In the dragon Karpov Korchnoi game you give 10. h4! an exclamation mark. This move is the exact same as 10. 0-0-0, except it avoids the chinese dragon. Not enough for an exclamation mark in my opinion.
Also, 9.Bc4! is probably not an exclamation move either, 0-0-0 scores just as well.
I see myself building a Sicilian opening repertoire... I seem to play the dragondorf with ...a6 out of habit but I am starting to get serious about just studying the Dragon variation as my repertoire for black. I am only a 1300/1400, so any advice on how to go about it. etc? any feedback will be much appreciated.
sicilian is alot of theory
Please note that all the info. in this post are taken from outside sources, they will be mentionned in the last section (special thanks and others sources section)..AND DON'T FORGET TO ALWAYS LOOK FOR COMMENTS UNDER EACH DIAGRAMS!!!
Sicilian defence
The Sicilian defence is an old opening. The Sicilian Defence was largely analyzed by Giulio Polerio in his 1594 manuscript on chess, though interesting fact, he did not use the term "Sicilian Defence". In large, let’s see somes ideas of this opening:… by advancing the c-pawn two squares, Black asserts control over the d4-square and begins the fight for the centre of the board but White often obtains a substantial lead in development and dangerous attacking chances. Often, Black's pawn on c5 is traded for White's pawn on d4 in the early stages of the game, granting Black a central pawn majority. The pawn trade also opens the c-file for Black, who can place a rook or queen on that file to aid his queenside counterplay.
Zoom out section:
In this post, we will studying 10 differents variation of this defence. They will be the Bastrikov variation, the Gambit Dely-Kasparov, the Maroczy wall, the Rossolimo variation, the Nadjorf variation, the English attack, the Dragon variation, the O'Kelly variation and finally, the Pelican variation.
Zoom in section:
Bastrikov (transposed) variation section:
2- Dely-Kasparov gambit section:
3- The Maroczy wall variation section:
4- Schevenninger variation section:
In this variation, Black take modest stance in the center and on the Kingside. His counterplay will be on the Queenside and along the c-file in particular...
5- Rossolimo variation section:
The main ideas of the Rossolimo are rapid development and seizing the initiative...
6- Nadjorf variation section:
In this one, we shall see the 8.Qe2!? idea in the 6.Bg5 Sicilian Najdorf System. 8.Qe2 has always been considered to be one of the dangerous systems against the mighty Najdorf. Many Elite players like Ivanchuk, Radjabov, Shirov etc have included this idea in their repertoire. There are numerous ideas behind this move. First of all the usual placement of the queen on f3 has a drawback of having the queen on the h1-a8 diagonal where Black gets his bishop on b7 which White wants to avoid. Secondly Queen on e2 can always help White to get the e4-e5 thrust, and also White has the option of sacrificing the Knight on d5 which in typical in such structures. Queen on e2 will definitely be a better placement than f3 in that case. Today's Game is between Venkatesh-Arun played in a very recent tournament where I employed a new idea and came out successful pretty easily. After the 12. Bg2 Qc4N it is white who has to find himself a clear way to get out of problems.
The 12. Bg2 Qc4!? idea was actually generated from a good old sicilian rule which says that most of the endgames are better for Black in most of the sicilian structures. When White takes an aggressive stance with Kingside pawns marching forward the exchange of Queens definitely benefits Black. After the exchange of Queens it will be much easier for Black to play since he doesnt have any risk. Black players must look out for the h6-g5 break always since after the break most of the times White will be in danger…
Now let's see an another interesting game..
7- English attack (Nadjorf) section:
we shall return to the Sicilian Najdorf English Attack. It has always been a fascinating and a favourite opening for most of the top Grandmasters. Even the legendary Kasparov used it regularly with huge success and contributed a lot in the development of this opening theory. We are sure the Najdorf will be a top priority for the imminent Anand-Topalov Match since both players are not only the experts of this system but have also introduced splendid ideas against it. So being a fan of this great system we definitely expect a couple of games in this system by these great players.
In recent times the Najdorf system suffered a lot of problems with the English Attack and 6.Bg5. But still Black players manage to find a way out and come out successfully in their encounters. In the younger generation of players, Karjakin employs the Najdorf regularly with success. In today's game we shall see one of his encounters with an elite GrandMaster Peter Svidler in which he came up with a new idea and soon it was white who was in trouble.
The next game showed is a sub variation in the English Attack. White takes a more aggressive stance with f4-f5. With this idea White has more space on the kingside and often sacrifices the g-pawn with g4 and opens the g-file. White's attack is much faster and Black needs to find a suitable plan to counter this...
8- Dragon variation section:
In 1970, Andrew Soltis brought forth a concept which has remained a popular for decades. Instead of allowing White to ram a pawn up the rook file, he decided to stop it in its tracks by advancing his own rook pawn. The idea became so popular that even in the last century there was a book of hundreds of pages devoted to discussion of just this one plan. Today I show you the game that started it all.
