Download PGN of August ’24 Anti-Sicilian games
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O’Kelly Variation with 3.c3 e6 [B28]
In one of the myriad elite online blitz events, we were treated to the game Vachier Lagrave, M - Carlsen, M, beginning with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6 3.c3 e6 4.d4 d5:
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I personally find 5.exd5 more to my taste, while 5.e5 Bd7 6.Be2 can also get an advantage, as long as White remembers one or two subtleties. In the game, he didn’t, and in a battle of attrition Carlsen came out on top.
Rossolimo Variation with 3...Nf6 [B30]
The line 3...Nf6 4.Nc3 Nd4 5.e5 Nxb5 6.Nxb5 Nd5 keeps cropping up, raising the question of whether White should press with castling, Ng5 or indeed something different. Both of this month’s games saw the sequence 7.0-0 a6 8.c4 Nb4 9.Nc3 d6 10.exd6 Qxd6:
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In Nepomniachtchi, I - Gukesh, D White chose 11.d4, eventually succumbing in a complicated battle.
In Aronian, L - Gukesh, D White chose 11. Ne4 (doubtless after some preparation, since this game was played later) and this does seem like the more practical choice, even if Black stays within the drawing margin either way.
Rossolimo with 3...g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Bxc6 dxc6 [B31]
Gukesh’s fellow prodigy from the subcontinent demonstrated an interesting novelty in Keymer, V - Praggnanandhaa, R. Perhaps the current game will cause it to be unfairly forgotten, but there is a place in history for 9...b6N:
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Black preserves some ambiguity over which minor piece will be going to d5, and the answer is different depending how White develops. Unfortunately for ‘Pragg’, he might have kept this uncertainty going a little bit too long, though he later got back into the game.
Rossolimo with 3...g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Qc7 [B31]
Causing some pause for thought, and questioning the dogma that White should either take on c6 on move 4 or 6, was the game So, W - Gukesh, D. There is plenty of drama in the notes, especially early on, but after the entirely natural sequence 6.a4 a5 7.e5 Nh6 8.0-0 Nf5:
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it wasn’t obvious to me, and certainly not to Wesley, how White should play for an advantage. Some silicon-aided strategic thought later, it transpires that maybe 9.Na3 is the best try.
Sicilian with 2...e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bd3 [B40]
Having previously colonised this obscure corner of the Sicilian universe (is it an Anti or an Open?!) with my notes to Sadhwani-Gavrilescu, I thought I’d follow up this month with Ding, L - Grachev, B. Reaching the same position after 8.Nd2:
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Grachev chose not to fianchetto and instead played the automatic-looking 8...Be7. Another few automatic moves brought him close to the brink of defeat. This system shouldn’t be underestimated.
Sicilian with 2...e6 3.g3 Nc6 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.Qe2 [B40]
Finally, a duo from yours truly in the Vlissingen open tournament, which I first played in 2006 (!) and succeeded in winning this time round.
First up, the fifth round, in which I faced the dangerous Dutch GM Koen Leenhouts. That game saw 5...d5, and I give some general comments before focusing in on the position after 8.Rd1:
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My opponent chose correctly with 8...Qb6 9.c3 0-0 10.d4 cxd4 11.Nxd4 Nxd4 12.Rxd4 and here might have been slightly inaccurate, though not as much as I was over the ensuing 5 moves. A tense encounter, which I was lucky not to lose. See Fernandez, D - Leenhouts, K.
Equally, the penultimate round Fernandez, D - de Jong, M was another close shave, for different reasons. It’s worth drawing attention to the position after 10....Bf8:
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Here in my very haste to prevent the ...d5 break (with 11.Re1) I in fact allowed it. Objectively speaking, and in tune with the reverse-KID themes of the position, White should probably prefer 11.h3, with dynamic equality.
All the best, Daniel
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