I think that it is that the Black would have trouble defending the pawn if he played d5 right away. The engine gives 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.Bb5 + with advantage to White.
d6?
Sort:
5 ... d5 is premature.
6 exd5
This move is the most direct way to attack the issue, although other moves have been played with success.
Now Black can follow two courses:
ONE
6 ... exd5?!
7 Bb5+ Bd7
8 Qe2+ Be7
9 Nf5!
White now threatens Ng7+, and Black can't castle into safety because the Bishop would be lost. Black could play 9 ... Kf8, but then the King would be stuck in a bad spot, and he'd still have the isolated d-pawn to deal with.
9 ... d4
10 Bxd7+ Qxd7
11 Nxe7 Qxe7
12 Nb5! Qxe2+
Black must do something about the threat of Nc7+
13 Kxe2 Na6
There's no way to hang onto the pawn and not lose material elsewhere.
14 Rd1
White moves the Rook out of the way so that the King can retreat to f1 without blocking it. White will soon win the d-pawn and be a pawn up.
TWO
6 ... Nxd5
7 Bb5+ Bd7
8 Nxd5! exd5
Or 8 ... Bxb5, 9 Nxb5 exd5, 10 Qxd5! (actually 10 O-O first is better) winning the pawn.
9 Qe2+ Be7
10 Nf5 Kf8
Castling loses the Bishop. With the given move, Black stops the threat of Nxg7+
11 Bxd7 Qxd7
12 Nxe7 Qxe7
13 Be3 Nd6
14 Rd1 Rd8
15 c3
White has the superior position. Black is saddled with an isolated pawn, a Knight for a Bishop, and a King that's in the way of the Rook.
Fezzik wrote:
Agreed, Tom, and thanks for doing it without reference to the engines. The old masters knew what they were talking about even though they were living in the prehistoric age.
Fezzik, I rarely consult engines, but if once in a while I do it need not be made a big issue of. I think the line is tactically faulty, or at least risky. Positionally d5 would certainly seem logical here.
p.s. Not all of us are armed with large chess libraries.
I want to thank you guys for the walkthrough. It was *very* instructional. I can see that I still have a ways to go to understand things.
But that made alot of sense.
6. exd5 appears to be a strong reply in this case but even without it d5 doesn't solve all black's problems. After 6. e5 Nfd7 7. f4 we have transposed into a French which may not be exactly what a Sicilian player would be looking for (furthermore black maybe has taken into d4 prematurely).
I think that the author is presenting things simpler than they are in reality: it often happens that d5 doesn't equalise in Sicilian even if it can be played.
I don't have a library at all. In fact, I don't own a single book (electronic or hard) on chess. Everything that I quote can be found for free online.
I do use chess engines (Houdini and Stockfish) to check for missed tactics. Chess engines aren't the greatest source for analyzing openings, though, as most have a weak understanding of positional play.
I also use endgame tablebases to check for accuracy.
The engines and tablebases are supposed to be tools. They're not of much use without understanding, or trying to understand, why a move is good or bad.
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I was going through this game in a book. The author brings up that Black's goal is to move to d5. And that if Black can play d5 that he will equalize. My question is why doesn't he just play d5 straight away as opposed to moving to d6 first? What am I missing?