the closed sicilian : past games and modern approach

CM thechesscorner64

Updated: Sep 17, 2023, 4:52 AM | 1

The Closed Sicilian starts with

Lets look at this position which is a typical variation of the Closed Sicilian

These are the moves leading to this position

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 Nc6 4. Bg2 g6 5. d3 Bg7 6. f4 Nf6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. O-O
Rb8 9. h3 b5 10. a3 a5 11. Be3 b4 12. axb4 axb4 13. Ne2 Bb7 14. b3

White is ready to attack on the king-side, with g3-g4 and Qe1-g3 or Qe1-h4 in the air.

Black has opened the a-file on the queen-side and has pushed the pawn to b4 with Nc6-a7-b5 or Nf6-d7 followed by Qb6-Nd4 in the air

You could say Black plays a English Opening ( 1c4) with reversed colors, i.e one tempo down.

When was this position first reached ? The answer is Spassky-Geller 1968 !

This was played during their candidates match, won by Boris Spassky, who ended up being world champion in 1969 before losing to Robert James Fischer in 1972.

let me put the end of the game here

A fascinating fight ! a key moment is when White sacrificed the rook on f6 to break through

Rxf6 followed by Qh7 +

but of course this is followed by a brilliant knight sac

The idea behind 25 Nxf7!! is 25..Kxf7 is answered by 26 Bh6! Rg8 forced and then you can choose between 27.Nf4 attacking g6 or 27.g4-g5 threatening gxf6. The rook on c1 can come on the f-file to join the attack.

Geller with Black tried 25..Rxc2 but 26 Bh6! came through with devastating effect.

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Now with super strong engines, we can see where Black started to go in the wrong direction.

The position after 14 b3 is sharp but offer equal chances for White and Black.

If I let Stockfish 16 play itself, here's the game it produced.

by the way, Spassky's accuracy was very high (96.9) , especially when you consider chess engines were not able to assist in analyzing positions and games

So far we've seen a great win by White and Stockfish 16 playing against itself and keeping the game balanced until a draw agreed in knight vs knight endgame.

But what if you play with Black against the Closed Sicilian, what would be the best plan for Black ?

Here's my "trick", I I let Stockfish 16 play with Black against a weaker engine with White. Please note that White plays stronger than the strongest human, but is bound to lose against stockfish 16. This way we get an instructive game from the Black side.

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What can we learn from Stockfish win with Black pieces ?

First, very important to play Nf6-d7 to allow the bishop on g7 to control the a1-h8 diagonal.

Then look at pawn breaks c5-c4 and d6-d5 to free Black's pieces.

Finally, using the a8 square for the Queen is key to bring attack from the queenside against the White's king who has been weakened by g3-g4 and f4-f5 and f5xg6 pawn moves.

Here's a position to keep in mind from that game. Black just played Bd4-f6!

The black rook has won the weak pawn on c2 and targets the White King.

Black's queen has control of the h1-a8 diagonal as well as the a-file with a possible Qa1 down the road.

Look at Black's king vs White's king : King Safety favors Black.

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and this concludes this post about old games, stockfish 16 as well as ideas in the Closed Sicilian Defense 1e4 c5 2Nc3

the closed sicilian : past games and modern approach

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