Slaying the Dragon

 Daniel Spohn  1/6/2005  17 comments 

As a beginning/intermediate player I have come up against the Dragon Sicilian in many encounters and decided that I needed to find a way to tackle it. At first I looked at the Yugoslav Attack, but realized that against a Dragoneer who knew not to let me open the h-file I was hard pressed to find a devastating attack. About 3 months ago I came across the Levenfish variation and have found that I am able to use it to effect against those same Dragoneers with whom the Yugoslav failed. The Levenfish turns the board into a minefield of tactical traps along with chances to sacrifice material for an overwhelming attack like you will see in my game. If someone is playing the Dragon and is unprepared to meet this attack he should think twice.


Slaying the Dragon As a beginning/intermediate player I have come up against the Dragon Sicilian in many encounters and decided that I needed to find a way to tackle it. At first I looked at the Yugoslav Attack, but realized that against a Dragoneer who knew not to let me open the h-file I was hard pressed to find a devastating attack. About 3 months ago I came across the Levenfish variation and have found that I am able to use it to effect against those same Dragoneers with whom the Yugoslav failed. The Levenfish turns the board into a minefield of tactical traps along with chances to sacrifice material for an overwhelming attack like you will see in my game. If someone is playing the Dragon and is unprepared to meet this attack he should think twice.

Sicilian Levenfish Variation

1.

')"> e4
')"> c5 2.
')"> Nf3
')"> d6
3.
')"> d4
')"> cxd4
4.
')"> Nxd4
')"> Nf6
5.
')"> Nc3
')"> g6
6.
')"> f4
This is the Levenfish variation of the Sicilian Dragon. After the exchange of pawns 7...
')">dxe5
8.
')">fxe5
and then 8...
')">Nd7
black can equalize, but white has the pawn sac with 9.
')">e6
(or 9.
')">e6
')"> fxe6
10.
')">Nxe6
recapturing the pawn right away) to make the game board a dangerous place for the Black king that will be trapped in the middle and black needs to play accurately to stop white from building an attack. Playing 6...
')">Nc6
or 6...
')">Nd7
to stop the e5 pawn push is usually played to keep the board in a more familiar position to the Dragon Sicilian.
6...
')"> Bg7
7.
')"> e5
')"> dxe5
8.
')"> fxe5
')"> Nd5?
This move causes black to lose his ability to castle. 8...
')">Nd7
is the only good move here, but black needs to be able to deal with 9.
')">e6
(8...
')">Ng4
drops the knight to 9.
')">Bb5+
8...
')">Nh5
9.
')">g4
)
9.
')"> Bb5+
')"> Kf8
Any other move loses badly. 9...
')">Bd7
or 9...
')">Nd7
drop the knight to 10.
')">Nxd5
while 9...
')">Nc6
loses to 10.
')">Nxc6
with an attack on the queen, the knight on d5 and indirectly on the rook on a8 which stops black from recapturing with 10...
')">bxc6
11.
')">Bxc6+
.
10.
')">Qf3
The book move that I found here is
')"> 0-0
but I was really attached to my pawn on e5 because of the pressure that it could possibly put on e6. (I was scared to sacrifice this pawn, because this game was played as part of my high school tournament and I didn’t want to lose for my team, this being said the sacrifices I made later in the game seem very ironic) I wanted to force black to make a move with his knight or to protect his knight while I used the tempo that I gained to show how I could flex my power on the f-file. After playing 10.
')">0-0
white needs to be able to deal with 10...
')">Bxe5
(ex. 10.
')">0-0
')"> Bxe5
11.
')">Nxd5
')"> Qxd5
12.
')">Bh6+
')"> Bg7?
13.
')">Bc4
with a nice attack. Black can not play 13...
')">Qxc4
or else 14.
')">Ne6+
with 15.
')">Qd8#
)
10...
')"> Nxc3
11.
')"> 0-0!?
Right here I feel like I lost the tempo if I had recaptured the knight. I felt this built my before mentioned flex on the f-file. This move also hangs my knight on d4 while giving my opponent a check to my king which I was hoping he would see and take. 11...
')"> Qxd4+!?
12.
')"> Be3
In conversation with my opponent after the game he said "I just figured that my check was faster than checkmate." After he captured my knight as I had hoped he would his only variation to maintain at least equality is 12...
')">Qxe3+
13.
')">Qxe3
')"> Nxb5
14.
')">Qb3
where black will have 3 minor pieces for a queen. I still feel like my development might help me retain a small advantage, but I was scared of this move during the game. His greed was his downfall by trying to hold on to his two knight advantage.
12...
')"> Qd5?
This move looks like it protects the mate threat while retaining a large material advantage until I played my next move. 13.
')"> Rad1!!
This move adds a second mate threat on d8 to the already potent one on f7. Blacks problem after this move is that his lack of development is now being thrown right in his face, while whites development is superb. Whites pieces are all developed to their maximum squares with rooks on the open files, bishops on open, useful diagonals, and his queen has a rook behind it aiming at the black king along with being on the f3-b7 semi-open diagonal which cuts through the black queen. Black on the other hand has an entirely undeveloped queenside and a confused kingside. His one nicely positioned piece, his queen, is so overworked defending mate threats that it cant even move. And even with his two knight advantage his clumsy position makes him utterly lost. 13...
')"> Qxd1??
In all desperation he loses instantly to 14.
')">Qxf7#
but his other moves weren’t really helpful at all either. I include a lot of annotation next on every playable line, but it is important to see why black must lose here. 13...
')">Be6
puts up much more of a resistance and is really his only move. 13...
')">Be6
14.
')">Bc4
Still hitting home the fact that his awkward but forced move of 9...
')">Kf8
gives his king no protection on the back rank. (Not 14.
')">Rxd5
where he will have a material advantage over me and a way to defend my mate threats) Black has three choices here: 14...
')">Nxd1
, 14...
')">Qxd1
, and
')"> Qa5
so I will show all fully annotated.

