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[Chess] Adventure in the Sicilian 2

Blogs > don_kyuhote
Post a Reply
don_kyuhote
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
3006 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-05-06 04:30:53
May 05 2016 21:03 GMT
#1
About 8 months ago, I decided to learn a new defense against 1.e4.
I’ve been mainly playing 1…e5 followed by 2…Nc6 against 1.e4, 2.Nf3.
But after years of playing the “Open Game”, I felt that the time is right to learn a new defense that is more dynamic in nature.
There were many options, but obviously, the one that stood out was the Sicilian.

Saying you play the Sicilian isn’t saying too much really, because there are soooo many different variations of Sicilian.
I decided that if I’m going to learn a new opening, I might as well go for the “best”, the legendary Najdorf.

Najdorf is notorious for being super sharp and complicated, but amongst lower rated player, the experience is quite different.
After all, White probably has more say in whether the game becomes sharp or not in Sicilian, and I have seldom met Whites on the internet that are willing to throw their kitchen sink at Black.
Or maybe it’s because we’re not good enough to take advantage of all the tactical chances that arise in the positions and play the opening boringly.

Anyway, enough talk about the Najdorf, let's dive into the game!
This is possibly one of the most exciting Najdorf game that I’ve ever played so far on the Black side.
+ Show Spoiler +

This was played in Chess.com with the time control of 3 minutes with 2 seconds increment.

1. e4 c5
[image loading]

THE Sicilian!
Black isn't interested in copying White. He wants to make the position asymmetric.

2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cxd4
4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6

[image loading]

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the lengedary Sicilian Najdorf.
a6 move on the 5th move is what signifies the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defense.
Black eventually wants to play ...e5 and gain an equal footing in the center, but wants to prevent any annoying shenanigans on the b5 square.

6. Be3
[image loading]

This bishop move signifies the English Attack, White's most popular system against Najdorf.
The idea is to castle Queenside, and launch his Kingside pawns against Black's Kingside.

6... e5
[image loading]

Now Black strikes in the center, dislocating White's strong knight on d4.
To be able to play this move is the whole point of a6 move.

7. Nb3 Be6
8. f3 Be7
9. Qd2 Nbd7
10. 0-0-0 0-0

[image loading]

So the battlefield has been set.
Both sides castled (on opposite sides) and have developed most of their minor pieces off the back rank.
Now's it's a race.
Who can get to the opponent's King faster?
He who does it first, will have the initiative, and will dictate the game.

11. h4
[image loading]

I found this move inaccurate.
He should play g4, so that he can play g5 next and displace my knight.
It's true that he will play h4 eventually even if he starts out with g4, g5, but the move order matters in race positions.
And thanks to this, I get the initiative.

11... b5
[image loading]

Straight to the point, I want to play b4 next and displace his knight which also gains me time.


12. h5
[image loading]

The point of this move is to prevent my knight from going into h5 and clogging the kingside when he pushes g4,g5.
While it's understandable, it is seriously time consuming to do this.

12... b4
[image loading]

Now it becomes clear who will attack first.

13. Nd5 Bxd5
14. exd5 a5

[image loading]

Protecting my b pawn and threatening a 2nd knight-displacing pawn push

15. Kb1
[image loading]

He wants to vacate the c1 square for his knight, since otherwise, his knight will have to go to a miserable a1 square when i push a4.

15... a4
16. Nc1

[image loading]

I think it's clear at this point, that White's strategy of pushing the h-pawn first has not worked out.
I have gained significant ground on the Queenside, with tempi too.

16... Qa5
17. g4 Nb6

[image loading]

By the time White finally gets g4 in, my pieces are already ominously gathering towards the White King.
Now, the threat is to take the d5 pawn.

18. g5
[image loading]

A true spirit of the Sicilian.
Rather than protecting a pawn, White decides to sacrifice it for a gain of time

18... Nfxd5
19. g6

[image loading]

Interestingly, despite all that time I gained by pushing his knights around, it is White who makes the first pawn to pawn contact!
But this is a game of initiative.
Just because your opponent made a threat doesn't mean you have to respond to it.
In Sicilian, it is better, if possible, to make a counter-threat.
It's all about fighting for the initiative.
And here, I found a move, that is possibly the proudest move I have ever played, that violently wrests initiative firmly away from him.

19... Nc3+!!
[image loading]

What better way is there to take the initiative than sac'ing a piece?
What's amazing is that, when I checked this game with an engine after the game, not only is this move 100% sound, it is the best move in the position!
Looks like I'm 1 step closer to becoming like Tal

20. bxc3
[image loading]

Moving the King and sac'ing the exchange gives him no compensation.

20... bxc3
[image loading]

And look at that beautiful highway straight to his King!
This was what I envisioned when I sac'd the knight.
I knew with an open b-file, an attack would come naturally.

But this, turned out to be the most critical moment in the game.
White has to move his Queen.
But where?
Does it matter?
It turns out, ABSOLUTELY YES, it matters where the Queen goes.

21. Qd3?
[image loading]

A pretty natural looking move.
But unbeknownst to both of us, this move was a major blunder.

The key was to keep the Queen along the 2nd rank to protect... a2!
It's things like this that makes Chess such a fascinating game.
Of course in Blitz, there is no time to see or calculate nuances like this.

21... Qb4+
[image loading]

Now that the way to his King has been opened, let the checks flood in!
Patzer sees check, Patzer plays check!

22. Nb3
[image loading]

He had no choice but to give back the piece, so my knight sac really wasn't a sac after all.

