The Monthly Dragon - Magnus winning against, and with the Dragon

by Arne Kaehler
7/8/2023 – Magnus Carlsen likes to play with, and against the Dragon. Chris Ward found two recent games of the Norwegian GM, and shows us which variation the former World Champion chose to defeat the Sicilian, and how to counter the variation better. Furthermore, we dive into the win of Magnus, and what mistakes his strong opponent made. Remember, all the variations are available on Ward's Fritztrainers! | 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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MoveNResultEloPlayers
1.e41,165,57054%2421---
1.d4946,47455%2434---
1.Nf3281,31256%2441---
1.c4181,93756%2442---
1.g319,68856%2427---
1.b314,23654%2427---
1.f45,88648%2377---
1.Nc33,79651%2384---
1.b41,75348%2380---
1.a31,19754%2403---
1.e31,06848%2408---
1.d394850%2378---
1.g466246%2361---
1.h444653%2374---
1.c342651%2425---
1.h327956%2416---
1.a410860%2468---
1.f39147%2431---
1.Nh38966%2508---
1.Na34262%2482---
1.e4 d6 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 c5 A rather unusual way to reach a Sicilian with seemingly a Pirc or Philidor initially offered. Still... 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 6.Bc4 Though via another different move order, the position after 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Nb3 was reached in another Magnus game very recently which caused a bit of a furore. The specific variation then is effectively a 9 Nb3 (rather than 9 0-0-0, 9 g4 or 9 Bc4) Yugoslav Attack with White dissuading ...d5. Play continued Be6 10.0-0-0 Ne5 11.Kb1 Rc8 12.h4 h5 when with the knight no longer on d4, White needs to secure f3 in order to make the g2-g4 break. Hence 13.Be2 a6 14.Bd4 14.Bh6 could be met by the thematic exchange sacrifice Bxh6 15.Qxh6 Rxc3 16.bxc3 Qc7 14...Qc7 14...b5 15.Bxe5 dxe5 16.Qxd8 Rfxd8 17.Rxd8+ Rxd8 18.Nc5 Bc8 19.a4 sees Black's queenside pressurised in a slightly unpleasant endgame. With more pieces on though White won't want to give his bishop up in that manner and concede so many dark squares. 15.g4 hxg4 16.f4 Nc6? White wins convincingly after this but Black has better and interesting alternatives: 16...b5 17.fxe5 dxe5 18.Be3 b4 19.Nd5 Bxd5 20.exd5 Rfd8 could be fun with 21.h5 Rxd5 22.Qc1 Rxd1 23.Qxd1 gxh5 for example leaving Black with an attractive preponderance of passed pawns for the piece. 16...Rfd8!? as after 17.fxe5 dxe5 the bishop is pinned to the queen. 16...Ned7 offering better support to the king. 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 18.Nd5 Bxd5 19.exd5 Nd4 20.Bxg4 Nxb3 21.axb3 a5 22.h5 White isn't interested in Black's rook. Opposite coloured bishops favour the attacker and with holes/lines being created around the black king first, it is White who will make the decisive breakthrough. a4 23.hxg6 axb3 Or 23...fxg6 24.Be6+ Kg7 25.Rdg1 axb3 26.Rxg6+ Kxg6 27.Qd3+ Kg7 28.Qh7# 24.cxb3 Ra8 25.Qh2 1-0 (25) Carlsen,M (2853)-Shevchenko,K (2684) Warsaw 2023, mate being unavoidable. 6...Bg7 6...Nc6? falls into a standard trap i.e. 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 (the main justification for a trade of knights on c6 is if White can get in this move successfully. dxe5?? 9.Bxf7+ 7.0-0 0-0 8.Re1 Nc6 9.Nxc6 I was really pleased to see this game as I have observed this trade on c6 creeping in quite a lot in recent times and yet it so goes against what I've always believed in in these positions. So nice to have arguably the World's greatest player on hand to punish it! 9.Bb3 and 9.h3 are most common in a system where White intends to delete the central knight supporting Be3. 9...bxc6 From my perspective, Black now has a handy half-open b-file instead of c-file but very useful control over the d5-square. 