Sicilian defense: Lowenthal Variation

I haven't been posting any blogs lately because of two reasons: First being i had a lot of study work and secondly are skill issues. Sorry for not posting.

Sicilian defense is the most tactical opening in chess. The most interesting sicilian lines are usually given in open sicilian with the moves:- e4 c5 Nf3 Nc6(or d6) d4 cxd4 Nxd4 where white trades the center pawn for a good placement of the knight. In today's blog we are going to focus on the Lowenthal variation of sicilian which is possible in the Old Sicilian open with the moves e4 c5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 cxd4 Nxd4.

Theory

e4 c5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 cxd4 Nxd4 e5 Nb5 d6 N1c3 a6 Na3 b5 Nd5 Nf6 Bg5 Be7 Bxf6 Bxf6 c3 O-O Nc2 Bg5 a4

Explanations

...e5: As i mentioned earlier, by playing ...d4 cxd4 Nxd4, white trades the center pawn for a wing pawn for better central control. But by the move e5, black tries to regain the center by kicking the knight away from d4 and planting a pawn on e5 square.

After e5, white plays Nb5, threatening Ne6+ where my 1600 elo can't really explain much but i can say it's so that black gets difficulties in developing. Note that Nf5 instead of Nb5 runs into problems after d5.

...d6: In order to stop the knight jumping to e6.

N1c3 is just a developing move, trying to get the knight to d5 square which is the weakest square in blacks position.

...a6 is a move stopping any piece jumps to b5, attacking the knight to force it to a bad square where it would have to rotate to be in the game.

...b5: Gains space on queenside, threatens a fork on b4 and gives more flexibility to the Light squared bishop for black.

By the next move Nd5, white defends from the threat of b4 while putting the knight on a desirable square.

...Nf6 Bg5 Be7 Bxf6: Generally you shouldn't give your bishop pair but in this case, the trade of the bishop for the f6 knight helps to relieve pressure on d5 and e4 square, further weakening d5. 

c3: To prevent b4 in future. 

...Bg5: A rather wierd move but a strong one, one of the advantages black had was the bishop pair and as the knight on c2 can now rotate to e3 then jump to d5 if Nf6+, white would be doing well. Bg5 also stops Ne3 for a moment.

Final move a4: This is a fun exercise for you; try explaining why a4 is good in the comments and come up with a response from black. 

Thanks for reading!