22... axb3
23. cxb3

[image loading]

Taking back with the a-pawn leads to unstoppable mate.
So the b-file has been closed, but here, I unleashed the my 2nd proud move of the game.

23... Rxa2!!
[image loading]

BAM!! When you are attacking a King, nothing is too valuable to sac.

I could literally imagine Maurice Ashley of St. Louis Chess Club going "Check this out guys, ROOK TAKES a2! and White is BUSTED!"

Now, we see why the Queen had to stay on the 2nd rank.
If his Queen was on the 2nd rank, I would not have been able to do this!

24. Kxa2 Ra8+
[image loading]

Here, it probably dawned on White that if he moves his King back, he will get mated by force.
That left him with only one option.

25. Qa6
[image loading]

Giving up the Queen, but even this will not be enough.

25... Rxa6+
26. Bxa6 Qa5+

[image loading]

And it is clear, that Black is up material and still with the attack due to White's vulnerable King position and Black's c-pawn.

27. Kb1 Qa3?!
[image loading]

Ambitious, yet slightly dubious.

I should have just taken the bishop and it would have been 3 pieces vs 3 pieces, where I'm clearly better.
But I was all pumped with adrenaline with what just happened, and with the dangerous pawn on c3, I thought I could go for even more than just winning a bishop.
I was wrong on this.

28. Kc2
[image loading]

King hurriedly gets away from the warzone.

28... Qb2+
29. Kd3 c2

[image loading]

Constantly making dangerous looking moves is useful in sharp positions.
But, objectivity should not be lost, and here, I am actually not going anywhere with this pawn...

30. Rc1 Qxb3+
[image loading]

Realizing that my little venture has not paid off, I desperately looked for a ways to keep presenting him with practical problems.

31. Ke2 Nd5
32. Bd3 Nxe3

[image loading]

Setting up a little skewer.

33. gxf7+ Kxf7
34. Kxe3 Bg5+

[image loading]

I was a little bummed that what should have been a technically easy win has turned into a game again, thanks to my greed.
But with this skewer, I was pretty confident that I can win the Q vs. R + B endgame.

35. Ke2 Bxc1
36. Rxc1 Qb4

[image loading]

My c pawn is a lost cause, so I change direction to the Kingside.
From there, I was hoping to win his pawns and give checks from that direction

37 Rxc2 Qh4
38. Bxh7 Qxh5
39. Be4

[image loading]

It's abundantly clear that life has become much more difficult for me than it should have been.
But here, we both were getting pretty low on time, so both of us were more or less playing random moves.

39... Qh2+
40. Ke3 Qf4+
41. Ke2 g5
42. Rc7+ Kf6
43. Rc8 Qh2+
44. Ke3 Qg1+
45. Ke2 Qg2+
46. Ke3 Qb2
47. Rf8+ Kg7
48. Ra8 Qc3+
49. Kf2 Qd2+
50. Kg3 Qe1+
51. Kg2 Qd2+
52. Kg3 Qf4+
53. Kf2 g4

[image loading]

At last, I realized that I probably won't make any progress unless I get this move in and create a passed pawn.

54. Ke2 g3
[image loading]

Trading pawns was another option, but somehow, I felt like it would be useful to have his bishop blocked off by his own pawn.

55. Ra7+ Kf6
56. Ra1 g2
57. Rg1 Qg3
58. f4?

[image loading]

My opponent cannot stand to see my pawn on g2, restricting his Rook, so he initiates the trades of pawn.
But this fails tactically.

58... exf4
59. Rxg2 Qe3+

[image loading]

And at last, I win this light squared bishop, and with it, the game.

60. Kf1 Qxe4
61. Rf2 Ke5?

[image loading]

lol, it's never too late to make a mistake in a chess game.
Luckily for me, this mistake did not matter.

62. Re2
[image loading]

Potentially game throwing mistake by me.... but not this time fortunately.

62... d5
63. Kf2 Qxe2+
64. Kxe2 Ke4

[image loading]

And this is pretty easily winning King and Pawn endgame.
My opponent played til mate for some reason, which was fine by me.

65. Kf2 f3
66. Kf1 Ke3
67. Ke1 d4
68. Kf1 d3
69. Ke1 d2+
70. Kf1 d1=R#

[image loading]

Underpromotion for the lolz...

Man! This is the kind of game you play Sicilian for.
Double-edged, risky, sharp, where every move matters.

Hopefully, I will have more games like this, and hopefully I can play more moves like Nc3+ and Rxa2 in the future.
Nc3+ was probably my proudest move in my chess life so far, even though it was played in blitz.

Anyway, thanks for reading.
Hope you enjoyed!

Link to the game: https://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=1553176992#


*****
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
[UoN]Sentinel
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
United States11320 Posts
May 05 2016 23:18 GMT
#2
What a game
Нас зовет дух отцов, память старых бойцов, дух Москвы и твердыня Полтавы
Impervious
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Canada4209 Posts
May 07 2016 00:27 GMT
#3
Very nice!
~ \(ˌ)im-ˈpər-vē-əs\ : not capable of being damaged or harmed.
c3rberUs
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Japan11286 Posts
May 07 2016 15:45 GMT
#4
Tense game and good narration of the thoughts behind the moves! 5/5
WriterMovie, 진영화 : "StarCraft will never die".
Mysti_
Profile Joined May 2011
France185 Posts
May 13 2016 17:23 GMT
#5
I enjoyed reading this blog. Keep doing them it's awesome ! 5/5
"Strategy is the art of making use of time and space. I am less concerned about the later than the former. Space we can recover, lost time never." - "Ability is of little account without opportunity." Napoléon
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