Maróczy Bind
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.c4 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bc5!?
More popular are 5...a6 and especially 5...Nf6, but the text has been tried by Caruana, and appears to be a favourite of Epishin's.
6.Nb3
This is Dragon1's top choice; Stockfish18 marginally prefers 6.Nc2!?
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| What should Black do about the attacked bishop? |
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6...Be7
Dragon1 suggests 6..Bb6!?, and if 7.c5, then 7...Bc7, followed by a quick ...b6. Stockfish18 likes 6...Bb4+, when the engines are unsure whether White should intervene with the queen's knight or the queen's bishop.
7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Be3 0-0
The engines suggest 8...Bb4!?
9.Be2 b6
Again the engines suggest ...Bb4, which, like the text, has been played before, but they also suggest an apparent-novelty in 9...d5!?, the idea being to meet 10.cxd5 exd5 11.exd5 with 11...Nb4, when they reckon chances are equal.
10.0-0
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| Now both sides have castled, how would you assess the position? |
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White's Maróczy Bind has not, so far, been challenged by a pawn break, ie ...b5, ...d5 or ...f5, but the knight at b3 looks a little awkward. The engines give White the better part of equality.
10...Bb7 11.f4 d6 12.Bf3 Nb8??
We did not have a proper postmortem, but AK explained afterwards that he intended rerouting the knight via d7 to protect e6, but failed to take into account that the text interferes with the queen's support of the a8 rook.
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| White to play and win |
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13.e5 1-0
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