Download PGN of October ’18 Dragon Sicilian games
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Classical Dragon 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Be2 Nc6 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 Qb6! [B73]
Regarding the 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Be2 Nc6 8.0-0 0-0 9.f4 Qb6! of Kaouri, M - Tiviakov, S clearly the talented Russian who was one of my original Dragon heroes still remembers his basic theory (not that he couldn't have worked it out over the board!) despite having generally moved on to other openings.
Regulars will know that Black was ready for the thematic 9...d5 break and whatever 9th move White deploys makes a concession. 9 Nb3 allows 9...Be6, 9 Qd2 offers Black the option of 9...Ng4 and the 9 f4 (planning to meet 9...d5? with 10 e5) is correctly punished by the text. It was great to have Sergei back on the case of our favourite opening and after 10.Qd2?! he was quick to punish his opponent with 10...Nxe4!:
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My initial thought was to be critical of White for allowing this but although I sort of am, it became clear that it was all part of some dubious preparation. After 11.Nxc6 Qxc6 12.Nxe4 Qxe4 13.c3 White gets some tenuous compensation for the pawn although following 13...Qc6 14.g4 Bd7 15.f5 gxf5 16.gxf5 Kh8 17.f6 Bxf6 18.Rxf6 Rg8+ 19.Kf2 Qg2+ 20.Ke1 exf6 it was Black who was both material up and on the attack!
Dragadorf 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.0-0-0 b5 10.Kb1 Bb7 11.g4 Rc8 12.g5 Nh5 [B75]
Regards Savitskiy, S - Remizov, Y I had promised myself that I generally wouldn’t include blitz games in updates unless they featured the cream of World Chess. These guys are strong but whilst not in that top echelon, the game itself was difficult to ignore.
Yes, 5... g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.0-0-0 b5 10.Kb1 Bb7 11.g4 Rc8 12.g5 Nh5 was similar but not exactly the same as what we’ve seen before. However, whereas White should probably try 13 Bh3!? here, instead he tried 13.Nce2?! with a plan in mind to budge the h5-knight and open the h-file. Through 13...Ne5 14.Ng3 Nxg3 15.hxg3 he had achieved that:
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However, in revisiting an old tactical theme then came 15...Nxf3! 16.Nxf3 Bxe4 17.Be2 Rxc2 18.Qxc2 Bxc2+ 19.Kxc2 Because of the exposed white king, the queen and pawns are favourable to the white pieces although 19...Qa5 20.Kb1 Qb4 21.Bd4? e5 22.Bc3 Qe4+ 23.Bd3 Qxf3 had seen him crumble somewhat prematurely.
Yugoslav Attack 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 d5 9.e5 Ne8 [B76]
Following 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 0-0 8.Qd2 we have seen 8...d5 before on the site and in Bagi, M - Marinskii, Y it was repeated!
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Although Black should always keep in mind the possibility of getting this move in in the Yugoslav Attack, I would generally be a bit wary if is as the case here, White doesn't have to trade knights on c6 in order to get in the e-pawn advance.
Indeed, after 9.e5 Ne8 10.f4 Black tried undermining White’s centre through 10...f6 but after 11.Nf3 locking the light-squared bishop in through 11...e6 doesn’t feel nice. In any instance there can be no denying that after 12.0-0-0 Nc6 13.h4!? fxe5 14.fxe5 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Bxe5 16.h5 Qf6 17.hxg6 hxg6 18.Kb1 Nd6 19.Bd3 Bf4 20.Rdf1 Bxe3 21.Qxe3 Nf5 22.Bxf5 exf5 23.Nxd5 Black was already in deep trouble.
