B76 Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack, 9.g4 and 9.O-O-O (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.Qd2 O-O 8.O-O-O Qa5 9.Be2 d6 10.f3 Nxd4 11.Bxd4 Be6 12.Kb1)

The game I am sharing today was played in a mini-tournament called "ichthus's mini-tournament v" and it was held at GameKnot. It was an invitation only mini-tournament and 9 players took part in it. This has been so far the only mini-tournament I have been able to win. My opponent, ichthus, who created the mini-tournament was on 5th place in the final standings. The first real mistake according to Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT is 12...Kh8, though 8...Qa5 may need to be looked at more closely, better moves were probably available for my opponent on move 8. Not sure what the idea behind the move 12...Kh8 was, it seems to be just wasting time.

I replied with 13.g4, and my plan was to try and open files on the kingside. Ichthus then tried to get some play on the c-file by moving the rook from a8 to c8. I should have then played 14.a3, according to the engine at depth 32. I played 14.b3 in the game and the advantage I had before vanished into thin air. A few moves later my opponent threw the game away when he moved the knight to g3 on move 17.

The blunder by my opponent allowed forced mate, starting with 18.Qh6+. After seeing my 18th move, ichthus resigned, which was probably the best thing to do in that position.

[Event "ichthus's mini-tournament v"] [Site "http://gameknot.com/chess.pl?"] [Date "2016.10.19"] [Round "?"] [White "Vierjoki, Timo"] [Black "ichthus"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B76"] [WhiteElo "1792"] [BlackElo "1868"] [Annotator "Stockfish 8 64 POPCNT (30s), TV"] [PlyCount "35"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 {Sicilian Defense: Old Sicilian. Normal} 5. Nc3 g6 (5... e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 (8... Be6 {Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Bird Variation}) 9. Bxf6 (9. Nd5 {Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation, Sveshnikov Variation, Chelyabinsk Variation} ) 9... gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. Bxb5 {Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Pelikan Variation. Sveshnikov Variation Peresypkin's Sacrifice}) 6. Be3 Bg7 7. Qd2 O-O 8. O-O-O Qa5 (8... Ng4 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bg5 Rb8 11. Bc4 Qb6 12. Bb3 Qxf2 13. Rdf1 Qxd2+ 14. Kxd2 Bh6 15. Bxh6 Nxh6 16. Rf4 d6 17. h3 Be6 18. g4 Bxb3 19. axb3 f6 20. Ra1 Rb7 21. Ra6 Rc8 22. Rf1 Nf7 23. Rfa1 {Dengler,P (2330)-Schindler,W (2295) Bayern 1994 0-1 (56)}) 9. Be2 $146 (9. Nb3 Qc7 10. Bf4 (10. Bh6 a5 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. f4 a4 13. Nd4 Nxd4 14. Qxd4 Qxf4+ 15. Kb1 d6 16. g3 Qg5 17. Nxa4 Qa5 18. Nc3 Be6 19. Bc4 Bxc4 20. Qxc4 Rfc8 21. Qb3 Rc7 22. Rdf1 Rf8 23. h3 Qa6 24. Nd5 Nxd5 {Verhasselt,K (1596)-Barbier,A (1660) Bruges 2012 1/2-1/2 (45)}) 10... d6 11. Bb5 a6 12. Nd5 Qd8 13. Nxf6+ exf6 14. Bxc6 bxc6 15. Bxd6 Re8 16. Ba3 Qxd2+ 17. Rxd2 Bh6 18. Rhd1 Bxd2+ 19. Rxd2 Be6 20. Nc5 Rad8 21. Re2 Bg4 22. f3 Be6 23. e5 Bxa2 {Foldes,M (1159)-Gil Ojeda,L Tenerife 2015 1-0 (52)}) (9. Bc4 Ne5 10. Bb3 a6 11. h4 b5 12. a3 b4 13. Nb1 Nxe4 14. Qe1 Qc7 15. Qxb4 e6 16. Nxe6 dxe6 17. Qxe4 Bb7 18. Qb4 Bxg2 19. Rhe1 Nf3 20. Bb6 Qb7 21. Re3 Bh6 22. Ba4 Rab8 23. Bc5 Qxb4 {Kanteraki,M (1171)-Mashchenko,T Al Ain 2013 0-1}) (9. f3 d6 $16) 9... d6 $14 10. f3 {Covers g4} Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Be6 {Black threatens to win material: Be6xa2} 12. Kb1 {B76 Sicilian Dragon: Yugoslav Attack, 9.g4 and 9.O-O-O} Kh8 (12... Rfc8 $5 {is interesting} 13. a3 Rab8 $11) 13. g4 $16 Rac8 14. b3 (14. a3 $5 $16) 14... a6 {Consolidates b5} 15. h4 h5 (15... Nd7 16. Nd5 Qxd2 17. Rxd2 Bxd5 18. exd5 $11) 16. gxh5 Nxh5 17. Kb2 {White king safety dropped} (17. Qh6+ Kg8 18. Bxg7 Nxg7 19. Nd5 Bxd5 20. Rxd5 $11 (20. exd5 $2 Rxc2 21. Kxc2 Qxa2+ 22. Kc3 b5 (22... Qxe2 $6 23. Qd2 Rc8+ 24. Kb2 Qxf3 25. Rhf1 $19) 23. Bxb5 axb5 $19)) 17... Ng3 $4 {ignoring the path to victory} ( 17... Kh7 $142 $15 {the only rescuing move}) 18. Qh6+ (18. Qh6+ Kg8 19. Qxg7#) 1-0