Opening Lessons From Basel III

IN round three I had black against Jeremias Stark, a Swiss aged 11 or 12 with a Fide rating of 1599.

Sicilian Accelerated Dragon

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nxc6!?

An unusual choice, but this was my eighth time facing it, and I have twice played it myself.

5...bxc6

Against juniors an interesting choice might be 5...dxc6!? True, White can get an edge with 6.Qxd8+, but then Black has achieved the first rule-of-thumb of playing against juniors - get the queens off.

6.Nc3!?

White's normal idea is to play 7.Qd4, but the little-played text is preferred by the analysis engines Stockfsih13 and Komodo12.1.1.

6...Bg7 7.f3?!

Passive and weakening. It is by no means clear White will need this move. The normal follow-up to 6.Nc3!? is to continue development with 7.Bc4.

7...d6

I misjudged 7...Nf6 8.e5, not liking the pawn-sac 8...Nd5!? and underrating the simple retreat 8...Ng8, which the engines reckon favours Black.

8.Bf4!?

This does not look right. The obvious square for this bishop is e3, while the engines again like Bc4.

8...Qb6 9.Na4!?

Awkward-looking, but the engines only marginally prefer 9.Rb1.

9...Qa5+ 10.c3 Be6 11.Bd3

The engines want White to play the aggressive 11.b4!?, reckoning 11...Qc7 12.Qd2 Qb7 (White was threatening 13.Nc5) 13.Bd3 is at best only slightly better for Black.

11...Nf6 12.0-0 0-0

Position after Black has castled

Black has connected rooks, and the opening can be thought of as over. The engines give Black a very small edge.