Being one of the riskiest of choices, the Dragon has never enjoyed a consistent popularity among the top grand masters. It was used only occasionaly as a surpise weapon at the top level. One of our all time chess greats, Garry Kasparov surprised our current world champion Viswanathan Anand in their PCA world championship match in 1995 by employing this opening with very good results. The Dragon, which has been dormant for a while now, has started resurfacing at the top level thanks to our young grand masters Magnus Carlsen and Teimour Rajdabov.
Here a list of strategic ideas for both sides.
White's Strategy
1. Launch a kingside attack with g4,h4,h5 and open the 'h' file.
2. Contain black's queenside counterplay with useful defensive moves.
3. Neutralisation of the dragon (g7) bishop - it will weaken black's defenses on the king side and also reduce black's pressure on the queenside.
4. Anticipate the exchange sacrifice on c3
5. Prevent black from breaking through in the center with d5.
Black's Strategy
1. The Source of black's counterplay will often be on the semi open c-file.
2. Look for an exchange sacrifice on c3 in order to destroy the pawn structure in front of the enemy king.
3. Maintain a healthy pawn chain on the king side. Endgames usually favour black due to his better pawn structure.
4. Look for central breaks with d5 when white neutralizes black's counterplay on the queenside.
5. Contain white's kingside play with useful defensive moves.
6. Last but not least, Save the Dragon!!!
9- Pelican variation section:
This system "Pelican" was very popular in the seventies and after taking a break it sprung back to life in the late nineties especially after a couple of strong wins by Alexei Shirov. The development of the opening theory has been so vast in recent times that, in many system there has come a point where there is no way for improvement and a conclusion has already been drawn with the help of computers. Computers have a profound influence on the development of opening theory. At this point it is very important to revive old systems for which the conclusion has been drawn out several years ago when the computers were not so strong.
Times have changed and the computers are able to hold several positions that are considered to be inferior or they can be used to generate new ideas in a position considered equal. Today we shall see one such opening where the computer's effect has not been much and that definitely needs further testing by the computers and the elites.
Our First game is between Shirov and Lautier in which Shirov totally dominated. Black wasnt prepared to face the complications and that too in a blindfold game it is going to be a difficult task for anyone against the mighty Shirov.
That was a fine show from Shirov who actually made it look very easy. But in our next game he is on the receiving side against the former world champion Garry Kasparov. This game was a serious blow to the 11.Bxb5 idea, It was very well prepared and executed by Kasparov and the psychological effect was so strong that this opening didnt occur for a few years afterwards.
Our next game is between two Chinese Grand Masters Li Shilong-Zhao Jun. In this game white came up with an improvement from the Shirov-Kasparov game. Even though Black could have improved in this game on a few occasions, it was the unexpected return of this dangerous system with the fear of opponent's preparation that made white's game easier.
Youtube "excellent link" section:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76P54jH800o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu3Nr9vb3eA
and the part 2 of Kasparov precedent link..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGsESlJfO5A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1NHoTGVc7Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwaqaABd9C0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNdHj7I_GnU
http://www.chess.com/article/view/sicilian-scheveningen-by-gm-magesh-and-gm-arun
To be avoided section:
Personnal's games section:
This game is an online game played here at chess.com...
More about planning section:
in the Dragon;
White's Strategy
1. Launch a kingside attack with g4,h4,h5 and open the 'h' file.
2. Contain black's queenside counterplay with useful defensive moves.
3. Neutralisation of the dragon (g7) bishop - it will weaken black's defenses on the king side and also reduce black's pressure on the queenside.
4. Anticipate the exchange sacrifice on c3
5. Prevent black from breaking through in the center with d5.
Black's Strategy
1. The Source of black's counterplay will often be on the semi open c-file.
2. Look for an exchange sacrifice on c3 in order to destroy the pawn structure in front of the enemy king.
3. Maintain a healthy pawn chain on the king side. Endgames usually favour black due to his better pawn structure.
4. Look for central breaks with d5 when white neutralizes black's counterplay on the queenside.
5. Contain white's kingside play with useful defensive moves.
6. Last but not least, Save the Dragon!!!
In general:
For White: - play eventual d4 to gain the control of this vital central square
- White aim d4, then d5.
For Black: -Black counter-attack on d4 pawn
- Should be animated by a spirit of aggression from the very start.
- Black exchange pawn (cxd4) and try for pressure along the c-file.
Quebecor's games section:
Nathalia Pogonina's games section:
Special thanks section:
I just wanna said a BIG SPECIAL THANKS at Borgqueen, thanks my friend for give me some good ideas for the structure of this post..
AND ALSO, a BIG THANKS at:
thamizhan, Gserper, Arunabi, FM_Eric_Schiller, Pogape and Oldbill !! Thank you all for make this topic possible!!! ...The thamizhan, Gserper, Arunabi, FM_Eric_Schiller content's was a GREAT HELP!!!
Others references:
-ChessMaster 10
-Fritz 10
-Chess books - Garry Kasporov My Greats predessesors p.IV (on Bobby Fischer)
- Winning Chess Brilliancies by Yasser seirawan
- website "federation quebecoise des échecs" database
- youtube
-wikipedia
That's ALL for the Sicilians!.. I hope you had appreciated ;)
C_H_E_S_STAR