Here is his last-round game against Karel Šlechta, of Czech club side ŠK Sokol Vyšehrad.
Higgie (1945) - Šlechta (1874)
Sicilian Classical/Dragon
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.f3!?
This is fifth-most popular in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database, behind 6.Be3, 6.Be2, 6.Bc4 and especially 6.Bg5.
6...g6 7.Be3 Bg7 8.Bc4!?
This is quite a popular alternative to the mainline 8.Qd2, although lines can easily transpose.
8...a6 9.Qd2 Bd7 10.0-0-0 0-0
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| Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position? |
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Games with opposite-side castling are often tricky to evaluate, but Stockfish17 and Dragon1 much prefer White.
11.h4 Rc8
The engines suggest 11...b5 or 11...h5!?
12.Bb3 Na5 13.h5 Nc4 14.Bxc4 Rxc4 15.g4 Qa5 16.Nb3 Qd8?!
Almost certainly too passive, but the engines' 16...Qe5 may not be a lot better.
17.hxg6 Rxc3!?
Exchange sacrifices on c3 are thematic in the Sicilian, but here the sac is too late and too ineffective to affect the outcome.
18.gxh7+ Kh8 19.bxc3 Qc7 20.Bh6 Bxh6 21.Rxh6 Bb5 22.Qd4 Qc4 23.g5 1-0
After 23...Qxc4 24.cxd4 Nd7 Black would be the exchange and two pawns down, and without hope of mating chances.
Being a Dragon I wondered how much of it had been seen before. All the way to 16. .. Qd8 it would seem. All the previous victims had tried 16. .. Qc7 and lost apart from in a German under 10 tournament. One of the games was Westerinen - Tatai from Hoogovens in 1967, so it may have contributed to 1960s theory, which would likely have condemned 8. .. a6 as a wasting time. Westerinen was playing in Prague I believe.
ReplyDeleteFischer told us that the way to play against the Dragon was open the h file, sac, sac, mate. Winning the oponnent's pawns and pieces is a viable alternative.
RdC
White certainly made it look easy.
Delete