4/29/2024 – After the little excursion to plenty of Anti-Sicilians, and how Chris Ward suggested countering them, we got back on track with a real Dragon game. Real? Well, this time, the British GM chose a very positional game, and points out, that it doesn't always have to be a tactical back and forth in this opening. Uncomplicated, straightforward chess is possible!| Photo: John Upham
Fritz has fascinated the chess world for 30 years. And the success story continues. In Vienna, the most popular chess program ever was once again able to underline its premier position: the newly developed neural engine with NNUE technology won the official Chess Software World Championship!
World Chess Championship 2024 - all games with analyses by Giri, Shankland, So and others. Kasimdzhanov, King and Ris show new opening ideas in the video. 10 repertoire articles from the English Opening to the King's Indian and much more.
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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.
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.
Full analysis by Chris Ward
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1.e4c52.Nf3Upon2.Nc3very reasonable isNc6 and I would argue best for a Dragon player who might want to be flexible with his king's knight in Anti-Sicilian variations e.g.3.f4g64.Nf3Bg75.Bc4e6 intending ...Nge7 against the Grand Prix Attack.2...Nc6We soon get to a standard Classical Dragon but of course this is via an Accelerated Dragon move order where White shows no appetite for a c2-c4 Maroczy bind set-up but is keen to deter a swift Black ...d5 pawn break.Note2...d63.d4cxd44.Nxd4Nf65.Nc3g66.Be2Also relevant here (with a comparison to the main game in mind) is that6.Be3Bg77.f3Nc68.Qd20-0; the main line Yugoslav Attack has seen White play9.Nb3on occasion (rather than 9 0-0-0, 9 Bc4 or 9 g4 but still deterring ...d5) reaching the same position as the game but with f2-f3 included rather than Be2.6...Bg77.0-0Nc6is a common move order where White can delay deploying his dark-squared bishop with 8 Nb3 or else similarly8.Be30-09.Nb33.d4cxd44.Nxd4g64...Nf65.Nc3g6is the 'Semi-Accelerated Dragon' but6.Nxc6bxc67.e5Ng8 doesn't have a good reputation for Black.5.Nc3Rejecting the Maroczy Bind set-up5.c45...Bg76.Be3Nf67.Nb3Upon7.Be20-08.0-0Black would naturally be tempted to deploy the thematicd5 and so White opts to take this off of Black's menu now.7.f30-08.Qd2d5 would transpose to the 9 0-0-0 Yugoslav Attack but without White having castled! Yes he'd be a tempo down!Note compared to the above mentioned Semi-Accelerated Dragon, with ...Bg7 and Be3 included, here7.Nxc6bxc68.e5isn't such a problem for Black with both 8...Ng8 and the pawn offering 8...Nd5 very playable.7...d68.Be20-09.Qd29.0-0would basically then transpose to the old main line of the Classical withBe610.f4Rc8 where White is advised to avoid11.f5?!Bd712.g4Ne513.g5 allowing the thematic exchange sacRxc314.bxc3Nxe4In light of the game continuation, I'm not sure White can justify prioritising Qd2.9...Be69...Ng410.Bxg4Bxg411.Bh6a5would be double-edged but with Black's knight remaining on f6, I'm not so enamoured with what follows.10.Bh6?!Upon10.0-0-0I guess Black chooses between the likes ofa6, 10...a5 and 10...Rc8. We are of course making a comparison with the 9 Nb3 Yugoslav Attack where here White has Be2 instead of f2-f3. Whilst controlling the h5-square could be useful, the lack of support to the e4-pawn could be an issue.10...Rc810...Bxh611.Qxh6 and now eitherQb6!? or 11...a5 feel more than fine to me.11.Bxg7If11.h4thenBxh612.Qxh6Nb4!? is awkward for White e.g.13.Rc1Rxc314.bxc3Nxa215.Ra1Nxc311...Kxg712.0-0Now12.h4 can be thematically (as in responding to wing play by action in the centre) met byd513.exd5Nxd514.Nxd5Qxd515.Qxd5Bxd512...a6Very reasonable although with the dark-squared bishops off,12...Qb6 would have been useful too.13.f4So I'm not a great fan of the way White has played this. He is a little vulnerable along the b6-g1 diagonal and whilst that last move demonstrates aggressive intent, realistically in order to deliver mate White needs something like f4-f5, Rf3-h3, Qh6+ and then some way to eliminate the defending f6-knight. All a bit slow!b5 Standard queenside expansion with the e4-pawn now under threat to the ...b5-b4 advance.14.Bf3After14.f5Black could simply park his bishop on c4 but I also likeb4e.g.15.fxe6Qb6+16.Kh1bxc317.Qxc3Nb4!14...Na514...Bc415.Rf2and nowe5!should be another familiar theme to Black players in the Classical variation. Grabbing dark-squared control with say16.f5a517.g4gxf518.exf5Kh8! looking to utilise the g-file too and19.g5b420.gxf6bxc321.Qxc3d5just being good.15.Nxa5Probably better than 15...Ng4, White will have to deal with the issue on e5 shortly.Upon15.e5 fine isNe8!Rather than15...dxe5??16.Qxd8Rfxd817.Nxa515...Qxa5From here actually her majesty threatens to switch the b4, thus explaining White's next move.16.a3Rc4Black has various available moves but this flows nicely, scrutinizing e4 whilst looking to make the most of the half-open c-file.17.Qe3Qc7!18.Be2Qc5Facilitated by Black's last move, now Black has a very pleasant endgame.19.Qxc5Rxc520.Bd3Yes Black has his queenside play whereas White doesn't really have anything. Indeed even if he deploys an f4-f5, that merely concedes the e5-square.Rb821.Ne221.f5?!Bc4is very nice for Black and so I guess White moved away anticipating an ...a5 and ...b5 plan.21...Bc4 With the simple idea of trading bishops and invading on c2.22.Nc3The top engine move, clearly suggesting that from White's perspective, this is a bit of a grovel!a5Meanwhile for Black it's all about simple chess.23.Rfc1b424.axb4axb425.Na4Now25.Ne2?would walk intoNxe4!25...Rc6 Keeping the option open to double on the c-file which after trading on d3 would result in the domination of that file whilst the white knight would remain under lock and key.26.b326.e5dxe527.fxe5Ng4 is no better.26...Bb5Also good but I refer you to my previous comment regards26...Bxd327.cxd3Rbc828.Rxc6Rxc627.Nb2?!Not really helping and critically relinquishing control of the c3-square.Bxd328.cxd328.Nxd3Nxe429.Ra7tenders a bit of action but surely not enough for a pawn.28...Rc3! A beautiful entry point that coincidentally sees the b3-pawn targeted.29.Rxc3bxc330.Nd1Rxb331.Rc1c2! So White is winning the black c-pawn but Black now has other white pawns in his sight.32.Rxc2Rxd333.Nc3Or33.Nf2Re3forking the e4-pawn and mate on e1.34.Rc4Re1#33...Re3And White's e-pawn is a goner.34.e5With the tactic34.Kf2Rxc3!35.Rxc3Nxe4+worth observing!34...dxe535.fxe5Rxe5Two pawns up; it's all over bar the shouting!36.Re2Rxe237.Nxe2Ne438.g3e539.Kg2f540.Nc1Kf641.Nd3Ke642.h4Kd543.Nb4+Kc544.Nd3+Kd445.Nb4Nf646.Nc6+Kd547.Nb4+Kc548.Nd3+Kd449.Nb4Kc350.Nc6e40–1
Arne KaehlerArne 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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