"Off-book" in the c3 Sicilian

Earlier today, I posted a position from Israeli International Master Yochanan Afek's column on Chess Vibes.

Yochanan and I have met once over the board, when he surprised me with a move in the c3 Sicilian that, despite being played by very strong players such as Michael Adams and Miguel Illescas Cordoba, doesn't merit a mention in either Chandler's book "The c3 Sicilian" or in Gallagher's "Beating the Anti-Sicilians".

Our game was published by Malcolm Pein in the Daily Telegraph, but unfortunately I was on the receiving end of a hammering!

Afek,Y - Coathup,R [B22]
Isle of Man, 29.09.2001
1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cd 5. Nf3 e6 6. cd b6 7. Bc4



Chandler and Gallagher only consider 7 Nc3, 7 Bd3 and 7 a3. Afek's bishop move aims for quick development and an attack on the Black king. In many lines White gives up the bishop pair with Bxd5 in order to leave Black with a compromised pawn structure.

7 ... Bb7 8.0-0 d6 9.Qe2 Nd7 10.Bxd5 Bxd5 11.Nc3 Bxf3 12.Qxf3 d5 13.Qg3 a6 14.Bg5 Qb8 15.Rac1 g6 16.h4 h6 17.Bf4 Be7?? 18.Nxd5 exd5 19.e6 Qd8 20.exd7+ Qxd7 21.Rfe1 g5 22.Bd6 1-0

My choice of 8. ... d6 has been played in other games, but it looks preferable to play 8 ... Be7, castle quicker and challenge White in the complications that follow. I foolishly lost another miniature at the Isle of Man two years later to Finnish FM Riku Molander again after 8 ... d6.

Here's an example of how play can develop after 8 ... Be7:

Schweber,S (2450) - Miles,A (2560) [B22]
Konex Buenos Aires (2), 1979

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 e6 6.Nf3 b6 7.Bc4 Bb7 8.0-0 Be7 9.Bxd5 Bxd5 10.Nc3 Bc4 11.Re1 0-0 12.d5 exd5 13.Nxd5 Nc6 14.Re4 Ba6 15.Rg4 f5 16.Rg3 Kh8 17.b3 Nb4 18.Nxe7 Qxe7 19.Ba3 Bc8 20.e6 f4 21.Rh3 a5 22.Qb1 h6 23.Ne5 Rf6 24.exd7 Bxd7 25.Ng6+ Rxg6 26.Qxg6 Bxh3 27.gxh3 f3 28.Bb2 Re8 29.Rf1 Kg8 30.Kh1 Qf7 31.Qxb6 Nd3 32.Bd4 Nf4 33.Qd6 Re4 34.Qb8+ Kh7 35.Be3 Nxh3 36.Qg3 Qf5 0-1

Schweber seems a keen practitioner of the line (is this the same Schweber who famously drew a won ending against Fischer?). Two Argentinean GM's, Najdorf and Panno, have played 7 ... Na6 against him in this position, intending to play Nac7 maintaining the knight on d5.

Finally to prove that even Grandmasters can go down quickly with the Black pieces in this line, check out what happened to Joel Benjamin when he tried 7 ... Ba6 against Michael Adams.

Does anyone know if 7. Bc4 is covered in the later books by Rozentalis, Play the 2 c3 Sicilian, or Collins, Chess Explained: The C3 Sicilian?

Chess in the Attic 1980: Tony Miles and the Dragon

I was up in the attic (again!) looking for an old chess scoresheet when I came across a treasure I thought was lost: a 1980 Tony Miles column from the New Statesman, "The Maltese Dragon".

The column gave a detailed analysis of his game with the Sicilian Dragon against Ljubomir Ljubojevic at the Malta Olympiad. I've wanted to blog about this article for a while. It made a huge impression on me at the time and has always stuck in my mind; I was delighted to discover I still had it.

As a schoolboy, I was amazed by the complexity of the game and of the host of variations that Miles seemed to glibly trot-out (in pre-Fritz days). It was a bit like being in the first year and seeing a sixth former's maths book full of calculus: "I'd never be able to do that". Actually, thinking back to my maths A-level grade perhaps I never was able to do that.

Without the Internet, getting hold of the latest chess games in 1980 was a treat. Miles's column in the New Stateman (a 'socialist' weekly that my enlightened Independent School took in the Library) and Michael Stean's column in the Observer were favourites.

Here are the basic moves in pgn. The game is excellent in itself, but for full effect you need to read Miles notes and commentary. Let me know if you'd like a large format scan.

Ljubomir Ljubojevic - Tony Miles, Malta 1980
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 O-O 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.h4 Rc8 11.Bb3 h5 12.O-O-O Ne5 13.Bg5 Rc5 14.f4 Nc4 15.Qd3 b5 16.e5 Ng4 17.Ne4 Rc8 18.exd6 f6 19.Rhe1 exd6 20.Nxd6 Kh7 21.f5 Nxd6 22.fxg6 Kh8 23.Bf4 Ne5 24.Bxe5 fxe5 25.Nf3 e4 26.Qxd6 exf3 27.Re7 Bg4 28.Qe5 Qxd1+ 29.Kxd1 fxg2 30.Kd2 Rfd8+ 31.Bd5 Rxd5+ 0-1

You can also play through the game online.

Miles and Ljubojevic played some fantastic games, including another Dragon in 1986 to which Robert Byrne gave a tennis 'derived' commentary in the New York Times. They also hold the record for the longest number of moves a piece has been left en-prise. Unfortunately, Tony, England's first Grandmaster, died prematurely after some troubled years. Ljubomir, the "foremost player of risky moves" according to Jim Loy, now lives in Spain but keeps on attacking.

Chess in the attic, December 1983

I've been in the attic again, and this time it's December 1983; one of the most exciting months ever in the world of chess:

Earlier in the year, a 20 year old Garry Kasparov had romped through his first candidates match with Beliavsky, and seemed on an unstoppable march to the world crown.

In the semi-final matches, held that month in London, Kasparov had to face the great Viktor Korchnoi, whilst the other match remarkably brought together the hungarian Pinter Ribli and 62 year old Vassily Smyslov, some 26 years after he'd previously held the title.

With the matches in London, and Tony Miles beating World Champion Anatoly Karpov in the final of the much lamented BBC Mastergame, chess in the UK was buzzing.

To coincide with it all, a new chess newspaper was launched: Chess Express, promising news every fortnight and boasting an unbeatable array of feature columnists: Kasparov, Karpov, Nunn on endings, Speelman on the middlegame, and Keene on the openings. This was exciting and ambitious. Unfortunately too ambitious, and it folded after just 8 issues. On the bright side, it got me playing the Saemisch against the Nimzo-Indian and a few notable scalps bagged.

Kasparov versus Korchnoi was clearly the big event. They'd played once before, a monumental tussle in the Benoni at the Luzern Olympiad and, after Kasparov's victory there, it seemed that even Viktor Korchnoi would pose little trouble for Garry.

For a couple of years Kasparov had been trouncing anyone who dared to play the Queen's Indian against him; he played Petrosian's a3 system and you waited, usually not for very long, for him to tear apart your king. Only a mad-man, would dare to venture the defence, but that's just what Korchnoi did as Black in game 1:




So Korchnoi led, and for the next 4 games he held Kasparov at bay; had he held the difficult rook endgame in the 6th who knows what might have happened. After that though, Kasparov upped a gear and finished the match in style.