Cheap Trick aka Bent Larsen
In the vault of my memory was a quote by Bent Larsen along the lines that the Open Sicilian was a cheap trick for White. After all, he is allowing the exchange of a wing pawn (Black's c-pawn) for his central pawn (White's d-pawn).
In the present day I was analyzing a very tame draw I made on the White side of the Gruenfeld, digging around trying to find where I could improve.
White to Move
I didn't appreciate this was a critical position of the opening. Black has just played 11. ... Nc6 and on general principles I castled to exit my King from the central stage.
Effectively what I am allowing is the exchange of my central d-pawn for Black's wing b-pawn. The game continued 12. 0-0 Nxd4 13. Rxb7 and we enter very tame waters.
Instead, 12. d5 would keep the fight on, for White's central d-pawn is surely much more valuable than Black's b-pawn.
My Game Annotations and Analysis
