Download PGN of October ’25 Dragon Sicilian games
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Anti-Hungarian Dragon 6.Be3 Nc6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 dxe5 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.0-0-0+ Kc7 11.Bc4 [B72]
The game Kanarek, M - Mickiewicz, P appeared to be cruising towards a Hungarian Dragon through 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Nc6 when White suddenly came in with 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5:
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Regular subscribers will know that we investigated a similar idea in the Fianchetto variation recently where essentially g2-g3 had hit the board and the dark-squared bishop was back on c1. Here I think that makes 8...Ng4!? a viable option but instead play continued with 8...dxe5 9.Qxd8+ Kxd8 10.0-0-0+ Kc7 11.Bc4 e6 12.Rhe1 when I think that White has reasonable compensation for the pawn but no more. As it happens the game was a topsy turvy encounter with 12...Ng4?! 13.Bg5! f6 14.f3 Bh6 15.Ne4!? fxg5?! 16.fxg4 leaving White in a favourable endgame that took a significant swift turn for the worse much later!
Classical Dragon 6.Be2 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Be3 b6 [B72]
The talented Georgian GM rarely disappoints and in Glek, I - Jobava, Ba following 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Be3, he brings us the new to the site 8...b6:
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Of course, 8...Nc6 would leave us in the original Classical old main line but whilst we have previously investigated Dragadorf type systems with ...a6, ...b5, ...Bb7 and ...Nbd7, this is the first time that we have featured this move which scarily exposes for one move only the diagonal towards the rook on a8.
In the notes I look at the immediate 9 e5 but the game saw 9.Bf3 Ba6 10.Re1 e5 11.Ndb5 d5 12.exd5 Bxb5 13.Nxb5 e4 14.Be2 Nxd5 15.Bd4 Nc6 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Bc4 Nf6 when 18.Nd6 Qe7 19.Nxe4 Nxe4 20.Bd5 Rad8 21.Rxe4 Qc5 was heading towards a drawn ending.
Classical 6.Be2 g6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.Be3 0-0 9.Nb3 a6 10.f4 b5 11.Bf3 Bb7 12.Qd2 b4 13.Nd5 a5 [B74]
It definitely seems to me that there has been a mini switch in trend towards the Classical set-up for White but the game Martinez Duany, L - Ilinca, FA, alongside the Jobava game just seen, merely highlights the range of options available to Black well beyond what original text books used to preach.
Here then we’re talking 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 g6 7.0-0 Bg7 8.Be3 0-0 9.Nb3 and then rather than the main move 9...Be6, instead 9...a6 10.f4 b5 11.Bf3 Bb7:
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Previously on this site we’ve seen Svidler challenge Magnus immediately (and ultimately unsuccessfully) here through 12 e4-e5 but whilst 12 Qe1 has been looked at too, this encounter features 12.Qd2 b4 13.Nd5 a5. What’s interesting is that the white knight is obviously on a good square on d5 but it’s not an outpost and following 14.c4?! Nd7!, suddenly ...e6 was set to embarrass it. Hence we see 15.Qf2 a4 16.Nd4 Bxd4! 17.Bxd4 e6 when 18.Bb6 Qc8 19.Nc7 Rb8 20.Nb5 Nxb6 21.Qxb6 Ba6 22.Qe3 Bxb5 23.cxb5 Rxb5 24.Rac1 Qb7 basically left Black a pawn to the good.
Yugoslav Attack 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Qe1 e5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bc5 [B76]
Following 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.f3 Bg7 7.Be3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Qe1 e5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 as it happens 12.Bc5?! is the second most popular move behind 12 exd5 but so far is it behind in terms of outings is it that the game Zharkov, N- Zemlyanskii, I marks its debut on the site.
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After 12...Re8 13.Na4 Be6 14.Bc4 Qc7 15.Bb3 Rab8 16.h4 Rb5 White’s queenside pieces were treading over themselves and although after 17.h5?! Nxh5! 18.Rxh5 gxh5 19.Qh4 White’s dark-squared bishop was controlling the black king’s escape square, realistically it was never going to come to that and 19...d4! 20.Qxh5 Qd8 21.c4 Rb8 22.Bxa7 Rb4 23.Nc5 Bxc4 24.Nd3 Rxb3 25.axb3 Bxd3 26.Rxd3 was about to leave Black a piece to the good.
Yugoslav 9.Bc4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.0-0-0 Qa5 13.Kb1 Rac8 14.Rhe1 Nd7 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.Ne2 Qxd2 17.Rxd2 e5 [B77]
Though yes it did get to an endgame relatively quickly and it was far from a masterpiece of accuracy, I really enjoyed the game Sharifov, M- Antonio, V. So, we’re all now quite familiar with the variation 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.Bc4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Bxe6 fxe6 12.0-0-0 Qa5 13.Kb1 Rac8 and recently were investigating 14 h4 Nh5!?. Here though 14.Rhe1 Nd7 15.Bxg7 Kxg7 16.Ne2 Qxd2 17.Rxd2 e5 18.Nc3 Nb6 19.Rd3 occurred when Black set the ‘mixing things up’ ball rolling with 19...g5:
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Of course there was absolutely nothing wrong with just doubling the rooks on the c-file but the idea of a kingside minority attack appeals and if nothing else, this encounter definitely shows that there is plenty of play in the position! Indeed the game continued with 20.b3 h5 21.Nd1 Nd7 22.h4 Nc5 23.Rd2 g4 24.Ne3 gxf3 25.Nf5+when although 25...Kf6! seems to favour Black, instead things got mixed up more through the exchange sac 25...Rxf5 26.exf5 Kf6 Then after 27.Re3 I would have preferred to keep the white rooks out of the action through 27...Rg8! but 27...fxg2 28.Rxg2 Kxf5 29.Rf3+ Ke6 30.Rg6+ Kd5 occurred in a topsy turvy endgame that really could have gone either way!
Yugoslav 9 Bc4 Bd7 10 0-0-0 Qa5 11.h4 Rfc8 12.0-0-0 Ne5 13 h5 Rxc3!? [B79]
In Smieszek, W - Bogdanov, E after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 Bg7 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Nc6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 0-0 8.Bb3 d6 9.f3 Bd7 10.Qd2 essentially White has deployed the 10 Bb3 Yugoslav Attack which, as regular subscribers will know, is for example an Anti-Chinese and Anti-Topalov system. However it certainly isn't a barrier to entry for my old favourite ...Qa5 line and indeed that's what appeared with 10...Qa5 11.h4 Rfc8 12.0-0-0 Ne5 following and then an old idea of mine against 13.h5 coming in 13...Rxc3!?:
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The main idea is to side-step what I considered to be an annoying 13...Nxh5 14 Nd5 line and in 14.bxc3 Nxh5 15.Bh6 Bxh6 16.Qxh6 Qxc3 17.Kb1 Nf6! that had worked wonders in this game with 18.f4 Neg4 19.Qh4 a5! being clearly better for Black. The significantly higher rated player though didn’t put this game to bed quickly and after 20.Ne2 Qe3 21.e5 a4 22.exf6 Nxf6 23.Bc4 Rc8 24.f5 Bxf5 25.Qd4 Bxc2+ 26.Ka1 Qg5 27.Rc1 Bf5 28.Bd3 Rxc1+ 29.Rxc1 Bxd3 30.Qxd3 we’d reached a fascinating endgame with six pawns for a rook. Great entertainment!
Hopefully back real soon! Best wishes, Chris
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