Yugoslav Attack 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Qe1 e5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.exd5 cxd5 13.Bg5 Be6 14.Bc4 Qc7 15.Bxf6 dxc4 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 [B76]
9.0-0-0 d5 10.Qe1 e5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.exd5 cxd5 13.Bg5 Be6 14.Bc4 Qc7 15.Bxf6 dxc4 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 leads to a position that we have debated a few times here on ChessPublishing. Black’s queenside pawn weaknesses remain but arguably it is the queen and knight pairing that offers White the favourable chances. Black has been able to equalise on a few occasions but the 17.h4 of Roberson, P - Mueller, R posed something different:
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Previously White had stuck to central consolidation but the text suggests he still has attacking ambitions in mind. Following 17...Rad8 18.Rxd8 Rxd8 19.h5 g5 20.h6+ Kg6 21.Qe2 Qc5 22.f4 Black blundered with 22...exf4?? allowing 23.Qh5+ Kf5 24.g4+ fxg3 25.Rf1+ forcing 25...Qf2 26.Rxf2+ gxf2 and with 27.Qf3+ Kg6 28.Qxf2 it was effectively game over. However, instead it seems that 22...g4! would have kept Black well in the game.
Yugoslav Attack 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Qe1 e5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Bc4 Be6 14.Ne4 Re8 [B76]
Regards 5...g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Qe1 e5 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.exd5 Nxd5 13.Bc4 Be6 14.Ne4 Re8:
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we’ve tended to focus more on 14...Qc7 with the idea of bringing the f-rook to d8 although there has also been splatterings of 14...Qb8 and 14...h6. It's not the first time that we've featured this rook move but whilst Black has generally been doing okay against 10 Qe1 in recent times, this Vignesh, N - Sivuk, V encounter serves as a warning to Black not to be too casual.
After 15.g4 Qc7 16.Bc5 Black engaged in 16...Nf4 17.Bxe6! Nxe6 so that he could manoeuvre his knight to d4. I then felt 18.Qe3 Qa5 19.Qa3 Qxa3 20.Bxa3 Nd4 was a critical situation. The whole idea behind Black budging his knight from d5 in the first place was so that he could get it to this attractive post. Also ...f5 is in the offing, to push away White's own steed and allow an easy centralisation of the black king. Those pawn weaknesses still remain though and 21.Rhf1 f5 22.gxf5 gxf5 23.Nd6 Rf8 24.c3 Ne2+ 25.Kc2 Nf4 26.Rg1 Rf6 27.Rg5 Raf8 28.Nc4 Re8 29.Ne3 h6 30.Rgg1 Rf7 31.Nc4 Re6 32.Rd8+ Kh7 33.Nd6 Rff6 34.Rd7 had helped reach a conclusion about those early simplifications. Black was constantly being put under pressure which in 34...Nh5 35.Nf7 e4 36.Nd8 Re8 37.Be7 Rg6 38.Rxg6 Kxg6 39.fxe4 fxe4 40.Nxc6 Nf4 41.Kd2 Kf5 42.Rxa7 had turned into tangible material promoting a decisive endgame.
Chinese Variation 10...Rb8 11.h4 b5 12.Bb3 Na5 13.h5 Nc4 14.Bxc4 bxc4 15.hxg6 fxg6 16.Bh6 [B78]
Dastan, B - Georgiadis, N was excellent entertainment. The opening was the Chinese Variation of 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.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rb8 11.h4 b5 12.Bb3 Na5 13.h5 Nc4 14.Bxc4 bxc4 15.hxg6 fxg6 and having freed up the f7-square for the defensive ...Rf7, a line that we had previously decided was most satisfactory for Black:
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Well, 16.Bh6 Qb6 17.b3 cxb3 18.axb3 Bxh6 19.Qxh6 Rf7 20.Qg5 Rc8 21.Kb2 a5! 22.Rd3 a4 certainly bore out that assessment with 23.Nf5 Bxf5! 24.exf5 axb3 25.fxg6 bxc2+ 26.Kxc2 leaving Black well in the driving seat. However you have to check out the rest of the game yourself which with blunders galore, was surely influenced by time trouble.
I’ll be back soon! Chris
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To get in touch with me subscribers can email me at Chris Ward@ChessPublishing.com.