Download PGN of May '15 Dragon Sicilian games
>> Previous Update >>
Classical Dragon with f4 and g4 [B72]
A big thank you to Peter Heaven for sending in an interesting annotation to the curious game Heaven - Williams. I have added my comments to the encounter which kicks off 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.f4 g6 7.Be3 Bg7 8.Be2 0-0 9.Nb3 a5 10.a4 Be6 11.g4:
             |
11...d5 12.f5 Bc8 13.exd5 Nb4 14.Bf3 gxf5 15.g5 Ng4 thus reaching a position that we have seen on this site before but without the insertion of those a-pawn advances. My initial remarks are about transpositions e.g. Classicals to Levenfishes to Classicals! I certainly recognise Peter's desire to exorcise some demons; you can tell he's not happy with not taking his chance when he gets it!
Theoretically though I agree with the intimation that White is probably wise to stay away from this sharp system once ...a7-a5 and a2-a4 have been interpolated. White's queenside has been weakened and the b4-square is now a relatively secure home for a black knight.
Modern Classical 6 Bc4 [B72]
The second contribution to the Dragon site comes from ChessPublishing colleague and good friend John Emms. The game Emms - Jones was always going to be an interesting one from a theoretical point of view, and the first point of interest came when after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Bc4 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Re1 Nc6 9.h3 Bd7 10.Be3 Rc8 11.Bb3 Na5, John deliberately deviated from the most common 12 Qd3 (preventing for now ...Nc4) in favour of trying to encourage it. No stranger to this site Gawain didn't take the bait and after 12.Nf3:
|
|
he rightly refrained from 12...Nc4 13 Bxc4 Rxc4 14 e5! instead sensibly deploying 12...a6 13.Qd2 b5 14.Bh6 and only then 14...Nc4. Following 15.Bxc4 Rxc4 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.b3 Rc6! 18.Nd5 e5! his position was fine but in John's annotation he observes that the real architect of his downfall was poor time management.
Accelerated Dragadorf [B72]
Now entering the Yugoslav Attack related world of f2-f3 we have the Budapest Open Women's encounter Nomin - Erdene-Gara which prompted a reminder of why after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 a6 7.f3 b5 8.Qd2 Bb7 9.a4, it is Kudrin's 9...e5 10.Nb3 b4 (i.e. rather than the immediate 9...b4) that is probably most accurate. Play continued 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.exd5 Nd7 13.0-0-0!? Rb8 which has all been seen before:
|
|
but then White eschewed the likes of 14 f4!? and 14 Kb1 in favour of 14 a5?!. My annotations indicate that I don't think that was such a good idea although I have had some other thoughts regards ideas for Black against the alternatives.
It's clear that White had in mind cutting off that black b-pawn, but a half-open b-file (as we eventually discover!) can be pretty handy and the innocuous sequence 14...Be7 15.Kb1 0-0 16.Ba7 Ra8 17.Bf2 clearly hadn't troubled Black with 17...Nf6 18.Qxb4 Bxd5 19.Bb6 Qd7 20.Bc4 Bxc4 21.Qxc4 Rfc8 22.Qe2 Qc6 23.Rd2 Nd5 already somewhat in the second player's favour.
Yugoslav Attack 9 g4 Be6 10 Nxe6 [B76]
9.g4 Be6 10.Nxe6 fxe6 11.0-0-0 Ne5 12.Be2 Rc8 has featured a lot on this site with 13.Nb5 seeking to re-route the knight to d4 in order to pressurise the e6-pawn:
|
|
Previously we have discussed this position in detail in particular comparing 13...a6 14 Nd4 Qd7 with the immediate attempt at tempo gain 13...Qd7. The a7-pawn certainly comes into the thinking there as indeed it did in Istratescu - Videnova with 13...Nc4 14.Bxc4 Rxc4. I'm not a fan though especially given 15.Qd3! Rc8 16.Qb3. Actually 16 Nd4 could equally have come first but the fact that the white queen has been able to make this transference with tempo causes Black problems that were evident in 16...d5 17.Bxa7 Qa5 18.Bd4.
Yugoslav Attack 9 Bc4 Bd7 10 Bb3 [B78]
Hoang Canh Huan-Nguyen Duc Hoa is the first of two games this month with the talented young Vietnamese GM handling the Dragon. In this first one after 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.Bb3, rather than 10...Nxd4 11 Bxd4 b5 or simply 10...Rc8, Black selects 10...Na5. Most likely harbouring a desire to deploy the Chinese variation, White doesn't fancy that and avoids castling, with 11.Bh6 hitting the board instead. All the same 11...Bxh6 12.Qxh6 e5 13.Nde2 b5 14.h4 Nxb3 15.axb3 b4 certainly has that 'Chinese' feel to it and 16.Na2 a5 17.c4 bxc3 18.Naxc3 Be6 left Black bossing the proceedings:
|
|
Very nice opening and middle game by Black but the endgame goes horribly wrong and somehow the unthinkable happens!
Yugoslav Attack 9 Bc4 Chinese Variation [B78]
In the Chinese variation after 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.Bb3 Na5 11.0-0-0 (11 h4 or the above 11 Bh6 would prevent a transposition) 11...Rb8 12.g4 b5 13.Bh6 Nc4, I don't think that 14.Qg5 carries as much punch as it first did when White deployed it with a pawn on h4 rather than g4. Clearly White's h-file aspirations can't be realised as quickly whereas 14...Qb6 15.Rhe1 e6 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.f4 a5 kept Black on course re queenside action:
|
|
Plenty of fun followed through 18.e5 Ng8 19.a4? h6 20.Qh4 bxa4 21.Bxc4 Qxb2+ 22.Kd2 Qb4 but it was all in Black's favour in Nguyen Hoang Nam1-Nguyen Duc Hoa and this time he did manage to convert!
Back real soon! Chris
>> Previous Update >>
To get in touch with me subscribers can email me at Chris Ward@ChessPublishing.com.