Download PGN of July ’24 Dragon Sicilian games
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Hungarian Dragon 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5 8.Qd2 Nxd4 9.Bxd4 Bh6 10.Qf2 0-0 [B72]
Previously after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5 8.Qd2 Nxd4 9.Bxd4 Bh6 10.Qf2 we have seen Black whip out his queen to a5 to protect his a7-pawn but in Boraso, A - Murphy, C Black calmly continues with 10...0-0 tempting White with two very plausible choices for his dark-squared bishop:
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Ironically it could well be that developing his light-squared bishop is best but having checked out the a-pawn pawn grab in the notes, it is 11.Bxf6 exf6 12.Bc4 that takes centre stage. Very imbalanced is 12...Bf4 13.0-0 f5 14.Rad1 Qc7 15.Bb3 Qc5 16.Nd5 Bg5 17.Rfe1 fxe4 18.Rxe4 Kg7 19.Ne3 Bf6 20.c3 b5 21.Nd5 Bg5 22.Qd4+ Kh6 23.Kf1 Bf5 24.h4 Bd8 but whilst White had his chances, after 25.Qd2+ Kg7 26.Rd4 Re8 27.Qf4 Be6 28.R4d2 a5 29.Qd4+? Qxd4 30.Rxd4 a4, it was Black who had emerged into the better endgame.
Classical Dragon 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Be2 0-0 8.0-0 Nc6 9.Nb3 a6 10.a4 Be6 11.f4 [B74]
After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Be2 0-0 8.0-0 Nc6 9.Nb3 I still consider 9...Be6 to be the old main line but I love the fact that in non-critical lines Black can always turn to a simple queenside expansion plan such as 9...a6 intending ...b5:
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Previously on the site we have seen White allow that and instead seek a tactical solution through 10 f4 b5 11 Bf3 but in this month’s Hardaway, B - Grigoryan, K2 instead White prevented the expansion through 10.a4. After 10...Be6 I believe Black benefits from the inclusion of these a-pawn advances but whilst overall I liked the feel of the game from a Black perspective, it wasn’t without inaccuracy. For example after 11.f4 Bxb3 12.cxb3 Rc8 13.Bf3 Nd7?! 14.Rf2 Qa5 I think that 15 e5! could have been awkward for Black. However instead White turned to 15.Bg4? which following 15...e6 merely seemed like a waste of time given the d6-pawn was untouchable. Play continued with 16.f5 exf5 17.exf5 when 16...Rce8! 18.fxg6 hxg6 19.Bxd7 Rxe3 20.Bxc6 bxc6 21.Qxd6 Re6 22.Qd7 Qb6! left White in a right pickle.
Dragadorf 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 h5 9.0-0-0 b5 10.Kb1 Bb7 11.e5 [B75]
Following 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 h5 9.0-0-0 b5 the move 10.Kb1 is more than just a handy waiting move as can be seen in the variation 10...Bb7 11.e5:
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The big question though as came up in the recent game Vetoshko, V - Lie, K is whether 11...dxe5 12.Ne6 Qxd2 (note not check!) 13.Nxg7+ Kf8 14.Ne6+ fxe6 15.Bxd2 is really that good? Well it’s certainly a snazzy looking tactic but my opinion is that actually both 15...Nbd7 and 15...Kf7!? are fine for Black. Basically White has the bishop pair and whilst Black has an extra pawn, those tripled isolanis aren’t ideal. However I think that 15...Nc6 is a slight inaccuracy, leaving White with the upper hand through 16.Bd3 Kf7 17.Ne4 Nxe4 18.Bxe4 Nd8 before 19.Bxb7?! Nxb7 20.Bc3 Rhd8 21.Bxe5 Rd5 22.Bc3 Rad8 23.Kc1 Nd6 24.Rde1 Nf5 25.Re4 Rc8 26.Rhe1 Rc6 27.g4 Nh4 28.R1e2 hxg4 29.fxg4 g5 30.Re5?! returned the error with interest with 30...Ng6 31.Rxd5 exd5 32.Bd2 Rc4 33.h3 Nf4 34.Re3 e5 seeing Black emerge with a clear plus.
Yugoslav 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Qb6 14.Na4 Qc7 15.g3 [B76]
Time to get all theoretical in a popular main line and who else to add something to contribute to the debate than Stocksish and LC Zero! Yes these two metal monsters (with an average rating between them of 3647!) played with either side 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 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Qb6 14.Na4 Qc7 and first up in Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f7 - LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6 White eschewed the human favourites 15 Bc4 and 15 Nc5 in favour 15.g3:
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We have of course previously seen this deployed on move 16 after 15 Bc4 Rd8 but there was no hanging about on this occasion as the g-pawn nudge hit the board immediately. The ideas behind it remain the same; namely taking control of the f4-square and relieving the king’s rook of h2-pawn defending duties but it is still a bit of a time out and ultimately didn’t trouble Black.
Indeed 15...Rd8 16.Qc5 Rd6 17.Bc4 Nb6 18.Bb3 Be6 19.Bxe6 Rxe6 20.Nc3 Re5 21.Qd4 Rh5 22.Rd3 Rb8 23.Qe4 a5 24.a3 e6 25.Kb1 Nd5 26.Na4 Nb6 27.Nc3 Nd5 28.Na4 Nb6 followed when the game could very easily have ended in a threefold repetition here. As it happens White deviated but no even remotely significant advantage was ever proven.
Yugoslav 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Qb6 14.Na4 Qc7 15.Nc5 a5 [B76]
Equally in the second part of the mini-match with colours reversed, White struggled to prove an edge in LCZero 0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6 - Stockfish dev-20240728-2343f7. This time 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.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Qb6 14.Na4 Qc7 White continued in standard fashion with 15.Nc5 but again it was Stockfish ignoring the standard human theoretical continuation of 15...Rd8, instead deploying the rarely seen before 15...a5:
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This grasps the b4-square but evidently White was more concerned about this pawn advancing further as it was halted in its tracks through 16.a4. Following 16...Rd8 it is possible to make comparisons with the analogous situation without the advanced a-pawns but already 17.g4 was a unique position. Sensibly flexible was 17...Rd6 with 18.Bc4 Nb6 19.Qe4 Nxc4 20.Qxc4 Be6 21.Nxe6 Rxe6 pretty equal. White always hopes to be able to exploit Black’s queenside isolanis but active defence as demonstrated in this game, negates that.
Yugoslav Attack 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 e5 13.Bc5 Be6 14.Ne4 Re8 15.h4 h5 16.Bc4 Nf4 [B76]
Staying super theoretical but returning to flesh and blood encounters we have the high level tussle Dominguez Perez, L - Abdusattorov, N in another ultra topical line. This time it’s 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 e5 13.Bc5 Be6 14.Ne4 Re8 15.h4 h5 16.Bc4 where again Black puts his faith in 16...Nf4 and the endgame reached after 17.Qxd8 Rexd8 18.Bxe6 Nxe6 19.Be7 Bh6+ 20.Kb1 Rxd1+ 21.Rxd1:
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Here it would be easy to point to White dominating the open d-file and Black's isolanis as being weaknesses but Black is about to generate play with his kingside majority.
Indeed 21...f5 22.Nf6+ Kf7 23.Rd7 at first looks scary but as it transpired, 23...Nf4! 24.g3 Ne2 was absolutely fine for Black in a pretty accurate game.
Back real soon, Chris
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