The Monthly Dragon - 11. .. Qa5 Chris Ward's nostalgic decision

by Arne Kaehler
11/19/2022 – We have a new show on ChessBase with Grandmaster Chris Ward. The Sicilian Dragon aficionado is back on-screen, and presents us games, news, moves, tactics, ideas, and much more about his "go to" opening each month. In the first episode, Chris is presenting us one of his own, rare dragon games, which he played quite recently. The English Grandmaster had a couple of options to continue with his dragon, but chose the good ol' move 11. .. Qa5, which caused several mate threats a little later. | Photo: John Upham
In this first part, the emphasis is on themes and ideas whereas Part 2 and 3 focus on theoretical knowledge!

The Monthly Dragon

with GM Chris Ward

The British Grandmaster Chris Ward is always delighted, if he can play his favourite opening as Black - The Sicilian Dragon.

Ward's knowledge about this strong opening is covered in several of his books, his blog on chesspublishing, and his three, greatly popular Fritztrainers in our ChessBase shop.

In this first part, the emphasis is on themes and ideas whereas Part 2 and 3 focus on theoretical knowledge!

With the new ChessBase series "The Monthly Dragon", the passionate Salsa dancer is showing us the newest tactics, plans, and development of this fascinating opening.

Lucky for us, the dragon is an opening, played by some of the best players in the world. This means, Chris probably won't run out of fuel for new content.

