5:

Upon reflection it seems to me that 16 g4!? might be the most challenging move for White here but certainly 16.Bc4 Nf4 17.Bxe6 Nxe6 18.Qxd8?! Rexd8 19.Be7 Bh6+ 20.Kb1 Rxd1+ 21.Rxd1 got him no advantage. In fact given the play Black was able to drum up through 21...f5 22.Ng5 Re8 with 23.Rd7?! Bxg5 24.hxg5 e4 25.fxe4 fxe4 actually a rather tricky endgame for White resulted that he was unable to hold.

Yugoslav Attack 9.Bc4 a6 10.0-0-0 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 b5 12.Bb3 b4 [B77]

‘What?’ I hear you say ‘Is 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.Bc4 a6 10.0-0-0 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 b5 even a real variation?’

Well, after my comments about a ...Bd7 move not feeling like a worthy investment and this line first being covered on the site back in 2007, you’d probably still not be convinced. However when you soon realize that 12.Bb3 b4 follows the recent game LCZero 0.28-dev+_69626 - Stockfish 14_202107131735 then that might carry more weight! Okay to be fair, it’s not simply a case of taking a 3639 entity’s opinion over mine because in these Super computer events opening moves are thrust upon them. Nevertheless following 13.Nd5 certainly 13...Nxd5 14.exd5 Bxd4 15.Qxd4 a5 16.h4 a4 17.Bc4 b3 18.h5 bxa2 19.Bxa2 g5 20.h6 f6 21.g4 was all ‘metal muscle’ with 21...Bd7 22.Rhe1 Rc8 23.Bc4 Be8 24.Rd3 Bg6 25.Rc3 Rc5 26.Ree3 Re8 27.f4 gxf4 28.Qxf4 Qc7 29.g5 a3 30.gxf6 axb2+ 31.Kxb2 Rf8 and what followed suggesting that Black always had everything under control.

I can only reiterate that such God like encounters are gifts that just keep giving with the Dragon so much more than the pre-conceived ideas that we had become accustomed to.

Bye for now! Chris

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To get in touch with me subscribers can email me at Chris Ward@ChessPublishing.com.