14...

')">Nxd1 15.
')">Bxd5
')"> Bxd5
(15...
')">Nxe3
16.
')">Bxe6
')"> Nf5
17.
')">Bxf5
(17.
')">Qxb7
')"> fxe6
with both threats of
')"> Qxa8
and
')"> g4
) 17...
')">Nc6
18.
')">Bxg6
')"> f6
19.
')">Bh5
looking at either 20.Qb3 or 20.Qd5 and mate at f7) 16.
')">Qxd5
')"> f6
17.
')">exf6
')"> Bxf6
(17...
')">exf6
18.
')">Bc5+
')"> Ke8
19.
')">Re1+
with mate; 17...
')">Nxe3
18.
')">fxe7+
')"> Kxe7
19.
')">Rf7+
')"> Ke8
20.
')">Qe6+
with mate) 18.
')">Bh6+
')"> Ke8
19.
')">Qxb7
with a big plus for white.

14...

')">Qxd1 15.
')">Rxd1
')"> Nxd1
16.
')">Bxe6
')"> f6
(16...
')">Ke8
17.
')">Bxf7+
')"> Kd8
(17...
')">Kf8
18.
')">Bxg6+
with mate; 17...
')">Kd7
18.
')">Qxb7+
')"> Kd8
19.
')">Qxa8
with a massive plus for white.) 18.
')">Qxb7
')"> Nxe3
19.
')">Qxa8
')">Kc8
(19...
')">Kd7
20.
')">Qxa7+
')"> Kc6
21.
')">Qxe3
) 20.
')">Be6+
')"> Kc7
21.
')">Qxa7+
')"> Kc6
22.
')">Qxe3
) 17.
')">Qxd1
')"> Nc6
18.
')">exf6
')"> exf6
(18...
')">Bxf6
19.
')">Bh6+
')"> Bg7
(19...
')">Ke8
20.
')">Qd7#
) 20.
')">Qf3+
')"> Ke8
21.
')">Bxg7
) 19.
')">Bc5+
')"> Ne7
20.
')">Qd6
')"> Re8
21.
')">Bd7
with white having an advantage.

Third and finally, the worst of the 3 options 14...

')">Qa5 15.
')">Bxe6
(Either
')"> f6
or
')"> f5
) 16.
')">Qxb7
and mate happens because of the weak back rank.

14.

')"> Qxf7# 1-0

The games like the one I played in my High School match are rare now because white gains such a great game that black plays 6...

')">Nc6 or 6...
')">Nd7

as in this Grandmaster game:

Averbahk vs. Lisitsin (1948)

1.

')"> e4
')"> c5
2.
')"> Nf3
')"> d6
3.
')"> d4
')"> cxd4
4.
')"> Nxd4
')"> Nf6
5.
')"> Nc3
')"> g6
6.
')"> f4
')"> Nc6
This is played to prevent an immediate e5 push, but is not foolproof and e5 is still usually played after exchanging a pair of Knights. 7.
')"> Nxc6
')"> bxc6
8.
')"> e5