Download PGN of March ’23 Dragon Sicilian games

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Yugoslav Attack 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 d5 9.e5 Ne8 10.f4 f6 [B76]

Yes, I have to confess enjoying Vlad’s Dragon encounters which ever side he is on and Kramnik, V- Skvortsov, A was no exception. First of all then the game was in the offbeat system of 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 and now the immediate 8...d5:

Essentially then a 9 0-0-0 d5 variation but without a black knight on c6 and White having castled, to trade now on d5 would be rather nice as Black wouldn’t even suffer the isolated queenside pawns of the analogous line. Hence 9.e5 Ne8 10.f4 is all logical as is 10...f6 looking to free the Dragon bishop.

White certainly has choices here and over the next few moves but whilst presumably 11.exf6 Nxf6 presented a plan of hole exploitation, a decision needs to be made about dark-squared bishop (so often of course a key piece) preservation. Covering the g4-square is a big option whereas 12.0-0-0 Ng4 13.Bg1?! sought a different solution. However then Black had 13...Rxf4! with 14.Nf3? Bh6! 15.Kb1 Rxf3! 16.Qxd5+ Qxd5 17.Nxd5 Rxf1 18.Nxe7+ Kf7 19.Rxf1+ Kxe7 20.Bc5+ Kd7 21.Rf7 leaving White significant material down but a development advantage and tricks that somehow saw the ex-World Champion turn things around.

Yugoslav Attack 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 e5 [B76]

So after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0-0-0 d5, still a trendy variation is 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bh6 and in response 11...Bxh6 12.Qxh6 e5 remains fashionable. However whereas we’ve previously investigated 13 h4, 13 g4 and 13 exd5, this month’s Neugebauer, M - Carlsson, P provides us with our first look at 13.Qg5:

Black has to protect his e5-pawn and though he does have options, 13...Qd6 looks fine and indeed if after 14.h4 Kg7 15.h5 h6 16.Qd2 Nxh5 17.exd5 cxd5 18.Nxd5 Be6 19.Bc4 Rfc8 20.Bb3 Bxd5 21.Qxd5 he had simply swapped queens then for reasons explained in the notes I feel Black is more than fine. Instead 21...Qf6?! 22.Rhe1 Re8 23.Qb7! was indisputably in White’s favour although it was far from game over!

Yugoslav 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Qb6 14.Na4 Qa5 15.b3 Qc7 16.Re1 [B76]

The game Murzin, V - Antonio, V reminds us that after 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.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 Bxd4 13.Qxd4 Qb6 14.Na4 though the immediate 14...Qc7 tends to get deployed more by the top players, certainly 14...Qa5 15.b3 and then 15...Qc7 is a possibility, bringing to mind all those debates we had as to whether b2-b3 is useful inclusion or holes such as c3 and a3 were weaknesses. The quick answer to all that is probably ‘Yes’ with 16.Re1 Qd6 occurring in this game.

White patched up a couple of those holes with 17.Kb2 when 17...Rd8 18.Qe5 Nb6 was all ‘cat and mouse’ regards the pawn structure. Actually the way it turned out through 19.Nc3 Be6 20.Qxd6 exd6 21.Ba6 Rab8 22.Ne4 Kg7 23.Rd1 d5 24.Nc5 Nd7 was about equal although then 25.Na4 h5 26.Ka3 Kf6 27.Rhe1 g5 28.Re3 c5 29.Rc3?! c4! saw Black take the upper hand before there was a complete reversal later on!

Yugoslav 9.0-0-0 d5 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.Bd4 e5 13.Bc5 Be6 14.Ne4 Re8 15.h4 h5 [B76]

I found the game Lobanov, S - Tan, Zhongyi to be rather appealing in a sneaky sort of way! Of course 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 was all usual stuff until Black opted to halt this pawns progress through the immediate 15...h5 as opposed to through 15...h6 16 g4 Qc7 17 g5 h5.

Okay so it doesn’t take too long to get one’s head around it but following 16.g4 Nf4 17.g5 Black has in that department (i.e. in the area of keeping the h-file closed) gained a tempo. Rather than sitting on the position, Black continued pro-actively 17...Bd5 (paving the way for a ...Ne6-d4 manoeuvre) 18.Qe3 Qa5 when 19.a3 Ne6 20.Bb4 Qb6 21.Re1?! c5!? left tactics working in her favour in an entertaining game.

Yugoslav 9.Bc4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Bb3 Qa5 12.0-0-0 Rfc8 13.Kb1 Bc4 [B77]

The game Korneev, O - Belezky,A has me in two minds as to what to think of it. As we know the variation 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Bb3 Qa5 12.0-0-0 Rfc8 13.Kb1 has been proven to be a valid alternative to those other more theoretical Black systems and I love that we see something new in 13...Bc4:

Indeed if White were to trade bishops there then Black could double his rooks on the c-file and more pressingly a ...Nxe4 tactic would enter the picture. However after 14.h4 h5 White was tempted by the comfortable endgame advantage that 15.Bxf6 Bxf6 16.Nd5 Qxd2 17.Nxf6+ exf6 18.Rxd2 Bxb3 19.axb3 Rc6 20.Rhd1 Rd8 brings for obvious structural reasons. Okay Black hung on for the draw but call me old fashioned but that’s not really why we play the Dragon!

Soltis Variation 9.0-0-0 h5 10.Bc4 Bd7 11.Kb1 Rc8 12.Bb3 Na5 13.h4 Nc4 14.Bxc4 Rxc4 15.Nde2 b5 [B78]

Okay so if you’ve just taken note of the above (and below) move order approach to the Soltis variation above and wondering ‘what on Earth is going on?’ then whereas the previous game highlighted a down side that modern approaches to the Dragon bring then the game Kosteniuk, A - Abdusattorov, N did just the opposite!

First up then in 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 h5 we see a top rated human following an intriguing rare super engine recommendation (well in a manner of speaking!) that regulars will know that we have previously covered on the site. Then though in 10.Bc4 Bd7 11.Kb1 Rc8 12.Bb3 Na5 13.h4 Nc4 evidently White could find no better way to punish it than transpose into a relatively insipid line of the Soltis variation and that is of course after White deliberately chose 9 0-0-0 rather than 9 Bc4. It is perhaps then unlikely that White was as well versed in the sharper 9 Bc4 lines and that was of demonstrated in 14.Bxc4 Rxc4 15.Nde2 b5 16.g4?!:

The talented young Uzbek GM dealt some harsh but accurate punishment through 16...b4! 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.exd5 hxg4 19.Nd4 Qa5! 20.h5 Qxd5 21.hxg6 fxg6 22.Qh2 Qe5! leaving Black in total control and well on the road to victory.

Take care everyone. Chris

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