Paul Powell

The Fighting Dragon:How to Defeat the Yugoslav Attack

Boston

ContentsPreface 9

Book 1: Ideas and Patterns

Introduction 14

Chapter 1: 9.Bc4 Nd7 19Game 1, MacDonald – Zube 19Game 2, Blanco Sánchez – Gavin Roche 21Game 3, Marinova – Velcheva 23Game 4, Santo-Roman – Sosonko 25Game 5, Estrin – Voronkov 27Game 6, Bosboom – Riemersma 30

Interlude: White Doesn’t Play 9.Bc4; Transpositions 33

Chapter 2: 9.0-0-0 Nxd4 37Game 7, Ostermeyer – Sosonko 37Game 8, Pustelny-Conrad – Sehner 40Game 9, Ziska – Jakobsen 41Game 10, Mazi – Mencinger 44Game 11, Fierro Baquero – Hansen, S.B. 46Game 12, Ruiz González – Molander 48

Chapter 3: 9.g4 Nxd4 50Game 13, Pichler – Hofstetter 50Game 14, Sebastianelli – Hugony 52Game 15, Shimanov – Kabanov 54Game 16, Piechota – Ciejka 55

Chapter 4: 9.g4 Bxg4 59Game 17, Vaisman – Gufeld 59Game 18, Psakhis – Tolnai 61Game 19, Gurevich, I. – Pelikian 63Game 20, Martín del Campo – Verduga Zavala 65Game 21, Burghardt – Pálkövi 67

Chapter 5: 9.Bc4 Nxd4 71Game 22, Vertesi – Teufel 71Game 23, Hou Yifan – Cmilyte 73Game 24, Ortiz Suárez – Gagare 75Game 25, Hartman – Bailey 77

Chapter 6: 9.0-0-0 d5 80Game 26, Voitsikh – Rusinkevich 80Game 27, Byvshev – Beilin 82Game 28, Zhilin – Gufeld 85Game 29, Sorri – Arnaudov 86Game 30, Ljubojević – Svensson 90Game 31, Polgár, I. – Dely 92Game 32, Hadjittofis – Whiteley 94

Chapter 7: 9...a5 98Game 33, Hloušek – Kølbæk 98Game 34, Frilling – Watson, J. 101Game 35, Efimov, I. – Zilberstein 103Game 36, Pletánek – Jirovský, M. 106Game 37, Smetana – Jirovský, P. 108

Chapter 8: 9...Qa5 111Game 38, Äijälä – Ljubojević 111Game 39, Seck – Velásquez, M. 113Game 40, Ermakov – Hamburg 115Game 41, Mnatsakanian – Veresov 117

Chapter 9: 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rb8 120Game 42, Bitoon – So, Wesley 120Game 43, Könnyű – Sedlak 123Game 44, Chen Fan – Bu Xiangzhi 125Game 45, Hakki – Kojima 127Game 46, Domínguez, L. – Carlsen 130

Chapter 10: Odds and Ends 1361) 8.f3 Qb6 136Game 47, Hermansson – Yakovich 136Game 48, Zierk – Lee, Michael 139

2) 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Qb8 142Game 49, Liberzon – Parma 142Game 50, Balaskas – Kaloskambis 144

3) 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.0-0-0 Qc7 146Game 51, Moldovan – Vesselovsky 146Game 52, Guzikov – Zaitsev 148

Book 2: Quizzes

Introduction 153

The Quizzes 154Quiz 1: Voitsikh – Rusinkevich 154Quiz 2: Pustelny-Conrad – Sehner 154Quiz 3: Marinova – Velcheva 155Quiz 4: Efimov, I. – Zilberstein 155Quiz 5: Byvshev – Beilin 156Quiz 6: Seck – Velásquez, Manuel 156Quiz 7: Könnyű – Sedlak 157Quiz 8: Hlousěk – Kølbæk 157Quiz 9: Gerbec – Colle 158Quiz 10: Gimmelman – Gorodezky 158Quiz 11: Sorri – Arnaudov 159Quiz 12: Mnatsakanian – Veresov 159Quiz 13: Ljubojević – Svensson 160Quiz 14: Chicote Franco – Martín González 160Quiz 15: Sánchez Piquero – González Valdés 161Quiz 16: Äijälä – Ljubojević 161Quiz 17: Shimanov – Kabanov 162Quiz 18: Petr – Chuprov 162Quiz 19: Noskov – Losev 163Quiz 20: Rajković – Arnaudov 163Quiz 21: Frilling – Watson, J. 164Quiz 22: Outerelo Ucha – Hoffman 164Quiz 23: Baljon – da Silva 165Quiz 24: Ermakov – Hamburg 165Quiz 25: Hadjittofis – Whiteley 166

Quiz 26: Bellón López – Adorján 166Quiz 27: Babovich – Szyszko-Bohusz 167Quiz 28: Rueetschi – Ernst, T. 167Quiz 29: Vertesi – Teufel 168Quiz 30: Thorisson – Kudrin 168Quiz 31: Walter – Kettner 169Quiz 32: Refskalevsky – Mascarenhas 169Quiz 33: Meyer – Jess 170Quiz 34: Ziska – Jakobsen 170Quiz 35: MacDonald, J. – Zube 171Quiz 36: Unkelbach – Christoffel 171

