Download PGN of May ’24 Dragon Sicilian games
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Classical, Karpov System 6.Be2 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Bg5 Nc6 9.Nb3 b6 [B70]
To be fair I’m in general probably a bit harsh on White systems that aren’t the Yugoslav Attack and I thought the game Hjartarson, J - Sielecki, C was a nice encounter to offer the figurative olive branch!
The game commenced 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be2 Bg7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Bg5 Nc6 9.Nb3 when previously we’ve focused on 9...a6, 9...a5 and 9...Be6. Instead here Black deployed 9...b6 with 10.f4 Bb7 11.Bf3 Rc8 12.Nd5 following:
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Typically in such scenarios Black is advised to avoid taking on d5 to avoid future e-file pressure and indeed here 12...e6 looks fine. However 12...Nxd5 13.exd5 and then 13...Na5 14.c3 did occur which would still have been okay in the event of 14...Nc4! However 14...Nxb3? 15.axb3 a5 wasn’t great with 16.Qe1 Re8 17.Qh4 b5 18.f5! looking more like a Grand Prix Attack and 18... gxf5 19.Rae1 Qb6+ 20.Be3 Qc7 21.Be2 e6 22.Bxb5 Bxd5 23.Bxe8 Rxe8 24.Bh6! leaving White with a powerful initiative.
Dragon, Hungarian Variation 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5 8.Bc4 Bd7 9.Nxc6 bxc6 [B72]
Following 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Nc6 7.f3 h5 recently we have seen plenty of 8.Bc4 to sidestep the Black taking on d4 and deploying ...Bh6 line that is of course characteristic of the Hungarian variation. In Palczert, M - Tzidkiya,Y following 8...Bd7 White puts that idea to bed through 9.Nxc6 bxc6 and only then comes 10.Qd2 Actually only last month we featured encounters in which Black had their b-pawn transferred to c6 and in this game Black gets to bring his rook to the resultant half-open file in one turn and of course has control over the d5-square. Yes, 10...Bg7 11.0-0-0 Qa5 12.Kb1 Rb8 13.Bb3 Be6 14.Rhe1 Nd7 then occurred before 15.Nd5 appeared anyway!
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White’s main idea was 15...Qxd2 16 Nc7+ Kf8 17 Nxe6+ but whilst I’m not convinced that that would have offered too much, following 15...Qd8?! White did miss an opportunity for 16 Nb4! that might have proved awkward. Instead he tried 16.Bg5?! cxd5 17.exd5 Bf5 but alas 18.Bxe7 Qxe7 19.Rxe7+ Kxe7 20.Qe2+ Kf8 21.Re1 Be5 22.h4 Rb4! simply left Black with too many pieces for the queen.
Yugoslav Attack 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bc4 e6 12.h4 [B76]
If White is looking for a less theoretical line of the Yugoslav Attack then right now he could certainly do worse than dabbling in 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 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bc4 which even though leaves White’s light-squared bishop biting on granite, has proven tricky for Black on a few occasions recently. Indeed the game Huang, R - Zhang, Di merely added to Black’s woes although after 11...e6 White deviated from the automatic immediate withdrawal 12 Bb3 in favour of 12.h4:
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Although transpositions are possible, in 12...Qc7 13.Bb3 Rd8?! it felt like Black had been tricked after 14.h5! given the d5-pawn is still pinned whilst White is making headway on the h-file. After 14...a5 15.hxg6 the h-pawn recapture would have spelt trouble down the h-file and hence Black was forced to compromise his structure through 15... fxg6 when 16.Na4! Re8 17.Bf4 Qe7 18.Rhe1 Ba6 19.exd5 cxd5 20.Nb6! Rad8 21.Qxa5 Bb7 22.Be5 Qf7 23.a4 left White a pawn up with superior pieces to boot.
