Counterplay / Readers Respond
SOLTIS ON THE SICILIAN
I always enjoy GM Andy Soltis’ “Chess to Enjoy” as he seems to have a knack for finding interesting topics to discuss. This month’s column (“Going out with a Whim- per,” August, 2012) was very interesting, but his comments about the Sicilian—especially the Najdorf and Richter-Rauzer—were very alarming. Is the Sicilian becoming so “ana- lyzed” that all that was left were drawn games? Certainly this was quite a psycho- logical blow to see in print, especially about one of my favorite systems. Fortunately, I think I’ve found an “unan- alyzed” reprieve for the line he gave in the Richter-Rauzer:
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 Qb6 7. Be3 Qxb2 8. Ndb5 Qb4 9. Bd2 Qc5
White’s attack and as far as I can tell, Black never recovers. It appears 7. … Qxb2 is too dangerous for Black. Although he mentions the threat of Rb1, this option gets lost by move 10. The line continues:
10. … Ng4 11. Qe2 Kd8 12. f3 a6 13. Na4 Qe5 14. Nbc3 Nf6 15. f4 Qe6 16. Nb6 Rb8 17. Qd3 Nd7 18. Be3 Qg4 19. Nxc8 Kxc8 20. Qc4 Kd8 21. Rxb7! Rxb7 22. Qxc6 Rc7 23. Bb6 Nxb6 24. Qxb6 Qd7 25. Bxa6 Qc6 26. Qb8+ Rc8 27. Qxc8+ Qxc8 28. Bxc8 Kxc8
TWITTER’S CHESS PEEPS:
TOP U.S. PLAYERS IN THE TWITTERSPHERE
GM HIKARU NAKAMURA: “Form is temporary, class is permanent.”
“Playing chess every day for 6-7 hours is extremely tiring.”
“Chess is such a ridiculously silly game sometimes ...”
“Winning is fun, losing is fun. Playing interesting games of chess with both colors is what makes it all worthwhile.”
“I love that there is one team tournament where you represent your country. It is really brutal that one mistake ends all hopes.”
I looked at many sub-variations and could find no good escape for Black. It looks like this line isn’t “over analyzed” or a draw after all! White should not be “scared”—play on! Phew! That was a close one.
Mike Babigian via e-mail
My move is: 10. Rb1! I searched to see if this move has been
played and found nothing, but the database I checked ends in 2009. This move keeps up
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6 November 2012 | Chess Life
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