 
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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,169,49854%2421---
1.d4949,34555%2434---
1.Nf3282,42656%2440---
1.c4182,60856%2442---
1.g319,74156%2427---
1.b314,33454%2427---
1.f45,91448%2377---
1.Nc33,81451%2384---
1.b41,75948%2379---
1.a31,22254%2404---
1.e31,07349%2409---
1.d395550%2378---
1.g466646%2361---
1.h444953%2374---
1.c343551%2426---
1.h328356%2419---
1.a411460%2465---
1.f39346%2435---
1.Nh39066%2505---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 Starting off then with the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon move order that has the main advantage of side-stepping the 3 Bb5 Anti-Sicilian lines. 3.d4 If White wants a Maroczy Bind then he needs to play 3.c4 now whilst 3.c3 is of course a different approach entirely. 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4 Eschewing 4.Qxd4 and effectively making it clear that he is happy with either a Dragon or Accelerated Dragon Open Sicilian. 4...Nf6 About which on this particular evening (as to be fair I generally am!) I was more interested in the former! 5.Nc3 5.e5? drops that pawn to Qa5+ and so instead White defends the pawn with his knight with the Maroczy Bind no longer an an option. 5...d6 Now though we're just in a good old Dragon! 5...Bg7?! would ask for 6.e5! whilst the Semi-Accelerated Dragon of 5...Nc6 is best met by 6.Nxc6! bxc6 7.e5 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Yugoslav Attack of course! Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4 With White plumping for the sharpest line. Bd7 10.h4 And now deploying the 'Anti-Chinese' variation move order. Having hosted this site for many years and recently having completed two DVDs for chessbase on the opening, albeit my memory not being what it once was, it's fair to say that I feel I have a choice of lines to pick from. Ne5 11.Bb3 Qa5 But guess what? Yes after so long away from it I suddenly felt a bit nostalgic and so on the spur of the moment decided to return my old favourite variation. Regular subscribers will know that since my 'Winning with the Dragon' books so long ago I've detailed the problems that this system has experienced but in recent times some of them have been patched up and I evidently felt confident that I wouldn't be crushed inside 20 moves! 12.0-0-0 Rfc8 13.g4 So here my opponent chose the h4 and g4 system that for a long time did pose serious questions. b5 Possible but I don't think Black gets enough by sacrificing the exchange on c3 here. The main alternative then is 13...Nc4 whilst 13...Rc4 might be interesting if it weren't for 14.g5! 14.h5 b4 Those interested in this line from either colour would be aware that 14...Nc4 15.Bxc4 bxc4 16.Bh6 Bh8 17.Nf5! has caused a lot of trouble and although I can't recall having played the text myself before in a real game, I do now consider it to be best. Re8 18.Qg5 Qb6 19.hxg6 fxg6 20.Bg7 Bxg7 21.Nxg7 Reb8 21...Kxg7 22.Nd5 Nxd5 22...Qf2 23.Nxf6 exf6 24.Qh6+ Kf7 25.Rxd6 23.Qh6+ Kf7 24.Qxh7+ Ke6 25.exd5+ Ke5 26.Qg7+ Kf4 27.Qh6+ 22.Nh5 Nxh5 23.gxh5 Be8 24.b3 cxb3 25.axb3 Qc5 26.Nd5 Rb7 27.Nxe7+ Rxe7 28.Qxe7 Rc8 29.Rh2 gxh5 30.Rg2+ Bg6 31.Rxd6 Qe3+ 32.Rgd2 Rf8 33.Rd8 Rxd8 34.Qxd8+ Kg7 35.Qd4+ Qxd4 36.Rxd4 h4 37.Kd2 h3 38.Ke3 Kh6 39.Kf4 1-0 (39) Nunn,J (2610)-Ward,C (2480) England 1998 15.Nd5 For most surely the most natural reaction as White moves his attacked knight to trade off a key black defender. The problem is that there is a forcing sequence that follows, throwing a big spanner in White's attacking works. I think we can rule out dropping a piece by moving the knight to a4 whilst retreating the steed to b1 just looks silly. By a process of elimination then 15.Nce2!? is the only way for White to try for an advantage with a not unlikely continuation of Nc4 I must admit that 15...Be6 has piqued my interest from an amusing standpoint given the draw possibility of 16.Nxe6 Nxf3 17.Qd3 Ne5 18.Qd2 Nf3 etc. 16.Bxc4 Rxc4 17.Kb1 Rac8 You will find quite a bit on that in the archives but possibly the future will hold even more!? Engines suggest a small advantage for White but from a black perspective, at least preserving his knight on f6 means mate any time soon is less likely! 15...Nxd5 16.Bxd5 16.exd5 Nc4 17.Bxc4 Rxc4 leaves both a2 and d5 as targets . 16...Nc4 17.Bxc4 Rxc4 18.Kb1 White needed to guard his a2-pawn. Qe5! A key move pressurising the d4-knight and in particular pinning it to the mate on b2. From here the queen also offers a defensive option whilst scrutinising the e4-pawn making f3-f4 more tricky. 