Unusual Closed Sicilian

PLAYED on board five (of 10) in the London League's second division for Battersea 2 against Hackney 2 last night.
Paul Conway (162) - Spanton (170)
Sicilian Closed
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d3!?
White is playing a Closed Sicilian but without the move Nc3. The idea is that in many lines of the Closed, Black drops a knight into d4. If White captures it, the reply ...cxd4 is usually good for Black. So instead White at some point withdraws his queen's knight to d1 or e2, plays c3 to evict the black knight and later redevelops the queen's knight (if Black has not exchanged it). All this takes time, so players started experimenting with 2.g3 (rather than 2.Nc3). But many found 2...d5 an annoying answer. Hence the idea of first playing 2.Nf3, as if going for an Open or Bb5(+) Sicilian. The drawback is that the white king's knight blocks the white f pawn, which often advances to f4 in the Closed.
3...Bg7 4.g3 Nc6
Still possible, but not popular, is ...d5!?
5.Bg2 d6 6.0-0
This position could also arise from a King's Indian Attack in which Black has not played ...d5, and so White has not been obliged to play Nbd2. Ironically, some KIA players regard this as a superior version of their opening because the queen's knight still has the option of developing at c3.
6...e5
Carlsen and Kasparov have gone for this Botvinnik/Nimzowitsch pawn-formation. Other popular moves are 6...Nf6 and 6...e6.
7.c3
This is the most-popular move, but Carlsen has played 7.Nc3.
7...Nge7
Black now definitely has a Botvinnik set-up. The other main development of the king's knight, 7...Nf6, is how Nimzowitsch often played in this type of position. I was tempted to play it to put pressure on the e4 pawn, which White will need to protect if he wants to blast open the black centre with d4. But the e4 pawn is easily protected by Re1, and a knight on f6 blocks the action of the black fianchettoed bishop.
8.Re1
This position is often reached with White to move as it can arise from a KIA against the French in which Black plays 1...e6 before later pushing the e pawn a second time.
8...0-0 9.Nbd2 d5!?
Going for a Maroczy Bind. In playing this I was fairly sure my main analysis engines. Stockfish10 and Komodo10, would not approve, and I was right. They much prefer the mainline move, 9...h6, which they reckon is at least equal for Black.
10.Qc2
I was expecting 10.exd5 Nxd5 11.Nc4, when Black has to decide between 11...f6, which is a normal type of move in a Maroczy Bind, but here does the black fianchettoed bishop no favours, and 11...Re8. In both cases the engines prefer White.

How should Black proceed?

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10...d4!?
This appears to be new in this exact position, although the game transposes to known lines. Gaining space like this invites the lever f4, but that is more effective when White has a rook on f1. Here I felt White is not well-placed to take advantage of Black's multiple pawn moves (six already), so the gain of space is justified. The engines agree (with the move, at least, I cannot vouch for the explanation).
11.a4 h6
Preparing ...Be6 by keeping a white knight out of g5, and also denying the white dark-square bishop a development square on the kingside. However, the engines prefer the immediate 11...Be6!?, and if 12.Ng5, then 12...Bc8 with ...h6 to come.
11...a5 was played in Raymond Kearsley (1648) - Alex van Galen (1400), Guernsey Holiday 2002, which continued 12.Nc4 Be6 13.Na3?! f5? 14.Ng5 with a strong game for White (1-0, 33 moves).
12.Rb1?!
A handy rule-of-thumb from Cecil Purdy, the first world correspondence champion, is that you should never place a rook behind an unmoved pawn, even if you intend to move the pawn fairly quickly (doubtless he meant to exclude from this advice the move 0-0, which usually places the king's rook behind a pawn on f2). Even without the rule, the text is doubtful as White is unlikely to be in position to move the b pawn anytime soon.
12...Be6 13.Nb3
Not 13.b4? dxc3 14.Qxc3 cxb4.
More normal is 13.Nc4 but the knight can be evicted by ...a6 and ...b5.
13...b6 14.Rd1 Qd7 15.c4?
Closing the centre when you have less space is rarely a good idea when you have no easily arranged pawn-breaks. Here the move is also bad on tactical grounds.
15...Nb4 16.Qe2 Qxa4 17.Nfd2
Not 17.Nbd2? Nxd3.
17...Qd7 18.Ra1 a5 19.Nb1?
White's pieces are short of squares on the queenside, and this does not help. The engines suggest 19.Nf3 a4 20.Nbd2 Nec6, when one line continues 21.Ne1 Na5 22.Ra3 b5 with a large advantage for Black.
19...a4 20.N3d2 Nc2 21.Ra2 Nc6
White cannot avoid losing an exchange.
22.Na3 N6b4 23.Nxc2 Nxa2 24.Na3 Qe8 25.Nb5 Ra5
Not 25...Bd7? 26.Nc7.
26.Nc7 Qd7 27.Nxe6 Qxe6 28.Nb1 b5 29.Na3 b4 30.Bd2
The engines do not like the 'obvious' 30.Nb5, conitnuing 30...a3 eg 31.bxa3 Nc3 32.Nxc3 dxc3 33.axb4 cxb4, when Black has the exchange and two very striong connected passed pawns.
30...Ra6 31.Nb1 Rb8 32.h4 a3 33.bxa3 bxa3 34.Qe1 Rb2 35.Kh2 h5 36.Bh3 Qb6 37.Bd7
White has managed to get his king's bishop into a position where it can possibly help on the queenside, but the black passed pawn is too strong.
37...Nb4
Threatening ...a2.
38.Bxb4 cxb4 39.Nd2 Bh6 40.Nf3 Ra5 41.Ng5 Qf6 42.Nh3 Qb6 43.Ra1
If White repeated with 43.Ng5, I intended 43...Bxg5 44.hxg5 Qd8, winning a second pawn to go with the exchange.
43...b3 44.Kg2 Rc2 45.Ng5 Bxg5 46.hxg5 b2 0-1
The match is tied 4.5-4.5 with one game, in which the Battersea 2 player has a promising position, adjourned.
My updated Battersea statistics for 2019-20
Event*..Colour...Grade...Opponent's Grade...Result
CLL..…...B....…..168...………169...……….....W
CLL...…..B...…...168...………196...…………..D
CLL...…..W...…..168...………176...…………..L
LL....……W...…..168...…....…175...………….D
CLL...…..B...…...168...………192...…………..D
CLL...…..W...…..168...………181...…………..L
LL...…….W...…..168...………168...…………..L
EC...…….B...…..168...………175...……….….L
CLL...…...B.........170...………172...…………..L
LL...…….W...…..170...………183...…………..D
LL............W........170...…........180......……......L
LL....…….B...…..170....……...182...………….W
CLL...…...B...…..170...………183...……….….D
LL...……..B...…..170...………162...…………..W
Overall this season for Battersea I have scored +3=5-6 for a grading performance of 167.
In season 2018-19 I scored +12=12-13 for a grading performance of 169.
In season 2017-18 I scored +10=8-9 for a grading performance of 175.
*CLL: Central London League; LL: London League; EC: Eastman Cup.