The full game can be seen at M4 but here I want to concentrate on the opening, which I generally take as lasting until one player has connected rooks.
Sicilian Accelerated Dragon
Normally in this series I look into some depth at the moves from the very beginning.
But this game went down the main line of the Accelerated Dragon to a key tabiya.
It arises after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 0-0 8.Bb3
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| 12,175 games reach this position in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database |
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The most popular continuation is 8...d6, which was recommended to me by Chris Ward at Hastings and is a transposition to the normal Dragon.
Most Accelerated fans want to avoid this, which is why 8...a5 became popular, although in Mega22 it only dates back to 1959. The mainline in Mega22 runs 9.0-0 a4!? 10.Nxa4 Nxe4 11.Nb5 Ra6!?, when White is at least slightly better, according to Stockfish15 and Komodo13.02.
Another popular try is 8...Ng4!? 9.Qxg4 Nxd4 10.Qd1 Nxb3. After 11.axb3 Black has the bishop-pair but White has a lead in development and is slightly better, according to the engines.
Other tries include 8...Qa5, 8...Re8, 8...e6!? and 8...a6.
Eventually, if one scrolls down far enough in Mega22, there is the eighth-most popular move, 8...d5!?
This looks absurd at first since after 9.exd5 Na5 White has won a pawn and displaced the black queen's knight to the edge of the board.
But to keep the extra pawn White will have to allow ...Nxb3, and will have to recapture with the king's knight, displacing it from the centre, rather than half-opening the a file with axb3.
Grandmaster Boris Gelfand is among those who have taken up ...d5, and it is recommended on a 2018 ChessBase dvd by grandmaster Nadezhda Kosintseva.There is no consensus as to White's best response.
I have twice, against players rated 2110, faced 10.h3?!, which is almost certainly not best despite having also been the choice of grandmaster Maxime Lagarde in a 2017 blitz draw against a player rated 2340.
After 10...Nxb3 one of my opponents gave back the pawn immediately with 11.axb3!? But Black is at least equal after 11...Nxd5 12.Nxd5 Qxd5.
The other game went 11.Nxb3 b6 12.Qd2 Bb7 13.Rd1 Qc7 14.d6!? - offering the pawn back in return for a positional concession. After 14...Qxd6 15.Qxd6 exd6 White was slightly better, according to the engines, but they reckon 14...Qc6! is slightly better for Black, the point being 15.dxe7?! Qxg2 16.exf8=Q+ Rxf8 17.Rf1 runs into 17...Ba6 18.Ne2 Ne4, eg 19.Qd7 Bxe2 20.Kxe2 Ng3+ etc.
A correspondence opponent preferred 10.Qf3, which is Stockfish15's top choice. After 10...Bg4 11.Qg3 Nxb3 12.axb3 Bh5 13.d6!? Ng4!? 14.0-0!? Be5 15.f4 Bxd6 the position is sharp but may slightly favour White - Andrew Bussom (2296) - Spanton (2274), ICCF 2021 (½–½, 32 moves).
The most popular continuation in Mega22 is 10.0-0 Nxb3 11.Nxb3 b6.
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| How should White proceed? |
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Now normal is 12.Qd2 Bb7 13.Rad1, when 13...Qc7 leaves White at best with a slight edge, according to the engines.
My opponent had prepared 12.d6!?, which seems to have first been played in 2016.
After 12...Qxd6 13.Qxd6 exd6 Grigoriy Oparin (2616) - Gelfand (2725), Moscow Nutcracker 2016, continued 14.Rfe1!? Bf5 15.Nd4 Bd7, when the engines reckon White has a slight edge ((½–½, 40 moves).
My game saw 14.Rfd1, when the engines reckon 14...Ng4!? more-or-less equalises, eg 15.Bd4 Ne5, although the position seems unclear.
My game saw 14.Rfd1, when the engines reckon 14...Ng4!? more-or-less equalises, eg 15.Bd4 Ne5, although the position seems unclear.
When Gelfand twice faced d6 in the following year, he preferred 12...e6!?
Baskaran Adhiban (2670) - Gelfand (2737), Douglas (Isle of Man), continued 13.Qf3 Rb8 14.Rad1 Bb7 15.Qh3 Nd5 16.Nxd5 Bxd5, which the engines reckon is at least slightly better for White (but ½–½, 33 moves).
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2796) - Gelfand (2719), Palma de Mallorca, went 13.Qf3 Rb8 14.Rad1 Bb7 15.Qh3 Rc8 16.Bd4, which the engines also reckon is slightly better for White (1-0, 34 moves).
The other move to have been tried in Mega22 is 12...exd6, when five games feature five different continuations. The engines agree White is slightly better, but do not agree on what White should play.
A sample line runs 13.Qd2 (not in Mega22) Ng4 14.Bg5 Qd7 15.f3 Ne5, which Komodo13.02 reckons is dead-equal, but Stockfish15 gives White a slight edge.
For the present, 8...d5!? seems very playable, but a well-prepared White certainly has nothing to fear.
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