Wellington College Training Day

I played some training games at Wellington College over the last couple of days. I definitely needed the practice because it turns out that after analysis of both games, I'd clearly missed some obvious ways of winning them!! In the first game I had a chance to convert into a 2 x Bishops vs Rook ending, but for some reason I wrote this off in my mind immediately as not winning? Finally in this game I ended up with a Queen and pawn ending and I had the advanced pawn ... I shouldn't have offered a draw in this position according to GM Nick Pert. In the second game, I took my opponent's knight, got up to visit the loo, arrived back and overlooked the obvious fact that I could win a piece after Qh5+!! My fault entirely. So both games were drawn.

As usual, any comments welcome ...

Game 1- Sicilian Dragon

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

Sicilian Dragon, White castles Kingside

Here is this evening's club game - a Dragon (B73 Classical System without Nb3). I have attempted to revisit the quirky (and early) h5 for Black. According to Charlie Storey's book on the Sniper, Black can have some successful games against White by deferring their castling until such time as it is needed ... Problem is that I have been studying games where White castles Queenside. I must confess that I was not prepared for White's Kingside castling, however I played a similar game a year or two ago so there are no excuses for my poor performance!! I have used Fritz 13 to analyse this game (an abysmal loss)... Interestingly after my a6 move Fritz appears to favour White already! (Back to the drawing board I think ...)

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

Dragon: Exploiting White's early pawn pushes

In my next game a Dragon, I was determined to improve on a poor club game I had played with the Dragon where I hadn't castled and ended up losing. Over the last year I have learnt some interesting techniques when playing the Dragon as Black - two of which stand out in this game - one is exploiting tactics against early pushes for White on the King side. The second is sacrificing a pawn on b5 with a view to regaining it with attacks on the b2 pawn (the threat is seen below)! This was my first win in the tournament ...

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

Dragon: Not castling is my undoing

I had plenty of opportunities to castle in this Sicilian Dragon, but I procrastinated and decided it wasn't necessary. This eventually led to my downfall as will be revealed ... All my pieces got tied down to the defense of the King due to mate threats! I managed to turn the game around during the time scramble to a win - but blundered my rook in the ensuing Rook and Pawn ending to a simple tactic (not shown here because you are not obliged to record the moves in the last 5 minutes). There was only 40 seconds left on my clock and I couldn't think straight ... !

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

Dragon's Discovered Diagonal is Devastating!

Here is my latest club game. This game is quite instructive because it demonstrates how tactics can be formulated down the long diagonal (a1-h8) where the 'Dragon' bishop is operating. I have the option of uncovering a nasty discovered check if my opponent takes the offer of my rook on move 18. I have been practicing this novel opening for a few months online (play early h5, defer castling), but never attempted it in a club game - I got the idea from Charlie Storey's excellent book on 'The Sniper'.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sniper-Charlie-Storey/dp/1857446437/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317937457&sr=8-1

Evidently this style of opening has been used by Carlsen on a number of occasions.

Here is the game ...(My opponent was rated about BCF 140). My Knight on d3 turns out to be a killer!

PGN Viewer courtesy of http://chesstempo.com/

Dragon Basics

1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cxd4 (open sicilian)
4. Nxd4 Nc6
5. Nc3 Nf6
6. Bc4 g6 (White play Fischer's favoured placement of the Bishop)
7. Bg5 Bg7 (Black plays the Dragon)

8. Qd2 Bd7 (White would ideally like to swap off the Dragon Bishop on h6 or g7 because this piece becomes stronger generally speaking the longer it is left on and kept alive!)

9. f3 h5 (White's move is designed to stop Ng4, but Bishop has already moved to g5 therefore White maybe planning a g4 push - but that would leave f3 weakened? Black has decided to defer castling with h5 to avoid an exchange of Bishops)

10. 0-0-0 a6 (Now White has castled Q-side - Black must start operations on this side of the board)

11. a3 Rc8 (I guess that white plans to stop the Knight hopping to b4, but the White Queen already controls this square so that 'extra' move may cost White!)

12. Ba2 Ne5 (I think that White preempted the Knight's move to e5, which is a standard line in the Dragon)

13. h3 Nc4 (Again, a pawn move without a real purpose! The better move is to attack Black's kingside and make him think ... h3 is too slow! )

14. Bxc4 Rxc4

15. Rde1 Qb6

16. Nb3 a5 (Black wants to dislodge the Knight on b3)

17. Kb1 a4 (Black achieves his objective)

18. Nc1 Nxe4! (Sacrificing the Knight for the game! The diagonal is clear for the Dragon Bishop to support mate on b2 and Queen is en-prise - the ideal Sicilian Dragon position for Black ... and a win)

Note:  if 19. Nxe4 then Qxb2# or if  19.fxe4 then Bxc3 20.Nd3 Bxd2 looks fine

0 - 1

Note: the above game was played at an amateur level (5 mins each on the clock). Stronger lines for White and Black are obviously playable but the character of this game provides great instruction for the amateur player who wants to aquaint themselves with the plans in the Sicilian Dragon.