Download PGN of December ’24 Dragon Sicilian games
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Classical Dragon 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Be2 Bg7 8.Qd2 Bd7 9.h4 h5 [B72]
I just love it when we see new stuff and Suarez Gomez, J - Calzetta Ruiz, M certainly brought us that in the form of 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Be2 Bg7 8.Qd2 Bd7 9.h4 h5:
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So basically it looked as though we were on our way to a long-castles Classical variation but after Black opted to remain non-committal with his king, White decided likewise!
That trend continued with 10.f3 but after Rc8 arguably long castles was best. Instead White tried 11.Nd5 when a nice response was 11...Nxd5 12.exd5 Nxd4 13.Bxd4 Rxc2!? 14.Qxc2 Bxd4 Then 15.0-0-0 was required with 15...Qb6 16.Qb3 Qxb3 17.axb3 a slightly favourable endgame for Black but with a debate as to where he should withdraw his Dragon bishop.
Hungarian Dragon 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5 8 h3 [B72]
The first of a Hungarian Dragon double this month is Golis, W- Tzidkiyaayahu, Y which continues our recent trend after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5 of White holding back on Qd2 and on this occasion through a first on the site with 8.h3:
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Delaying the queen advance cuts out Black’s knight trade and ...Bh6 idea with this h-pawn nudge itself offering up g2-g4 if Black were to castle kingside soon or perhaps more likely switch structure with an f3-f4 (bringing f4-f5 or e4-e5 into play) advance instead.
Play continued with 8...Bd7 9.f4 when Black selected 9...Bh6 anyway with 10.Qf3 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Qa5 12.e5 Bc6 13.Bb5 Qxb5 14.Nxb5 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Nd5 16.exd6 0-0 17.c4 Nxf4 18.Nc7 Rad8 19.dxe7 Rxd4 20.exf8Q+ Bxf8 reaching an interesting materially imbalanced ending.
Hungarian Dragon 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5 8.Bc4 Bd7 9.Qd2 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 [B72]
Yes, in Shturman, A - Klukin, K following 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5 8.Bc4 Bd7 9.Qd2 we see something else new to the site after 9...Nxd4 in the odd looking 10.Qxd4:
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For sure this avoids ...Bh6 but after 10...Bg7 the white queen was in the firing line of the Dragon bishop and upon 11.0-0-0 0-0 being forced to withdraw. However with Black’s pawn being on h5, suddenly 12.Qd3 brought e4-e5 followed by Qxg6 to the table, prompting Black to deflect the issue with the pawn sacrifice b5 13.Nxb5 Bxb5 14.Bxb5
I’d say a reasonable offering, then 14...Qa5 15.Bc4 Nd7 16.f4 Nc5 17.Bxc5 Qxc5 18.f5 g5 prompted White to make the counter offer 19.f6 with Bxf6 20.Rhf1 Rac8 21.Bb3 Qe5 22.c3 e6 23.Kb1 Be7 24.Qe2 h4 25.h3 Kg7 26.Rd3 d5 27.Re1 dxe4 28.Rd7 Bc5 29.Qxe4 Qxe4+ 30.Rxe4 reaching an equal chances ending.
Yugoslav Attack 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Qc7 [B76]
The variation 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 remains very fashionable but after 11...Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Qc7 in Lobanov, S - Manukyan, S a novelty appears in the form of 13.exd5 Yes previously White has entered into an h-file offensive before trading pawns but here only after 13...cxd5 does 14.h4 appear:
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So White eschews Black’s pawn offering (note something he probably shouldn’t do if Black had selected 13...Nxd5 instead) but after 14...Rd8 15.h5 Bf5 16.hxg6 needed to rely on his opponent to err in order to get the advantage. Simple and fine would have been to recapture on g6 with the bishop but sadly the ambitious 16...d4? 17.gxf7+ Kxf7 18.Ne4 Nxe4 19.fxe4 simply left Black’s own king in hot water.
Yugoslav 9.Bc4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.0-0-0 Qa5 13.Rhe1 Nd7 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.e5 Nxe5 [B77]
Regards the 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Bc4 Nc6 9.Qd2 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.0-0-0 Qa5 13.Rhe1 Nd7 14.Bxg7 Kxg7 15.e5 of Bures, J - Biolek, R.
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... The last time we featured this position, one super-computer responded with 15...d5 against another in an interesting encounter that ended in a draw. Possibly armed with that information and/or maybe distrusting of technology(!) instead here a human International Master opted for 15...Nxe5 instead when 16.f4 Nc6 17.Rxe6 Qf5 18.Re4 Rad8 naturally followed.
It could be argued that White has a very slight niggle due to access to the d5-square and pressure along the e-file but actually after 19.g3 d5 20.Ra4 it would appear that Black could have gained the initiative through 20...d4!?. Instead Black deployed the safe 20...e6 when 21.Nb5 a6 22.Nd4 Nxd4 23.Qxd4+ Kg8 24.Rb4 Rc8 25.c3 Rf7 26.Re1 Rc6 27.Rb6 Rxb6 28.Qxb6 Re7 29.Re5 Qh3 at least left Black with some activity. I feel that situation was reversed though after 30.Qf2 Kf7 31.Qe2 Qh6 32.h4 Qg7 when White certainly missed his chance later to convert this ending.
Yugoslav, Topalov System 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.Bxa7 [B78]
We finish the update with some entertainment courtesy of Gov, G - Fruebing, S and a Topalov system of 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 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.Bxa7.
Yes, White grabbing that a-pawn to ensure that it will never hassle his light-squared bishop but this time-consuming exercise gifts Black compensation in terms of open lines and that was very much demonstrated after 13...b4 14.Nd5 Nxd5 15.exd5 Qa5 16.Bd4 Rxc2+!:
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and then following 17.Bxc2 Qxa2 18.Qe3 Rc8 19.Kd2, amusingly with 19...Rxc2+ again. Certainly 20.Kxc2 Qc4+ 21.Kd2 Bxd4 left the white king in line for some ducking and diving although after 22.Qd3 Qxd5 23.Qe4 the audience would surely rather have seen the queens preserved despite 24...Qxe4 24.fxe4 Bxb2 25.Ke3 f5 being a fascinating imbalanced endgame.
Bye for now! Chris
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