The Monthly Dragon - Erigaisi defeats Nepo with the Dragon

by Arne Kaehler
11/8/2023 – Chris Ward couldn't resist showing us a wonderful game of Arjun Erigaisi, defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi with the Dragon. Apparently, Erigaisi is watching the Monthly Dragon, since he used the advice by Chris, of last month's episode! But the Indian GM used a quite interesting path to keep the game going, which is normally used by club players.| 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.

Full analysis by Chris Ward

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 d5 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.Bh6 Bxh6 12.Qxh6 Rb8 12...e5 remains fashionable too, halting White's e-pawn in its tracks. 12...Qb6 Now 13.e5 13.exd5 Rb8 14.b3 cxd5 15.Nxd5 Nxd5 16.Rxd5 Be6 leaves Black with reasonable compensation for the pawn. 13...Nd7 14.h4 Nxe5 15.h5 Bf5 16.g4 f6 17.Qf4 Rab8 18.b3 18.gxf5? Qxb2+ 19.Kd2 Rb4! 20.Qg3 Rd4+ is curtains. 18...g5 19.Qxf5 Qe3+ 20.Kb2 Rf7 is fascinating with Black threatening ...e6 to trap the black queen. 12...Qd6 is very rare though not illogical. 13.e5 Nd7 14.Re1? So I couldn't resist covering this Dragon double featuring two giants of the chessboard. Despite being blitz games, the fact that one of them followed just as I had speculated and the other something new to the whole World made such coverage even more appealing. White wants to deliver checkmate down the h-file either via h4-h5 or Rd4-h4. Surprisingly nobody has taken time out to defend this pawn before even though doing so prevents the knight from taking it and hence the bishop swinging out to f5. The problem is that time is of the essence and the young Indian superstar demonstrates just why it's too slow. The key variation to know is of course 14.h4 Nxe5 15.h5 Bf5 16.g4 f6! 17.Qe3 Upon 17.gxf5? g5! the black knight via f7 would bag the trapped white queen. 17.Qf4? was very well met by Qd6! threatening ...Nd3+ in last month's annotated Avila_Pavas,S-Fedorovsky,M 17...Bd7 18.hxg6 when a while back I commentated on the possibility of Qb6 and an endgame where White will temporarily go a pawn up but with the queens being swapped off. Justifying my assessment then this month saw 19.Qxb6 Slightly odd not to do 19.gxh7+ first although Kg7 is still possible. The queens should probably come off anyway as or 19...Kh8 with a later ...Rf7 to mop up that h-pawn. 20.Qh6+ Kh8 leaves White's own pawn impeding his attack. 19...axb6 20.gxh7+ Kg7 As observed above 20...Kh8 should be fine too e.g. 21.Be2 Rf7 and the h-pawn will drop. 21.Be2 Rh8 22.a4 Rxh7 23.Rxh7+ Kxh7 24.Kd2 Kg7 25.Rh1 d4 26.Ne4 c5 and an eventual draw in Nepomniachtchi,I (2771)-Erigaisi,A (2712) chess.com INT 2023 14.Rd4 is the other critical option preparing a slide to h4. Then Re8 facilitates ...Nf8 with the disruptor 15.e6 most interesting e.g. fxe6 (16...Nf6!? avoiding the ensuing complications holds a certain appeal) 16.Bd3 Nf8 17.h4 e5 18.h5 exd4 19.hxg6 Qd6 Black is ready with ...hxg6 and so pretty forced is 20.gxh7+ Kh8 with 21.Qg7+! Kxg7 22.h8Q+ Kf7 23.Rh7+ Nxh7 24.Qxh7+ Kf8 And not 24...Kf6 25.Qg6+ Ke5 26.Qg5+ Bf5 27.Qxf5# or 24...Ke6 25.Qf5# 25.Qh8+ necessary just to force a draw! 14...Qa5 Bringing the queen out to action is very logical although also impressive (possibly transposing) is 14...Nc5! e.g. 15.h4 Qa5 16.h5 Bf5 and if 17.g4 then Rxb2! 18.Kxb2 Qb4+ 19.Kc1 Qxc3 20.gxf5 20.Re2 Bxc2 21.Rxc2 Qe1+ 22.Kb2 Rb8+ 23.Ka3 20...Qxe1+ 21.Kb2 Rb8+ 22.Ka3 Qb4# Nice work if you can get it! 15.Qd2?! White has accepted that their own attack is too slow but this retreat doesn't solve the defensive woes. It seems sensible to meet 15.e6 with Nc5! Far from game over but Black for preference after 16.exf7+ Rxf7 17.Qe3 15...Nc5 16.a3 Keeping the enemy queen out of b4 but Black easily bypasses that. 16.h4 Rxb2! 17.Kxb2 Na4+ 18.Kc1 Nxc3 isn't much different from the main game. White is dead lost. 16.b3 Qa3+ 17.Kb1 Bf5 blatantly threatens to crash through on b3. 16...Rxb2! 17.Kxb2 Na4+ 18.Ka1 The white knight is pinned and 18.Kc1 Nxc3 19.Kb2 Bf5 teeing up ...Rb8+ is also curtains. 18...Nxc3 Now ...Qxa3 mate is threatened. What a battering! 19.Qc1 Be6 Bringing in the cavalry in the form of the rook able to use the b-file and the bishop that will be livened up after ...d4. 20.Qb2 Highlighting one simple winning plan is 20.Bd3 Rb8 21.h4 Rb1+ 22.Qxb1 Qxa3+ 20...c5! Preventing the defence Qb4 with the compatriot d-pawn ready to advance to enable the bishop to join the attack. So 20...Na4 could previously have been met by 21.Qb4 but moving on that won't be the case. 21.h4 Upon 21.Be2 (allowing the h1 rook to guard its compatriot) d4! , once again ...Na4 comes to the fore as the white queen can't move anywhere that would keep its enemy number out of c3. 21...Na4 Yes 21...Na4 is crushing, especially sweet being after 22.Qc1 of course 22.Qb3 Qxe1+ 22...Qc3+ 23.Ka2 d4+ 24.Kb1 Rb8+ all of Black's pieces have participated in the attack. 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Nepomniachtchi,I2771Erigaisi,A27120–12023B76chess.com SpeedChess 20231.13

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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