‘le tet Ty P ' at 9 maa ien 5 E 3 ~~ al 'qu) Taccwy ASA els) Gloucester Publishers plc werw everymanchess.comFirst published in 2009 by Gloucester Publishers ple (formerly Everyman Publishers plo), Northburgh House, 10 Northburgh Street, London ECIV OAT Copyright © 2009 Yury Lapshun and Nick Conticello ‘The right of Yury Lapshun and Nick Conticello to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Pat- ents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a re- trieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 978 1 85744 595 4 Distributed in North America by The Globe Pequot Press, P.O Box 480, 246 Goose Lane, Guilford, CT 06437-0480. All other sales enquiries should be directed to Everyman Chess, Northburgh House, 10 Northburgh Street, London EC1V OAT tel: 020 7253 7887 fax: 020 7490 3708 email: info@everymanchess.com; website: www.everymanchess.com Everyman is the registered trade mark of Random House Inc. and is used in this work under licence from Random House Inc. EVERYMAN CHESS SERIES Chief advisor: Byron Jacobs Commissioning cditor: John Emms Assistant editor: Richard Palliser ‘Typeset and edited by First Rank Publishing, Brighton. Cover design by Horatio Monteverde. Printed and bound in the US by Versa Press.Contents NOW wn Bibliography Introduction The Knight Sacrifice on d5 ‘The Knight Sacrifice on e6 The Bishop Sacrifice on e6 The Knight Sacrifice on £5 The Knight Sacrifice on b5 The Bishop Sacrifice on b5 Miscellaneous Sacrifices index of Variations Index of Games 120 143 163 179 187Bibliography Beating the Sicitian 3 - John Nunn & Joe Gallagher (Batsford 1995) Black is OK! — Andras Adorjan (Batsford 1989) Black is OK Forever! - Andras Adorjan (Batsford 2005) Chess Olympiad Nice 1974 —- Raymond Keene & David Levy (Batsford 1975) Die Sizilianische Verteidigung - Rolf Schwarz (Schach-Archiv 1966) Easy Guide to the Classical Sicilian —Jouni Yrjola (Everyman Chess 2000) Easy Guide to the Najdorf- Tony Kosten (Everyman Chess 1999) How to Open a Chess Game —(ed.) Larry Evans (R.H.M. 1974) Interzonal Chess Tournament - Palnta 1970 — Bob Wade & Les Blackstock (The Chess Player 1970} Leonid Stein: Master of Risk and Strategy - Eduard Gufeld & Efim Lazarev (Thinkers Press 2001) Modern Chess Brilliancies —Larry Evans (Simon and Schuster 1970) Modern Chess Miniatures ~ Neil McDonald (Cadogan 1995) My 60 Memorable Games - Robert Fischer (Simon and Schuster 1969) Plan Like a Grandmaster — Alexei Suetin (Batsford 1988) Play Poker, Quit Work, and Sleep Till Noon! — John Fox (self published 1975) Sacrifices in the Sicilian - David Levy (Batsford 1974) Sait Antonio 1972 - Bent Larsen & David Levy (R-H.M. 1973) Sicilian Defense Variation —John Lutes (Chess Enterprises 1993) Skandinavisch bis Sizilianisch — Isaac Boleslavsky (Sportverlag Berlin 1975) Taming the Sicitian — Nigel Davies (Everyman Chess 2001) The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal - Mikhail Tal (R.H.M. 1976) The Najdorf for the Tournament Player - John Nunn (Batsford 1988) The Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defence — Efim Geller, Svetozar Gligoric, LuboshKavalek & Boris Spassky (R.H.M. 1976) The Sveshnikov Sicilian ~ Michal Krasenkov (Cadogan 1996) Winning with the Najdorf - Daniel King (Batsford 1993) Databases, Periodicals and Websites Chess Life and Review, Mega Database 2007, New in Chess Magazine, Players’ Chess News, Sakouski Informator, The Chess Player, & The Week in Chess.Introduction Stop me if you've heard this before... One evening at the Marshall Chess Club in early 2008 while Yury Lapshun and I, Nick Conticello, were awaiting publication of our first book, Play 1 b4!, Yury came up to me and said: ‘T have an idea for another book. It’s all about piece sacrifices for White in the Open Sicilian. Want to write it with me?’ I gave the matter due deliberation, but this time T replied: ‘You know, there's a pretty good old Batsford book called Sacrifices in the Sicilian by David Levy that had a similar idea. | don't want to do a rehash of that book.’ I de- scribed Levy's book for Yury and he assuted me that what we would do would be quite different. So agreed...again. Later, after the contracts were signed and the work well under way, someone told me about a book by GM Jacob Aagaard on combinations, and that every one was a Sicilian! I got hold of a copy of that book, and was re- lieved to discover that what we were doing was also far removed from Aa- gaard’s approach. I'm sure, after read- ing this introductory essay or perusing this book, our readers will agree. Our aim First, let me clear up any possible mi: conceptions right at the start. This is not a repertoire book or a theoretical opening guide, although readers seek- ing guidance in those areas may well find useful items herein. It is certainly not an endgame book either, although a few thematic endings will be ana- lysed. Moreover it is not intended to be encyclopaedic, nor is it a quiz or puzzle book. So what is it then? This book is a collection of well- analysed games featuring thematic, active piece sacrifices by White in the Open Sicilian, Yury and I are firm be- lievers in annotating complete games as thoroughly as possible. We under-Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian stand that most of our readers will be ambitious amateurs, who will not be aware of certain ideas and technical matters that professionals take for granted. Therefore we have spelled things out to an extent that might an- noy strong players. We are sorry about that, but we ask those folks to remem- ber that they are not our primary audi- ence. (Of course, we believe strong players will find some useful informa- tion here, and we hope that coaches too will find this book helpful.) We have analysed cach game inde- pendently, aided by engines such as Fritz and Rybka. Of course, when our lines are identical with published commentary, we have credited the published sources as much as possible. Any lapses in this regard are chiefly my responsibility and are inadvertent. I apologize in advance for any such omissions. Active Piece Sacrifices What exactly do I mean by ‘active piece sacrifices’? 1 hope the foliowing two examples will make this term clear, Game 1 W.Browne-J.Kaplan San Antonio 1972 Led c5 2 D3 dé 3 da cxd4 4 Dxd4 Ac6 53 e6 Black’s move order is designed to avoid the Keres Attack against the Scheveningen. 6 g3 a6 7 Ag2 2d7 80-0 ck 9 Hes AE 10 A\xc6 &xc6 14 Ads! Here is a perfect illustration of an active sacrifice. It need not be accepted at once, but sooner or later this pesky knight must be dealt with, as its pres- ence is intolerable. As Browne points out in his notes, the attempt to keep developing calmly with 11...2e7 allows 12 &xe7 Wxe7 13 b3 threatening 14 @a3 with a nice advantage. 11...2xd5 12 exd5 e5 13 fq We7 14 We2! Ad7 The attack keeps rolling after 14..Wxe2 15 d2! Wxb2 16 Eabi (Browne). 15 &h3 f6 16 2e3 g6 17 2e6 Qg7 18 daca Threatening to roll the queenside pawns. 18...We4 19 Wga Kc7 20 b3! We3? After 20...Wb5 Browne analyses a long variation: 21 &f7+! Sd8 22 Weé ALS 23 Wxd6! Bxi7 24 c4 Wad 25 b4! (the point of this combination is that Black’s queen cannot stem the pawn advance with a dark-square blockade) 25...2/8 &introduction 26 Web Ac5 27 bxc5 &xc5 28 do Hed7 29 fxe5 Rxe3+ 30 Hxe3 We5 31 exf6, which he considers to be winning. 