Download PGN of June ’23 Dragon Sicilian games
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Hyper-Accelerated Dragon 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Qa4 d6 7.e5 dxe5 8.Nxe5 Bg7 [B27]
In Amin, B - Ivanchuk, V following 1.Nf3 g6 2.e4 c5 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Qa4 d6 White sought an advantage through 7.e5 dxe5 8.Nxe5:
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However rather than stress too much over dealing with the threat to c6 (with 8...Bd7 and 8...Qd4 typical candidates) instead Black offered it up as a sacrifice via 8...Bg7 and after 9.Bb5 simply responded with 9...0-0. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this solution and in this encounter through 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bxc6 Bd7 12.0-0 Rc8 13.Bxd7 Qxd7 14.Be3 Qxa4 15.Nxa4 Rxc2 16.Rfc1 Rxc1+ 17.Rxc1 Nd5 the Ukrainian legend of the chess board merely justifies its validity. Back to the drawing board for White!
Maroczy Bind 6.Nc3 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.Bg5 Bg7 9.Qd2 0-0 10.Be2 a5 11.Rd1 Be6 12.0-0 a4 [B36]
In the game Kravtsiv, M - Guseinov, G we saw a typical Black theme after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nxd4 7.Qxd4 d6 8.Bg5 Bg7 9.Qd2 0-0 10.Be2 of 10...a5 11.Rd1 Be6 12.0-0 a4. However White deployed 13.Qe3 (in conjunction with parking a rook on d1) leading to something a little different:
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On this square the white queen covers b6 and in particular means that after White’s next move the obvious jump into the centre for the knight won’t mean that a trade of queens is forced. Basically we did then see 13...Qa5 14.Nd5 when Black protected his e7-pawn through 14...Rfe8!? deciding he would trade on d5 on his own terms. Well good terms appeared after 15.b4 axb3 16.axb3 with 16...Bxd5 17.exd5?! Nd7 preparing to pressurise White’s queenside and 18.f4 Qc5! guaranteeing a favourable endgame for Black.
Accelerated Dragon, Maroczy Bind 5.c4 Bg7 6.Be3 Qb6 7.Nb3 Qd8 [B38]
The provocative looking line 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Be3 Qb6 instantly pressurising d4, remains popular amongst top players but new to the site after 7.Nb3 Qd8 8.Nc3 Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 was the Russian GM’s 9...d6 in the game Potkin, V - Dreev, A.
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What his motivation was is far from clear but getting some extra development via 9...Nf6 10 f3 and then 10...d6 makes more sense to me.
So White decided to try and punish his opponent through 10.c5! when 10...Nf6 11.cxd6 Nxe4 12.dxe7 Qxe7 13.Bb5 Bd7 14.0-0 0-0-0? was crazy stuff! Actually White had several ways to get/remain on top but after 15.Re1 Nxc3 16.Qd3 Qb4 17.Bxc6 Bxc6 18.Bd4 Nxa2 19.Qh3+ Bd7 20.Qg3 Rhe8 21.Reb1 Bc6 22.Bxa7? Nc3! the tide had turned and ultimately the saying ‘He who dares wins’ was very applicable!
Maroczy 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nc3 d6 8.Be2 0-0 9.f3 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 a5 11.Qd2 a4 [B38]
As far as Maroczy Binds go the game Rodi, L - El Debs, F offered something a little different. Yes after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Nc3 d6 8.Be2 0-0 9.f3 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 a5 11.Qd2 a4 rather than castling kingside, White bashed out 12.g4 and after 12...Be6 followed up with 13.Kf2:
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Yes there definitely seems to be something in the water this month but with this it seemed White had kingside attacking ambitions but didn’t want to ‘go long’ given the obvious c-file issues.
Play continued 13...Qa5 14.b3 axb3 15.axb3 Qb4 16.Ra4 Rxa4 17.bxa4 Nd7 18.Bxg7 Kxg7 19.Rb1 Qc5+ 20.Kg2 when Black had certain positional advantages but in Qa7 21.h4 f6 22.h5 g5 23.Nb5 Qb8, queen placement wasn’t one of them. Arguably White was over optimistic in 24.h6+ Kxh6 25.f4 gxf4 26.Qxf4+ Kg7 27.Rh1 but there was plenty of fun and games ahead!
Yugoslav Attack 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 h5 8.Bc4 h4 [B75]
What, you didn’t even know that was a variation? Well, you do now and furthermore in the high profile tussle Caruana, F - Kramnik, V whilst we’ve already reached a unique position, who would have expected after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 h5 8.Bc4 h4 for White to respond with 9 Kf2:
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Surely one would have expected 9 Qd2 but funnily enough this king sortie is the move my school chess teacher used to play against my Dragon back in the day (albeit with my h-pawn nowhere near h4!) and God rest his soul, he too was very aware of the concept of castling!
From here Black could have continued with 9...a6 and a Dragadorf-like set-up but 9...Nc6 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.e5 kicked off complications. To be fair I’m a bit bemused as 11...Nh5!? or maybe 11...Nh7 feel in the spirit of things but instead Black opted for 11...dxe5? 12.Qxd8+ Kxd8 13.Bxf7 the problem being that with the g6-pawn loose Black doesn’t have time to trap the white bishop through 13...e6. Hence 13...Bf5 14.Rad1+ Kc7 15.Bb3 e4 16.Rhe1 Rhd8 17.Bf4+ Kb7 18.Rxd8 Rxd8 19.Bg5 when Vlad was always struggling to generate quite enough activity to compensate for his lousy pawn structure.
Yugoslav 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Nxc3 13.Qxc3 Bh6+ 14.Be3 Bxe3+ 15.Qxe3 Qb6 16.Qc3 [B76]
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 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 in a bid to deviate from the main line of 12...e5, it was 12...Bxd4 13 Qxd4 Qb6 and the Dzida, K - Bogdanov, E game continuation of 12...Nxc3 13.Qxc3 Bh6+ 14.Be3 Bxe3+ 15.Qxe3 Qb6 that became fashionable. Back then all the focus was on White grabbing that e7-pawn which actually engines aren’t that impressed with. You can find plenty on that in the archives but this month saw a couple of different white queen moves of which 16.Qc3 is featured:
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Sensible play in 16...Be6 17.h4 Rfd8 18.Rxd8+ Rxd8 19.h5 followed when Black has a decision to make. He must prevent the hxg6 that would provoke a third isolani but the question is whether or not he should seek an immediate endgame through 19...Qd4. In the game Black was seemingly more ambitious with 19...g5 but whilst 20.Bd3 h6 21.Re1 Rd4 22.g3 c5 turned out equal, I can’t help but wonder about 20 h6!? instead.
Best wishes, Chris
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