Download PGN of October ’24 Dragon Sicilian games
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Accelerated Dragon, Maroczy Bind 5.c4 Bg7 6.Be3 Qb6 7.Nb5 Qa5+ 8.N5c3 d6 [B38]
The highest ELO average Accelerated Dragon game of the last month was Sychev, K- Matlakov, M which saw 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Be3 Qb6 and the line I’ve taken to nicknaming the ‘Staircase variation’.
After 7.Nb5 Qa5+ 8.N5c3 d6 9.Be2 Qb4 10.Qc1 Bd4 11.Bd2 Nf6 12.0-0 Bg4 13.Bxg4 Nxg4 we enter a fun middlegame with Black pressurising the f2-pawn:
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I was however surprised after 14.h3 that the attacked black steed didn’t slide in to e5 where it would have the d3-square within its sites. Instead 14...Nf6 occurred but whilst Black did have better options, certainly after 15.Na3 Ne5 16.Nc2 Qc5 17.Nxd4 Qxd4 18.Nb5 Qc5?! 19.b3 a6 20.Nc3 0-0 21.Be3 Qa5, he was clearly worse. We’d reached a fairly flat position but with Black missing his Dragon bishop where its opposite number remained.
Yugoslav Attack 9.Nb3 Be6 10.0-0-0 Na5 [B75]
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 though I once recommended it to my White 1 e4 playing pupils wanting to avoid theory, I don’t think that 9.Nb3 can any longer be referred to as a sideline with practical encounters amassing so quickly. At the very least Black players should not under-estimate it with in my opinion 9...Be6 10.0-0-0 Na5 11.Kb1 Nc4?! 12.Bxc4 Bxc4 13.Bh6 already leaving Black struggling in Nasuta, G - Jedras, P.
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Indeed after 13...Bxh6 14.Qxh6 Qc7 15.h4 b5 16.h5 b4 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.exd5 a5 although Black had managed to retain his defensive knight, unfortunately 19.Nd4! a4 20.hxg6 highlighted a different way for White to progress aside from eliminating the defender of h7. He can’t recapture on g6 with his h-pawn because of mate on h8 whilst to do so with the f-pawn would allow a devastating invasion on e6.
Yugoslav Attack 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Be3 Nc6 9.Qe2 Na5 10.0-0-0 Qc7 11.Bb3 [B76]
After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Be3 Nc6 the move 9.Qe2 was once a favourite of Swedish Grandmaster Johnny Hector:
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White retains the option to castle on either side with the priority for now seemingly being to control the c4-square rather than support a Bh6 challenge.
Surprisingly now after 9...Na5 rather than retreat her bishop to d3 as would be standard for this system, in Bivol, A - Gaponenko, I White left it to be taken with 10.0-0-0 instead. That was certainly an option but in 10...Qc7 11.Bb3 a6 it was highlighted why d3 is the usual preference for the bishop as ...e5 threatens to bag the central white knight. Hence we saw 12.Qd2 anyway with 12...b5 13.h4 b4 14.Nd5 Nxb3+ 15.Nxb3?! Nxd5 16.exd5 a5 17.Bh6? a4 18.Na1 Bxh6 19.Qxh6 Bf5 20.g4 Bxc2 21.Nxc2 b3 22.Rd2 a3!! reaching a wonderfully visual (and massively favourable to Black!) position.
Yugoslav 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Qb6 14.Na4 Qc7 15.Bc4 Rd8 16.Bb3 Be6 17.Nc5 Nf4 [B76]
We continue to see White try to prove an edge in the still fashionable line 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 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Qb6 14.Na4 Qc7 15.Bc4 Rd8 16.Bb3 Be6 17.Nc5 Nf4 18.Nxe6 Nxe6 19.Qe3 but he is getting little joy as highlighted in Celik, Hasan H - Djukic, Ni.
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In the notes I consider 19...Ng7 for the first time but the reality is that 19...Nf4 20.g3 Nd5 21.Qc5 Qb6 22.Qxb6 Nxb6 23.c3 c5 24.Rxd8+ Rxd8 25.Rd1 Rc8 as seen in the game is no worries for Black.
Nevertheless I'm going to try to refrain from including encounters like this in the future which often end up in bore draws. Sure it was a recent encounter and featuring two strong players but we've not learnt anything. Of course Black's queenside isolanis remain but if the queens are on, her majesty works well with the knight and Black's practical winning chances are just as good. Without the queens, Black is probably just best off avoiding a flat minor piece endgame or with rooks on, situations where Black's rook is passive but White's rook is able to successfully infiltrate. That aside White has nothing.
Yugoslav 9.Bc4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Bb3 Qa5 12.0-0-0 b5 13.Kb1 b4 14.Bxe6 [B77]
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.Bc4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Bb3 Qa5 12.0-0-0 b5 13.Kb1 b4 the game Hagner, B- Fedorovsky, M deviated from our previously well analysed 14 Nd5 with 14.Bxe6 fxe6 15.Ne2 instead:
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The advantage of having a pawn on e6 is that the d5-square isn't available to the white knight. Black also has a half-open f-file but the shield around the black king is weakened with the pawn on e6 also a potential future target.
Play continued 15...Qb5 16.Rc1 a5 17.c4 bxc3 18.Nxc3 Qb4 19.Rhd1 Rab8 20.Rc2 Nd7 21.Ne2 Qxd2 22.Rdxd2 Rb7 23.Rc6 Ne5 24.Rc3 Rfb8 25.Rdc2 Kf7 26.Ra3 when any result was possible and it was indeed one of them!
Yugoslav, Topalov System 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 13.a3 [B78]
Incredibly 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.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rc8 11.Bb3 Nxd4 12.Bxd4 b5 the game Frolyanov, D - Dudarev, V saw us check out our 8th different move for us in the form of 13.a3:
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Given in general you’d think that White would want to keep lines towards his king closed, it’s difficult to imagine how the inclusion of this and 13...a5 would help him. However one sneaky point is that after 14.e5 dxe5 15.Bxe5 the continuation 15...Bc6 16 Qe3 would leave the a5-square unavailable to the black queen. I doubt that situation would be too bad for Black but in any instance he opted for 15...b4 instead with 16.Bxf6 exf6 17.Qxd7 Qxd7 18.Rxd7 bxc3 19.bxc3 f5 20.Re1 a4 21.Bxa4 Ra8 22.Bb3 Bxc3 23.Ree7 Rxa3 leaving us in a joyful opposite coloured bishop ending! Okay that’s slight sarcasm and with rooks on White was able to push but still the outcome felt inevitable.
Bye for now! Chris
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