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ANTI-SICILIANS, PART THREE
By Joel Benjamin
ANTI-SICILIANS, PART THREE
Tuesday night at the Marshall provided Justin Sarkar with a chance to devise a new strategy to answer the bishop check. He put the bishop in the way this time.
Joel Benjamin-Justin Sarkar [B52]
Tuesday Night Masters, 2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Nxd7 5.0–0 Ngf6 6.d3 e6 7.c4 Be7 8.Nc3 0–0 9.Ng5 h6 10.Nh3 Ne5
This is a typical maneuver for Black to improve his knight, but the need for this loss of time shows the wisdom of White’s strategy.
11.f4 Nc6 12.Kh1
Not 12.Be3 d5 13.e5 d4.
12...Nd4
Black could try a different approach, 12...d5 13.e5 Ne8.
13.Be3 Nd7 14.Qd2
I considered precluding Black’s next with 14.f5, though it weakens the dark squares a bit.
14...f5 15.Rae1 Bf6
Here 15...Bh4 looks like a decent option.
16.exf5 Nxf5
Or 16...exf5 17.Nd5.
17.Bg1 Bxc3 18.bxc3 e5?!
This will leave Black vulnerable on the light squares. 18...Qf6 is a better try.
19.Qe2 Qc7 20.fxe5 Nxe5?
Black had to settle for the ugly 20...dxe5 21.Qg4 Nd6 22.Be3 Kh7 23.Qh5 with a clear edge for White.
21.d4 cxd4 22.cxd4 Nxc4
22...Ng6 23.Qe6+ Qf7 24.Rxf5 Qxe6 25.Rxe6 Rxf5 26.Rxg6 would only last a bit longer.
23.Qe6+ Kh7 24.Rxf5 Rfe8 25.Qxe8 Rxe8 26.Rxe8 Qd7 27.Rff8 d5 28.Rh8+ Kg6 29.Nf4+ Kg5 30.Ne6+ Kg4 31.h3+ Kg3 32.Nxg7 Nd6 33.Bh2+ Kh4 34.Bxd6 Qxg7 35.Bf4, 1–0.
We will conclude our examination of Bb5+ with the final option for Black, 3...Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7.
The queen recapture does not develop as swiftly as 4...Nxd7, but now the knight will come out to the more active c6 square. White has two basic strategies here. The first one involves trying to build a big center with c2-c3 and d2-d4. Recently there have been some bizarre developments in this variation.
Rublevsky-Volokitin [B52]
Russian Championship 2004
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.0–0 Nf6 6.Qe2 Nc6 7.c3 Qg4!?
This looks like a patzer’s lunge, but black is angling for easy equality via timely simplification. If 8.Re1 Ne5 9.Nxe5 (9.Qb5+ Qd7 10.Qxd7+ Nfxd7 gives White nothing) Qxe2 10.Rxe2 dxe5 is quite comfortable for Black. In general, the black knight can come to e5 in this opening without fearing capture. Pressure on the half-open d-file compensate for the doubled pawns.
The standard method offers Black a solid if less spectacular position. 7...e6 8.d4 cxd4 9.cxd4 d5 10.e5 Ne4
Black’s maneuver represents the typical response to White’s central ambitions. This position has occurred in many slightly different forms. There might be a rook on e1 instead of White’s queen on e2; the queen on d7 can be replaced by a knight on that square. Here White sometimes swaps knights with Nc3 or Nbd2, but more complicated play is offered by trying to trap the knight, beginning with 11.Be3. After 11...Be7 12.Ne1 f6 13.f3 Ng5 14.Nd3 0–0 the knight has escaped and the play is approximately equal.
8.d3 Ne5 9.Nbd2 Nh5
I cannot show this game to my kids at Columbia Grammar! Every piece Black has moved has now moved a second time. But the primitive threat of 10...Nf4 cannot be ignored.
10.d4 Nf4 11.Qb5+ Kd8!?
Black could safely retreat the knight, but the king move brings the game to a crisis.
12.Ne1 Ned3 13.f3 Qg5 14.Nb3 Nxe1
Volokitin passes up an equalizing maneuver: 14...Ne2+ 15.Kh1 Ndxc1 16.Nxc1 Ng3+ 17.hxg3 Qh6+ 18.Kg1 Qe3+ 19.Rf2 (otherwise it’s perpetual check) 19…Qxe1+ 20.Qf1 Qxf1+ 21.Kxf1 cxd4 22.cxd4 Rc8. Black will now own an extra piece for awhile, but he can’t rest easy with his backward development and king in the center.
15.g3 Nh3+ 16.Kh1 Qh5 17.g4 Qh4 18.Be3 c4 19.Qxb7 Rc8 20.d5 Nxf3 21.Rxf3 cxb3 22.Rg3
With the Black queen shut out of action, it’s completely clear who is on top.
22...f6 23.axb3 g5 24.Rxa7 Ke8 25.Qxc8+ Kf7 26.Qe6+, 1–0.
The second strategy for White is to aim for a Maroczy Bind beginning with 5.c4.
Black has a few options:
a) Blocking the center with e7-e5. This strategy has lost popularity, mainly for general reasons. White has retained his “good” bishop while leaving Black with the “bad” one. A maneuvering game seems to be in order, but the position can sharpen considerably, e.g. 6.Nc3 g6 7.0–0 Bg7 8.Rb1 Nc6 9.d3 Nge7 10.Bd2 0–0 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.cxd5 Nd4 13.b4 f5 14.bxc5 dxc5 15.Nxd4 exd4 16.Qb3 b6 17.f4 fxe4 18.dxe4 (Shaked - Kaidanov U.S. ch., 1996). Both sides have impressive pawn majorities.
b) Adopting a Dragon type setup. This would be a typical scenario: 5.c4 Nc6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 g6 8.Nc3 Bg7 9.Nde2 Nf6 10.f3 0–0 11.0–0 Rfc8 (the most common move, but most over moves have been tried) 12.b3 a6 13.a4 Qd8 and now either 14.Be3 or 14.Kh1 followed by Bg5. White will look to exploit his space advantage.
c) Various gimmicky lines. For instance, 5...Nc6 6.d4 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Nf6 8.Nc3 Qg4!? 9.Qxg4 Nxg4 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bf4. Ideas of h2-h3 followed by e4-e5 promise White an advantage, so critical now is 11...g5!? 12.Bxg5 Ne5 with unclear play.
Alternatively, Black might meet 6.Nc3 with 6...g6 7.d4 Bg7!? 8.d5 (White can play more conservatively with 8.Be3) 8...Bxc3+ 9.bxc3 Na5 as in Shirov-Kasparov, Erevan Olympiad, 1996. Or 6.Nc3 Ne5!? which can be answered by 7.d4 cxd4 8.Qxd4 with rapid development, or 7.Nxe5 dxe5 8.Qh5! Qd4 9.Qe2 e6 10.d3 Qd7 11.f4! and White opens the position before Black is ready.
The Moscow Variation may not always provide excitement, but its reputation as a drawing line (which has also been unfairly thrust upon the Alapin, 2.c3) is unjustified. In the next column I will move on to Anti-Sicilian lines against Black’s other common moves, 2...e6 and 2...Nc6.
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