21 Qxd7+ Hxd7 22 We6+ eds 22...Re7 simply hangs the d-pawn. 23 Ab6+ &c8 24 Keg 1-0 On the other hand, consider this bi- zarre idea in a standard Najdorf: 1e4 c5 2 Df3 d6 3 da cxd4 4 Axd4 DE 5 Ac3 a6 6 Ogs 6 7 4 Qe7 8 WES We7 9. 0-0-0 bd7 10 2d3 h6 11 hal? a7 STS Fate Piwabia Ys jh Y ‘G “SER YL ye EN VD, a | ae a An idea first played by Velimirovic, I believe. I would categorize this as a passive sacrifice, as Black need not take the bishop, but can improve his posi- tion with, say, 11.25! and then de- cide what to do. (Please also examine Minic-Fischer in the introduction to Chapter 4 for a similar example.) Which Sacrifices are Covered? The sacrifices we will examine in sepa- rate chapters are those involving d5, Dxeb, Lxe6, DH, Ax)b5, and &O)b5. The seventh chapter will consider @d5, Exf6 and other miscellaneous sacrifices, including queen ones. We did not, how- ever, think it necessary to include any examples of a Exh5 sacrifice, as this idea is now common in all sorts of openings, not just the Sicilian. (If you really want fo see some examples of Hxh5, just curl up with a copy of Fischer's My 60 Memorable Games and study his victories over Larsen and Gligoric.) Why devote an entire book to piece sacrifices in the Open Sicilian, you may ask. The reason is quite simple: without a full understanding of these ideas you cannot win with White in this opening! ‘The Open Sicilian is virtually unique among responses to 1 e4 in that Black acquires with no effort an extra centre pawn and a half-open file for his rooks. Therefore Black has a ready-made counterattack available on the queen- side and/or in the centre. On the other hand, White has more space, a lead in development and the initiative. Ac- cording to the teachings of Steinitz, White must use these advantages to attack or suffer unpleasant conse- quences. A complicating factor is that Black need not always castle quickly, thanks to his extra central pawn. Wit- ness the following game, cited by Daniel King in his book Winning with the Najdorf. No comments are needed -- just watch the master at work: Game 2 W.Ader-R.Fischer Santiago 1959 1e4 c5 2 Afs dé 3 da cxdg 4 Axda AESeven Ways to Smash the Sicilian 5 Dez a6 6 &gs e6 7 f4 Le7 8 WES Wic7 9 0-0-0 Abd? 10 £5?! e5! 11 Ab3?! bs 12 a3 2b7 13 h4 McB! 14 2d3 1 aie gta Lee - Ro 24...5! 15 bt Abé 16 Adz Aga 17 Bixe7 Wxe7 18 Afi Bxc3! 19 bxc3 d5 20 We2 20...0-0! 21 &xb5 axb5 22 Wxb5 Acq 23 Wha Wxbq 24 cxb4 Df2 25 Dgs &\xa3+ 26 &b2 Ac4+ 27 &b3 Dez 28 Hd2 Dxh1 29 Uxh1 dxe4 30 Ags 2d5+ 31 wag Ha8+ 32 seb5 AbB+ 33 wes He8+ 34 Gd Dcat 35 Ced7 Axd2 36 xcB cq 0-1 See what I mean? Ader did nothing outrageously bad, but he got crushed. Fischer's structure let him keep central lines closed while he prepared his counterattack. Notably too his 14...5! stonewalled White's kingside play and once everything was rolling, he could safely castle on move 20 so his last rook could join the party. A model win for Black against uninspired White play. Conirast that with what could have happened to Black in the following extract from a recent game at the Mar- shall Chess Club between two masters. (Il not give their names for reasons which will soon become obvious.) Leds 2 Af3 d6 3 d4 cxdd 4 Aixd4 Ate 5 3 a6 6 O85 e6 7 £4 Ge7 8 WS We7 9 0-0-0 Dbd7 10.243 h6 11 Wh3 Ags? Practice has established 11...2\b6! as the best move. White played 12 &xf6? Axf6 13 £5 5 and suffered a similar fate to Mr. Ader. However, after working through this book a reader unfamiliar with this line might spot 12 e5! dxe5 13 Axes! with a strong attack, which I saw while kibitz- ing and later found in John Nunn‘s 1988 The Najdorf for the Tournament Player. 