10.Bb3 Typically one might imagine that the only justification is for White to be able to crash through the centre and at the very least saddle Black with two queenside isolanis. However here 10.e5?! fails tactically to dxe5 11.Qxd8 or 11.Rxe5 Nd5! 11...Rxd8 12.Rxe5 Nd5! 10...Nd7 Certainly not forced but very neat, nipping that e4-e5 thrust in the bud and preparing a future re-route to c5 or b6. 11.Be3 Nb6 Bringing us to a new position. Previously: 11...a5 12.Qd2 Qc7 13.Rad1 Nb6 14.a4 (not too dissimilar from our main game then!) Ba6 15.Bh6 c5?! (clearly eager to get in ...c5-c4 but conceding the d5-square) 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Nd5 Nxd5 18.Bxd5 (For any real attempt at an advantage White should probably recapture with the pawn and look to make the most of e-file pressure or a rook lift up and across to the kingside) Rab8 19.Qc3+ Kg8 20.e5 dxe5 21.Rxe5 e6 22.Bf3 ½-½ was Andres Gonzalez,I (2354)-Gonzalez Perez,A (2480) Caldas da Rainha 2014 12.a4 a5 The inclusion of the a-pawn advances were probably inevitable. The black knight post is obviously weakened but White's queenside has arguably suffered the most from these inclusions. 13.Qd2 Rb8 Basically transposing to the first reference above but this being a little more useful than ...Qc7. 14.Rad1 Nd7! I love the smooth but simple way Magnus handles this game, looking to make progress whilst keeping control. White has centralised his pieces but there is no break. 15.Bh6 Nc5! Highlighting the downside of a2-a4 and played immediately rather than luring the queen to h6 after which a Re3-h3 plan would have to be contended with. 16.Bxg7 Upon 16.e5 d5! those b-file issues remain. 16...Kxg7 17.Bc4 Again 17.e5 should be met by d5 whilst 17.Qd4+ Kg8 18.e5 offers Rb4! not that in either case taking on b3 would be bad. 17...Rxb2! The ex-World Champion (wow that's going to take some getting used to!) does some swift calculation and doesn't believe this pawn is poisoned. Guess what, he's right! 18.e5 Actually after 18.Qd4+ Black could simply withdraw his king as there is no good discovered attack against the white rook. Nevertheless e5! is even stronger, bearing in mind 19.Qxd6 Qxd6 20.Rxd6 Rxc2 21.Rxc6 Rxc3 22.Rxc5 Be6 18...d5! 19.e6 19.Bf1 Bf5 is just lovely for Black and so White attempots to mix things up. 19...f6 19...Rb4 looked rather strong too but instead Black implements the simple lock-out. 20.Qe3 Hitting the knight and of course the d5-pawn remains pinned. Upon 20.Re3 then simply Bxe6 20...Nxe6 Upon 20...Qb6 the tactic 21.Bxd5 cxd5 22.Nxd5 Qa7 wouldn't exactly work but at least White would finally have 21 Bb3. Still good for Black though. 21.Nxd5? Instead White goes 'all in' but it's not working. And White should really have deployed 21.Bb3! now. He's two pawns down but the e7-pawn is tender and a future Qc1 could bag the exchange. . Okay so d4 21...Qd6 22.Qc1 Rxb3 23.cxb3 22.Qc1 Rxb3 23.cxb3 Qb6 could possibly occur which to be fair still offers Black plenty on top of those two pawns for the exchange. 21...cxd5 22.Bxd5 Rb6! Protecting the knight and more importantly providing a great solution to the Bxe6 discovered attack. Rather than 22...Ng5 23.h4 Nf7 24.Bxf7 23.c4 Note 23.Bxe6 Rxe6 24.Qxe6 or 24.Rxd8 Rxe3 24...Bxe6 25.Rxd8 Rxd8 26.Rxe6 Rd1+ Yes unsurprisingly Magnus has it all figured! 23...Rd6 Black's turn for some pinning! 24.c5? Not helping but basically White was a piece down for nothing! Rxd5 Make that two pieces! 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Bacrot,E2667Carlsen,M28530–12023B70Titled Tue 9th May Early4

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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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