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Brasigringo

I really need some advice on a few things. How did I handle the pawn advance against blacks king? Could I have done a better job with any of the opening moves? Was I positionally superior at any point during the game and why? What Scicilian Variation is this? Najdorf? Yugoslav? Please explain and point out any missed tactics or poor moves that weakened my position. Thank you in advance!

AVStone

This is the dragondorf variation (if I'm ignoring the fact that your opponent somewhat inaccurately delayed Nf6,) a mix between the najdorf and the sicilian dragon, combining a6 and g6.  It's not very common.  In terms of the opening, based on the fairly standard set up you choose (going after the fienchettoed bishop) it is more usual to insert 0-0-0 and f3 before committing to Bh6.  The pawn set up with f3 generally works better against dragon like formations than pushing f4, which you see more in other variations of the sicilian.  The pawn on f3 supports both the center pawn on e4 (which you had some trouble with in this game) as well as the kingside pawn thrust g4 (it also keeps the black knight out of that square which can be annoying for white in some cases.)  So the kinside attack structure you want is f3, g4, h4, and then procede based on the individual situation.  The reason I previously said to avoid committing to Bh6 so early, is that sometimes the pawn attack takes priority (this is often the case in the dragondorf.)  There are occasionally other ways to attack the crucial darksquared bishop too.  I saw in one dragondorf game, after white had f3, g4, h4, black then pushed h5, white responded with g5, temporarily locking the kingside and gaining space.  White then moved his knight from d4 to b3, and placed his dark bishop on d4 where it was traded with black's.  White won that game quite convincingly.  Other times the pawn storm can take place without trading of dark squared bishops.  Another note on your pawn storm: maybe I would have played h4 before pushing g5 to retain the flexability of having both g5 and h5 at your disposal.

On to specific inaccuracies: b4 is poor.  Playing on the wrong side of the board, and not even defensively.  I think a well timed e5 by black could have exposed the disadvantages of this move, cracking open the center in a favorable way for black and pressuring weakness (the a1 to h8 diagonal, the queen on the e file.)  Black's kight, queen and rook spring to life.  Another thing, you're right that Nf8 is horrible and drops a knight but you allowed him to save it with accurate play.  By choosing to trade bishops first you allowed him to play Nxb7 saving the knight as opposed to what he actually did, Qxb7.

As for a positional advantage, the position is very complex and both players have weak pawns/files that needed to be pressured.  Your c and f files were a little weak because of the backward pawns.  His e pawn was isolated and very weak (which is why he probably thought he had to resort to moves like Nf8) and so was his h file (because it had been cracked open by your kingside attack,) and I would have like to have seen you use your rooks to pressure those locations.  I would have also liked to have seen your knights become more dynamic (there were ideal supported posts on c5, e5 and f6.)  Obviously your ability to do these things was cut short by your opponent's blunder, so you're not entirely to blame.  Despite the fact that more initiative could have been taken on both your parts, you were positionally superior at some points due to the aforementioned weaknesses your opponent had.

You played this game well, and I hope this helps,

Please ask me if you have any more specific questions,

Andrew

Brasigringo

Thank you Andrew.... extremely thorough and insightful analysis! I understood everything you said and just to give you some more insight into my thought process, I definitely would have benefited from f3 then pushing the h pawn maybe leaving g4 in place but for some unfounded reason I was worried about weakening my light square bishop... this also leaves that diagonal open for Qh6 after I get rid of my h pawn and start to open that file. Also I knew almost right away b4 was suspect and you can see that in my notes but I was fixated on trying to get a knight on e6 and possibly forking the Queen but for some reason I wasn't taking into account his rook on e8 which made that impossible. And yes after I posted I saw that I gave him another opportunity to save his knight by capturing with the bishop instead of just taking the hanging knight. One other question I have is should I have played c4 before Nc3 in the opening? I know it strengthens grip on d5 which I believe is the plan for white in the najdorf but I have tried that a few times in similar scicilian games recently and have not been successful.

@ yeres30 that makes perfect sense to me now unfortunately in the game i played f4 first and then felt the need to play g4 when I should have been pushing h pawn asap.

Thanks again for your time and thoughtful comments.

Regards,

Justin

Brasigringo

That's some good stuff Yeres30. It gets pretty sharp rather quickly... what are your thoughts on white playing c4 then Nc3 instead of just Nc3 in the opening of a game like this? 

KillLogiC

Brasigringo

That's some good stuff Yeres30. It gets pretty sharp rather quickly... what are your thoughts on white playing c4 then Nc3 instead of just Nc3 in the opening of a game like this?

 

For white,(Maroczy bind) it is good, it gives white a bind in the center and restrains black . It gives long lasting initiative in my opinion.

AVStone

Playing c4 (Maroczy Bind) is definately an effective setup.  I used to play it more but you have to watch out for black's breaks b5 and d5, which he can't be allowed to achieve favorably.  When I played it I was not overly familiar with the ideas so I found it difficult to make progress even with the bind on the center maintained.  I have seen some of carlsen's games where is uses it well, including a recent victory against Anand, if you want to look into it more.  What it really comes down to is whether you want a slower manuevering postition struggle (the Maroczy Bind) or a tactical attacking slugfest (attacting castled king with the h-pawn, ect.)

AVStone

It's a matter of temperment.