Sicilian Accelerated Dragon
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Nxc6!?
As MS-B pointed out in the postmortem, capturing on c6 in open Sicilians is usually frowned on as it strengthens Black's centre. Nevertheless there are 1,442 examples of the move in ChessBase's 2025 Mega database.
6...bxc6
This scores 64% in Mega25.
7.Bc4 d6 8.0-0 e6?!
The main line in Mega25 runs 8...Nf6 9.e5!? dxe5 10.Qxd8+ Kxd8 11.Re1, when Stockfish17 and Dragon1 reckon White has enough compensation for a pawn, but no more. However, note that 11.Bxf7? lets Black trap the bishop with 11...e6.
9.Bf4
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| How should Black proceed? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
9...d5?!
Black should almost certainly prefer 9...e5, or 9...Bxc3!? 10.bxc3 and then 10...e5, although the engines give White at least the upper hand.
10.exd5 cxd5?!
The engines suggest 10...Bxc3, which was played in Spanton (1850) - John Waterfield (1905), World Team Senior Championship (Struga, North Macedonia) 2023. That continued 11.bxc3 cxd5 12.Bb5+ Bd7 13.Bxd7+ Qxd7, when 14.c4 would have given White at least the upper hand, according to the engines.
Aleksandr Shimanov (2581) - Qi B Chen (2485), Chess.com Blitz 2022, went 10...exd5?! 11.Nxd5! cxd5 12.Qxd5 Be6 13.Qc6+ Kf8 14.Bxe6 fxe6, when the engines reckon the simple 15.Qxe6 would have won easily.
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| White to play and get a winning advantage |
*****
*****
*****
*****
11.Nxd5! Ne7? 1-0
MS-B resigned without waiting for 12.Nc7+.
Better was 11...exd5, but 12.Bxd5 Be6 13.Bc6+ Kf8 is overwhelming, eg 14.Bxa8 Qxa8 15.Qd6+ Ne7 16.Bg5 Qe8 17.Rad1 h6 18.Bxe7+ Kg8 (even worse is 18...Qxe7? 19.Qb8+ Qe8 20.Rd8) 19.Rfe1 etc.
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