Sicilian Hyper-Accelerated Dragon
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c3 d5!?
Much more popular, and slightly more successful percentage-wise in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database, is 3...Bg7, but Stockfish17 and Dragon1 much prefer the text.
4.exd5 Qxd5 5.d4 Bg7
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| How should White proceed? |
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6.Nbd2!?
This is only fifth-most popular in Mega25, but is the top choice of the engines, along with the commonest move 6.Na3. After the latter, the main line in Mega25 runs 6...cxd4 7.Bc4 Qe4+ 8.Be3!? Nh6 (8...dxe3? 9.Bxf7+! etc) 9.cxd4, with a completely equal position, according to the engines.
6...cxd4 7.Bc4 Qh5!?
This is Dragon1's top choice, while Stockfish17 prefers 7...Qc5!?, but both engines also like 7...Qd8, which is the chief move in Mega25, where the main line continues 8.Nxd4 Nf6 9.0-0 0-0, with a slight edge for White, according to Dragon1; equality, according to Stockfish17.
8.Qb3 Nh6 9.Nxd4 0-0 10.N2f3 Nc6!?
The engines are OK with this, but prefer 10...e5, 10...Nf5 or 10...Nd7!?
11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.0-0
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| Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position? |
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Black's isolanis and White's better coordination add up to a slight edge, according to the engines.
12...Qa5?!
The engines do not like this, preferring 12...Ng4, the idea being to meet 13.Re1 with 13...Ne5.
13.Re1 e6 14.Bf4 Ba6 15.Bxa6 Qxa6 16.Rad1 Rfd8 17.Bc7!?
Even stronger, according to the engines, is 17.h3!?, and if 17...Nf5, then 18.g4!?
17...Rd5 18.c4 Rc5?
Better is 18...Rxd1 19.Rxd1 Re8, albeit with the upper hand for White, according to the engines.
19.Re4 Rc8 20.Rd7 Rf5!?
The engines suggest 20...Re8, but agree White has a positionally won game.
21.g4!? Rc5
Giving up the exchange with 21...Rxf3!? brings no relief after 22.Qxf3.
22.Qd3?
As PB pointed out afterwards, 22.h3 leaves White with a winning position, as do other moves.
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| Black to play and win |
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22...Rd5!
This completely turns the tables. There is no defence.
23.Rd4
Or 23.Rxd5 cxd5, when White has two pieces en prise and the c pawn remains pinned.
23...Bxd4 24.Rxd5 cxd5 25.Qxd4 Rxc7 26.Qf4 Qxc4 0-1
...Rd5 !!! deserves at least two exclamation points ,what a curious way to win material ! BK
ReplyDeleteYou're very kind, but I have a sort of rule that a single 'incident' can have up to two punctuation marks. 22.Qd3 deserves being marked as an error because there are much better moves that are easy to find, but 22...Rd5 deserves praise because it is indeed surprising until the idea is spotted.
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