Yugoslav Attack 9.g4 Bxg4 [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.g4 objectively 9...Bxg4 10.fxg4 Nxg4 must be a bit of a suspicious sacrifice but when it’s humans involved, the practical chances are always going to be there as was shown in Narva, M - Mustaps, M Previously on the site we’ve suggested that 11 Nb3 might be critical but instead 11.Nxc6 bxc6 and then 12.Bg1 occurred with White eager to preserve his dark-squared bishop:
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Black only has two pawns for a piece but the compensation revolves around the white king position. There are now two bishops in the way of short castles whilst long castles would run into ...Bh6. Play continued with 12...Rb8 but after 13.Be2 Bh6 14.Qd3 Ne5 15.Qh3 Bg5 I think 16.Nd1?! was too passive with 16...f5 17.exf5?! Rxf5 18.Be3 Qa5+ 19.c3 Rxb2! rather visual!
Yugoslav 9.Bc4 Qa5 10.0-0-0 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Be6 12.Bb3 b5 13.Kb1 b4 14.Nd5 Bxd5 15.exd5 Qb5 16.Rhe1 a5 17.Qe2 [B77]
When I first saw the game Roux, B - Peng, Li Min , it instantly appealed to me. Sadly a closer inspection revealed a flaw but nevertheless it was a great example of a Dragon player grinding down his opponent.
So certainly we have seen the likes 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.Bc4 Qa5 10.0-0-0 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Be6 12.Bb3 b5 13.Kb1 b4 14.Nd5 Bxd5 15.exd5 quite a bit before on the site whether Black prioritises extracting his queen or trades knights and deploys ...Be6 first. The topical debated line is 15...Qb5 16.Rhe1 a5 threatening ...a4 to trap White’s light-squared bishop.
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Hence 17.Qe2 Qxe2 18.Rxe2 a4 19.Bc4 Rfc8 20.b3 Rc7 when White took the opportunity to play 21.Bb5 whilst he could. Thereafter followed 21...a3?! 22.Bxf6?! Bxf6 23.Re4 Bc3 24.Rd3 Ra5 25.Bc4 f5 26.Re6 Kf7 27.Kc1 Rac5 28.Kd1when rather than just accept this opposite-coloured bishop scenario should play out to a draw, Black sacrificed the exchange through 28...Rxc4!? 29.bxc4 Rxc4 30.g3 g5 31.h3 h5 and with some neat technique to follow, eked out that full point. All good stuff from a Black perspective until you notice the analysis to 22 Bb6!.
Yugoslav 9.Qd2 Bd7 10.h4 h5 11.Bb3 a5 12.a4 Ne5 13.0-0-0 Rc8 [B78]
Given it was a high level tussle and in such a rare variation, I sort of felt obliged to include the game Sindarov, J - Abdusattorov, N in this update although I can’t see many Black players wanting to repeat the system.
Anyway we had 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bc4 g6 6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Be3 0-0 8.f3 Nc6 9.Qd2 Bd7 10.h4 h5 11.Bb3 a5 12.a4 Ne5 13.0-0-0 Rc8 and basically a Soltis system but with ...a7-a5 and a2-a4 thrown in:
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Although one doesn’t usually want to advance pawns around ones king in opposite-side castling positions, 14.Kb1 Nc4 15.Bxc4 Rxc4 16.b3 Rc8 17.Ndb5 left it practically impossible for Black to get at that a4-pawn let alone achieve the pawn break ...b5. Although Black now prevented Bh6 through 17...Kh7, pieces still came off through 18.Bd4 Ne8 19.g4 Bxb5 20.Nxb5 Bxd4 21.Nxd4 Nf6 22.gxh5 Nxh5 23.Rhg1 Rc5 24.Rg5 Rxg5 25.hxg5 when White was left in a commanding position, turned material advantage after 25...Qc7 26.Nb5 Qc5 27.Qxa5 that ultimately the Uzbek chess prodigy was able to convert without too much fuss.
Back real soon, Chris
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