Download PGN of June ’25 Dragon Sicilian games

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Dragadorf 6.Be3 a6 7.f3 Bg7 8.Qd2 h5 9.0-0-0 Nbd7 10.Kb1 b5 [B75]]

We kick off this month’s update with the entertaining encounter Svane, F - Nakamura, H in the first of four early ...h5 Dragadorfs.

In this one, after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 a6 7.f3 Bg7 8.Qd2 h5 White plays rather timidly through 9.0-0-0 Nbd7 10.Kb1 b5 11.a3 Bb7 12.Be2 Rc8 13.Rhe1 Qc7 14.h3:

In general Black has scored rather well with this system but with White perhaps trying to arrange f3-f4 and e4-e5, whilst finally ready for g2-g4, it is Black that commits first with 14...h4 speculating to accumulate! White logically responded with 15.Bg5 when 15...Nb6 16.Bf1 Nfd7 17.Nd5 Bxd5 18.exd5 Nxd5 19.Bxb5 got the tactics rolling and as it transpired, rightly or wrongly but rather swiftly, in Black’s favour!

Dragadorf 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 h5 9.Bc4 b5 10.Bd5 [B75]

The game Siva, M - Clarke, B was short but pretty action-packed. Following 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 h5 9.Bc4 b5, it was only going to be a matter of time before as an alternative to simply dropping the bishop back, we would see the challenging 10.Bd5 with White looking to exploit a few holes and his opponent’s lack of queenside development:

Black was obliged to capture the intrusive bishop and after 10...Nxd5 White opted for 11.Nxd5 provoking Black into wanting to evict this well-placed steed asap. However after 11...e6 suddenly plenty of tactics were brought to the table with 12.Nxe6 Bxe6 13.Bb6 Qc8 14.Nc7+ Kf8 15.Nxa8 Qc6 hitting the board. It had seemed like we were destined for an intriguingly imbalanced rook and two pawns for bishop and knight scenario until White erred and 16.Bc7? Bxb2! 17.0-0 Bxa1 18.Bxb8? Ke7! Left his behind enemy lines minor pieces in deep trouble.

Dragadorf 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 h5 9.Bc4 b5 10.Bb3 Nbd7 11.a4 bxa4 12.Bxa4 [B75]

The game Chakrabarty, R - Lie, K was an endgame grind by a Norwegian GM and an experience that I’m sure White won’t want to repeat.

So the game began with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 h5 9.Bc4 b5 10.Bb3 Nbd7 and then White opted for the positional approach of challenging Black’s queenside through 11.a4:

I suspect Black’s position would be rather unpleasant after 11...b4? 12 Nd5 but 11...bxa4 12.Bxa4 Bb7 I suspect that White’s advantage is very minimal. That was certainly the case in 13.Nc6 Qc7 14.Na5 0-0 15.Nxb7 Qxb7 16.0-0 Rfc8 17.Bb3 when 17...Nc5!? looks absolutely fine but actually 17...Nb6 18.Na4 Nfd7 19.Nxb6 Nxb6 evidently offered White the opportunity to err with 20.Qb4 Rab8 21.Qxb6? Qxb6 22.Bxb6 Rxb6 Perhaps White saw it as bailing out into a drawn opposite-coloured bishop scenario but in fact through 23.Ra2 Bd4+ 24.Kh1 h4! 25.Rd1 Be5 26.Kg1 e6 27.Rda1 Rcc6 28.Rd1 Kg7 29.Rd3 Rc5 30.Rd1 a5 31.Kh1 Rb4 32.Kg1 Kf6, he was made to suffer and was eventually ground down.

Dragadorf 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 h5 9.Bc4 Nbd7 10.0-0-0 b5 11.Bb3 Bb7 12.Rhe1 Rc8 13.Bg5 [B75]

In the last of our ...h5 Dragadorf’s, Black can consider himself extremely fortunate. Yes, in Martic,I S - Djordjevic, V play began with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 a6 8.Qd2 h5 9.Bc4 Nbd7 10.0-0-0 b5 11.Bb3 Bb7 12.Rhe1 Rc8 13.Bg5 when clearly White was looking for action on e7 and following Ne5 14.Kb1 Nc4?! 15.Bxc4 Rxc4 16.e5, Black effectively served it up to him on a plate through 16...Nh7?:

Indeed this allowed White to crash through with 17.Bxe7!! Kxe7 18.exd6+ Kf8 when sadly White missed the straightforward 19 d7! and allowed Black to wriggle out through 19.Qf4 Bf6! and after 20.Qh6+ Kg8 21.Nf5 gxf5 22.d7 Nf8! 23.Qxf6 Qxf6 24.Re8 Kg7 25.d8Q Qxd8 26.Rdxd8 Ng6 basically emerge a piece for a pawn up.

Yugoslav Attack 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.h4 Rc8 11.Bb3 h5 12.g4 [B77]

The high-level clash Nepomniachtchi, I - Dubov, D was super instructive but wasn’t quite a Soltis! Yes, following 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bc4 g6 6.f3 Bg7 7.Be3 0-0 8.Nc3 Nc6 9.Qd2 Bd7 10.h4 Rc8 11.Bb3 h5 it would have transposed to one had we simply seen 12 0-0-0 Ne5 but instead White wasn’t hanging around and deployed the immediately challenging 12.g4 reaching a position that we last covered on the site in 2002!

Regular subscribers will no doubt be aware that the early g4 (on move 13) doesn’t have a good reputation in the standard Soltis but this position is of independent significance with 12...Ne5 13.g5 Ne8 14.0-0-0 Nc4 15.Bxc4 Rxc4 16.Nde2 b5 17.Bd4 very reasonable stuff. Here though Black mixed things up a bit with 17...e5 18.Be3 Qb8 19.Kb1 Be6 20.Nd5 Qb7 A nicely imbalanced situation and although one might have thought that White had the upper hand (outpost, backward pawn etc.), in fact White never had a clear edge and after 21.b3 Rc6 22.Qa5 Bxd5 23.Rxd5?! Nc7 24.Rd3 b4! 25.Qxa7 Qxa7 26.Bxa7 Nb5 27.Be3 Na3+ 28.Ka1 Nxc2+ 29.Kb2 Nxe3 30.Rxe3 f6! 31.a4 bxa3+ 32.Kxa3 fxg5 33.hxg5 d5! h3 it was Black with the significant endgame advantage.

Yugoslav Attack 7.Bc4 0-0 8.f3 Nc6 9.Qd2 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Bb3 Qa5 12.0-0 [B77]

To put a positive spin on the game Shyam, N - Zemlyanskii, I, in the still fashionable variation 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Bc4 0-0 8.f3 Nc6 9.Qd2 Nxd4 10.Bxd4 Be6 11.Bb3 Qa5 we get to see 12.0-0 on the site for the first time!

Yippee!

Okay I’m afraid that’s the end of the excitement as following the sensible moves 12...Nd7 13.Rad1 Rfc8 14.Nd5 Bxd4+ 15.Qxd4 Bxd5 16.exd5 Qc5 17.Rfe1 Kf8 18.Re3 Qxd4 19.Rxd4 Rc7 20.c3 b5 21.Rb4 a6 , basically we have arrived at a not especially thrilling endgame. The game went on for a while and neither player made any outstanding inaccuracies, resulting in (spoiler alert!) a draw. Not the way in which I wanted to end the update, but at least we have a conclusion which is that castling short doesn’t cause Black any issues!

Bye for now! Chris

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