Solutions to the Quizzes 172

Closing Thoughts 183

19

Chapter 1

9.Bc4 Nd7Game 1

MacDonald, Jonathan – Zube, M. [B77] Nuremberg 1989

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 0-0 9.Bc4 Nd7

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xiiiiiiiiyBlack retreats his knight to d7. What ideas do you see? Take a

minute before reading further, and think about Black’s plans and options. One benefit to ...Nd7 is that the g7-bishop and the c6-knight apply combined pressure on the d4 square. That pressure on d4 slows White down from playing an early Bh6, unless he is willing to exchange at c6 first, lest the d4-knight be left hanging. If White exchanges on c6, it opens the b-file for us and our rook goes to b8, putting pressure on White’s queenside. Another idea is that the knight at d7 can travel to e5, attacking c4, just like the c6-knight can go to e5 and c4. This tandem-knights approach means that if we get to c4 and White chops the knight off with his light-squared bishop, we still have another knight in the pipeline waiting to con-

20

Chapter 1

trol c4. Also note that the d7-knight can travel to b6, pressuring c4 from there, too. This “tandem knights” idea will give White a lot to worry about unless he is familiar with these positions.

10.0-0-0 Nb6 11.Bb3 Na5

White trots out natural developing Yugoslav moves, which plays into Black’s plan of maneuvering the knights to harass the light- and dark-squared bishops.

12.Bh6

If White is trying to avoid the exchange of the dark-squared bish-op that was threatened by ...Nbc4, this is not the way to go about it.

12...Nbc4 13.Qg5 e5 14.Ndb5 Bf6

If White saw this punch coming, he missed the next one.

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Black traps the queen and knocks White out with a one-two to the ribs.

16.Bxf8 Bxg3 17.Bxd6 Bf4+ 18.Kb1 Nd2+ 19.Ka1 a6 20.Bc7 Naxb3+ 21.cxb3 Nxb3+ 22.axb3 axb5+ 0-1

21

9.Bc4 Nd7

Now let’s look at another game with ...Nf6-d7 where White tries a different method of handling this odd-looking knight move.

Game 2

Blanco Sánchez, José Fernando – Gavin Roche, Enrique [B77] Hermano Adolfo Open, Zaragoza (Spain) 1991

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3Bg7 7.Bc4 0-0 8.f3 Nc6 9.Qd2 Nd7 10.0-0-0 Nb6 11.Bb3 Na5

A point worth noting is that the move order is not exactly the same in this game as the previous one. In the previous game, White played f2-f3 on move seven, while here he plays 7.Bc4. As a general rule, unless you know exactly how to punish a deviation in the move order (assuming such a punishment exists), do not try to figure it out over the board. You are more likely to find yourself at the bottom of a rabbit hole with no way out. Had Black tried to punish White for not playing 7.f3 with 7...Ng4, he would have found that, after 8.Bb5+, he must play 8...Kf8 with the worse position, as interposingat d7 drops the g4-knight and 8...Nc6 drops an exchange. However,not all transpositions are harmless for White. For example, shouldhe castle before Bc4, he will provide Black an opportunity to breakin the center (covered later), and that opportunity will most likelyarise on move 9.

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22

Chapter 1

12.Qe2

In the previous game, White launched the bishop into h6 to at-tack, whereas here White tries to contain the position by anchoring off against the c4 square. Bravo for playing with restraint.

12...Nxb3+ 13.axb3 Bd7 14.h4 a5

Now, in typical Dragon fashion, both sides race to deliver mate. At this point, neither side has a clear advantage, but I think we can safely assume that Black has had more experience in these positions, as ...Nd7 is his main line.

15.h5 a4 16.bxa4 Nxa4

It seems logical for White to capture the pawn with 16.bxa4. However, there is something to be said for ignoring the queenside and playing all out on the kingside. With this series of exchanges, White is creating additional targets for Black.

17.hxg6 hxg6 18.g4 Nxc3 19.bxc3 Qa5

Now the race is really on. Black’s threat is ...Qxc3 and mate with the rook at a1. White can continue the counterattack, but only with extraordinary care.

20.Qh2 f6

A forced move. Tricks like 20...Rfc8 lead to disaster after 21.Qh7+ Kf8 22.Bh6 Qa1+ 23.Kd2 Qxc3+ 24.Ke2 Bb5+ 25.Nxb5 Qc4+ 26.Kf2 Ke8 27.Nxd6+ exd6 28.Qxg7, and Black’s attack fizzles.

21.Qh7+ Kf7 22.Bh6

Chess is a hard game. The very unnatural 22.Rh6! offers better chances than the natural-looking 22.Bh6.

22...Rg8 23.Nf5

23

9.Bc4 Nd7

White fails at the delicate task of knowing when to defend and when to attack. On 23.Ne2 instead, it’s still a game.

23...Qxc3

Now White realizes that mate can’t be stopped and offers a spite check before resigning.

24.Qxg8+ Kxg8 0-1

Let’s examine one more game with ...Nd7 and see if White can find another way to lose! A little side note if you want to impress your friends: you can tell them you are studying the Sicilian Defense Dragon Variation, Yugoslav Attack Sosonko Variation. The move ...Nd7 constitutes the Sosonko, not that you need to know that in order to play good moves.

Game 3

Marinova, Elka (2075) – Velcheva, Maria (2160) [B77] Bulgarian Women’s Team Chp, Bankia 1992

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nge2 g6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 d6 8.f3 0-0 9.Qd2 Nd7 10.Nxc6

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