Download PGN of December '10 Dragon Sicilian games

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Yugoslav Attack [B75-79]

I have not long finished a stint of commentary at the fantastic London Chess Classic (well worth a visit if you are ever around when it's on) and indeed we kick off with...

Yes, Short - McShane: It was brilliant to see Luke playing the Dragon and an extra bonus was that it was in the currently fashionable Yugoslav Attack 9 g4 Be6 10 Nxe6 fxe6 line that has been a slight cause for concern recently:

Well here Luke brings some new ideas to the table and this game is rich in possibilities.

Tompson - Hunt: Based on a subscriber submission (thanks for that Phil!) we are now onto the 9 Bc4 Yugoslav but with the extremely rare 12 Nd5:

I have to say though that I have certainly seen many worse moves get far more practical outings!

Macieja - Jones is the Soltis variation with 14 f4 and if we flick in Kb1 and ...Re8 then 15 f4 is Areschenko - Amonatov:

Yep, plenty of action for those that like their Dragon of the h4 and ...h5 variety!

Moving on to 9 0-0-0, and at the London Chess Classic (coincidentally at the same time) we had two big encounters in the 9...d5 10 exd5 Nxd5 11 Nxc6 bxc6 12 Bd4 Bxd4 13 Qxd4 Qb6 14 Na4 line:

Yes, in the last round on board 1 of the Open event we had McDonald - Jones which went 14...Qc7:

and in a huge game in the main event it was 14...Qa5 15 b3 Qc7 that was seen in Howell - McShane:

Okay my apologies go to Grandmaster John Emms who I know is a great fan of our Levenfish games and indeed sorry to anyone else who likes to see variations away from the Yugoslav Attack. We will be back on the case of the Classical and Accelerated Dragon variations soon.

Okay take care everyone!

Best wishes, Chris and Gawain

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