19.Qd3 I was pondering which way I was going to recapture had White taken on g6 immediately and you'll find more on that in the archives. Either way is possible but anyway White's move here is the top choice of the engines. The white queen attacks the c4-rook and in guarding e4, facilitates f3-f4. The downside is that the white queen is now a fair effective distance from the black king. Rac8 The natural response now bringing into play ... Rxc2. Two rooks for a queen and a pawn would suit Black whilst a reminder that Nxc2 wouldn't be possible for White so long as the black queen and bishop are aligned on the diagonal towards b2. I have to say though that I did give 19...d5 some serious thought too with the intention of meeting 20.exd5 with Rac8 i.e. rather than 20...Qxd5?! 21.Nf5! 20.f4 Qa5 20...Qf6? 21.g5 would of course drop serious material. 21.hxg6 hxg6 21...fxg6 is possible but with the h7-pawn and the b3-g8 diagonal a bit vulnerable, I decided that with the white queen still a fair journey away from my king, I would adopt the preferred structure approach. 22.Rdg1 Of course the text defends the attacked g4-pawn but I appreciated that it was really all about teeing up Nf5. Upon 22.f5 I would definitely have returned i.e. Qe5! tying up White's minor pieces and renewing the threat of ...Rxc2. Then I expected 23.g5 enabling Rxc2 to be met by 24.f6! with Rxb2+ 25.Kxb2 exf6 being nuts. However Black has no need to go into all that with 23...a5 and 23...Ba4 both quite good. The point is that White has no way to make any progress himself. 22.g5 e5 22...e5 In my typical inefficient manner I looked at this provocative move first, dismissed it to ponder other approaches and then returned to it! In case you were wondering, I for example invested time on 22...Rc3?! 23.bxc3 Rxc3 24.Qd2 Be6 when and 24...Ra3 25.Nb3 Rxa2 when both 26.Bd4 and 26 e5 would have stopped the party! 25.Nxe6?? but sadly 25.Nb3 Bxb3 26.cxb3 Rxb3+ 27.axb3 Qa1+ 28.Kc2 would have just run me out of pieces! 25...Qxa2+! 26.Kxa2 Ra3+ 27.Kb1 Ra1# would have made good viewing if it had come off! 23.Nf5 Admittedly I was hoping for 23.Nb3?! when a number of queen moves felt good to me. Nevertheless that was never going to happen! Somehow 23.fxe5 Bxe5 24.Nb3 Rxc2 25.Nxa5 Rxb2+ 26.Ka1 Rb3+ came to me as an amusing variation but I would have recaptured on e5 with my queen. 23...Bxf5 23...gxf5? 24.gxf5 would be terrible. 24.gxf5 exf4 Actually upon reflection then it seems that quite a few best moves were played in this game. 25.fxg6! And not 25.Bxf4? Rxc2 25...Qe5! It would be an understatement to say that 25...fxe3? 26.gxf7+ wasn't appealing and indeed it transpires that White has forced mate after Kxf7 27.Qf1+ Instead then the queen returns to her dominant perch offering both offensive and defensive qualities. 26.gxf7+ Kxf7 Given I thought the best White move after my selection was to take on g7, there didn't seem any point in 26...Kf8 27.Rxg7 although in fact it transpires that both should be a draw! 27.Bc1? I didn't think I was losing after 27.Rxg7+ Kxg7 28.Bxf4! Qxe4 and indeed thought I might just be winning. However I hadn't noticed that 28...Qxf4 29.Rg1+ Kf8 30.Rf1 Qxf1+ 31.Qxf1+ Ke7 should also be a draw. 29.Be5+! should end in a perpetual or drawn endgames e.g. 29.Bh6+ Kf7 29...Qxe5 30.Qh7+ Kf8 31.Rg1 Rg4 or 31...Qe6 32.Qh8+ Ke7 33.Rg7+ Qf7 34.Rxf7+ Kxf7 35.Qh7+ Ke6 36.Qxa7 Rxc2 32.Qh6+ Ke7 33.Rxg4 Qe1+ 34.Qc1 Qxc1+ 35.Kxc1 a5 27...Rxc2 Instead after White's first real mistake he finds himself in trouble with ... Rxc1+ now threatened to help deliver mate on b2. 28.Qb3+ Although my king remains a tad exposed, I couldn't see anything for White and I was expecting 28.Qd5+ Qxd5 29.exd5 Be5 with a winning endgame for me. 28...R2c4 28...Kf8 is also good but the text seems most straightforward facilitating ...Qxe4 with check. 29.Rh4 Qxe4+ 30.Ka1 Be5! Guarding f4 and putting a stop to any Rxg7+ funny business. 31.Rf1 Ke7 Unpinning my rook and highlighting White's back rank issues as well as his problems on b2. 32.Bd2 Rc2 My queen and bishop do a great job both defending and attacking. 33.Bxf4 Bxf4 There still aren't any valid checks for White whilst he can't recapture on f4 because of mate via ... Rc1+. Not 33...Bxb2+ 34.Qxb2 Rxb2 35.Bg5+ Kd7 36.Rf7+ Ke6 37.Rxe4+ Kxf7 38.Kxb2 34.Rhh1 Qxh1! And a nice move to be able to finish with. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Brown,M-Ward,C-0–12022B79London League

 

Full analysis by Chris Ward

We have a bundle for you below, including Powerbook & Powerbase of the Sicilian Dragon, with over 5000 games.

In this first part, the emphasis is on themes and ideas whereas Part 2 and 3 focus on theoretical knowledge!

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Arne Kaehler, a creative mind who is passionate about board games in general, was born in Hamburg and learned to play chess at a young age. By teaching chess to youth teams and creating chess-related videos on YouTube, Arne was able to expand this passion and has even created an online course for anyone who wants to learn how to play chess. Arne writes for the English and German news sites, but focuses mainly on content for the ChessBase media channels.
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