10It's hard to play the Open Sicilian, and many players choose quieter ap- proaches such as 2 c3 or 2 c3, but Yury and I feel that the Open is the way to go, and we have written this book to encourage people to take the plunge. ANote on Sources When a published source is cited in this text we will generally do so by the name of the writer and not the work. More specifically, ‘Nunn’ will refer to the book cited above unless otherwise stated, and ‘Levy’ will refer to Sacrifices in the Sicilian unless otherwise noted. We wish to single out a book here which we found particularly useful: The Najdorf Variation by Geller, Gli- goric, Kavalek and Spassky is the beau ideal of an opening book. It offers the- ory and game analysis by four top grandmasters, and a number of lines from this work are still quoted in open- ing books over thirty years later, often, sad to relate, without attribution. Here when one of those four names is cited in relation to the Najdorf, it is from this work. (The only exception is Gligoric- Bobotsov in Chapter 7.) Division of Labour Yury Lapshun selected all the games introduction and is chiefly responsible for the analy- sis in Chapters 1-6. I wrote all the chap- ter introductions and am primarily re- sponsible for the selection of games and commentary in Chapter 7. Acknowledgements The authors wish to express gratitude to the following for their invaluable aid in the production of this book: FM Jon Jacobs, for the ioan of a copy of David Levy's Sacrifices in the Sicilian. The Marshall Chess Club, for the use of its library and facilities The Chess Forum and the Newton. eCafe in New York City, from which the present writer has produced most. of his scribbling. Finally, the good people at Every- man Chess, especially our editor for both of our books, grandmaster John Emms. On behalf of Yury and myself, we wish the reader gains as much pleasure and profit from reading this work as the authors have experienced in writ- ing it. Nick Conticello, New York March 2009 11Chapter One The Knight Sacrifice on d5 This opening chapter is concerned with the move 4\c3-d5, and it will be the longest chapter in the book. The reason is simply that many Open Sicilians, even sometimes the Dragon nowadays, feature a black pawn on e6. Despite this fact, White is often able to start a violent attack on the enemy king by the dramatic centralization of his queen’s knight. We will not concern ourselves here with positions in which White regains at once this material after the sacrifice. We will deal mostly with examples in which @d5 is a real, positional sacri- fice, as Rudolf Speelman put it. White's ideas vary upon the placement of the enemy king, so we must divide the ma- terial accordingly. 1, The Uncastled King When Black's king is in the centre, the purpose of the 4d5 sacrifice is to keep it there. Note that the attack generally fails if the monarch can flee to one flank or the other. The sacrifice on d5 sets off a chain of events: White recaptures with a pawn, opening the e-file for the heavy pieces; the pawn on d5 creates a possi- ble anchor for a knight on d4 to occupy c6; and the absence of a pawn from e6 clears the f5-square for that same knight, from which the squares e7 and g7 can be pressed. Moreover, when White has 2 bishop on g5, he can cap- ture a knight on £6, perhaps rupturing the black pawns, but always making h5 a fore-post for the white queen. (see following diagram) The sacrifice will work if all or al- most all of the effects listed above oc- cur, and will fail if two or more are ab- sent, Crucially all the white forces must gain in scope. 43Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian 2. The Castled King Here we will be dealing almost exclu- sively with Black’s king castied short. A successful @d5 sacrifice with the king already on the queenside is very rare, and when it does work White re- coups his investment almost at once. Usually White will have driven away Black's knight by the advance g4- g5.as a preliminary, and often the white queen will already stand on h5 aiming at h?, So when White plays d5 in this situation he opens the bl-h7 diagonal for his king's bishop and clears the f5- square for his knight on d4. Occasionally White will have a bishop on d4 instead. Now the sacrifice deflects the enemy e-pawn from the square e5, from where it would inhibit both White clerics. A few times White will have his king’s bishop on b3 or c4; in these cases White might well recap- ture on d5 with that bishop, often with gain of time, and dominate the diago- nal leading to £7, which in turn will make possible a timely advance g5-g6. In virtually ali successful 4d5 at- tacks on a castled king, White must have spent some time earlier massing his forces on the kingside. Once the sacrifice is made, the momentum must be kept driving forward. Any hesita- tion will most likely be fatal. (The one notable exception to this is the famous game Tal-Larsen, 10th matchgame, Bled 1965, That said, after much re- search and analysis we think that Black was winning, but I would not be sur- prised to see later analysis refuting ours.) Herewith are examples of both pos- sible king positions. Game 3 N.Conticello-M.Paolozzi New York City 1978 Leg c5 2 AF3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 x4 DE 5 Ac3 a6 6 Legs e6 7 4 &e7 8 WZ We7 9 0-0-0 Abd7 10 243 The most popular here, then and now. Note that 10 &c2 will be dis- cussed in Chapter Seven. 10,..b5 11 Mhea &b7 12 Wg3 14The trappy 12 @d5!? will be dis- cussed in the games Zaitsev-Anetbaev and Fluvia Poyatos-Gual Pascual later in this chapter. 12...b4 Most likely the best. 12...0-0-0 13 &xb5! was D.Velimirovic-R.Al Kazzaz, Nice Olympiad 1974, which will be annotated in the introduction to Chap- ter Six. 13 Dd5, Nothing else merits any serious consideration. 13...exd5 14 e517 This is the ‘other’ method of attack, as opposed to the traditional approach of 14 exdS. The text was fashionable in those days, since it was analysed by Geller in the R.H.M. Najdorf book which had just come out. The attraction for me was that White could appar- ently keep a small plus with no great risk. 14...dxe5 15 f xe5 Dhs 16 Wha? Both players were _ following Geller’s analysis. It is known today that 16 e6! is necessary. Nunn’s main line continues 16..Axg3 17 exf7+ &xt7 18 The Knight Sacrifice on d5 Fxe7+ Gg8 19 hxg3 Wxg3 20 Aes WeS 21 REL ALS 22 BFS Oc8 23 Bes Ht7 24 Re7+ deg8 25 Ke8 with a draw by repe- tition. 16...Lxg5+ 17 Wxgs g6 18 e6 W4e? Winning is the simple 18...df6t, as later pointed out by Nunn. Both play- ers are still in lockstep with Geller, and are playing at lightning speed to boot! 19 Wxf4 Dxfa 20 exd7+ @xd7 21 f1 21...2)xd3+ Only now did the future Brazilian grandmaster pause for reflection for an entire hour (!) before acquiescing to march with Geller towards a draw with a very lucky booked-up fish, namely yours truly. 22 Exd3 f5 23 ga! Maf8 24 Hdf3 Ahgs 25 gxf5 exfs 26 Lh3 Bez Hereabouts I took a 45-minute cat- nap under the guise of trying to find a win. I have no idea what I could have been thinking about thirty years later. 27 Sxfs Axfs 28 Axts Sf7 29 Ada Sd6 30 Wd2 a5 Y2-Y2 Nowadays 1 would keep playing, but I’m sure he would also. 1 decided not to push my luck. 15Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian Game 4 A.Ostapenko-Yartsev correspondence 1969 1e4 5 2 DF3 Acé 3 dg exd4 4 Axdg 6 5 Ac3 dé 6 Ocq e6 7 Lez Ve7 B We2 0-0 9 2b3 Wc7 10 0-0-0 a6 44 Hhg1 Necessary preparation since 11 g4 @®xd4! forces the clumsy 12 Bxd4, so that 12...e5 can be met by 13 Iic4. 11...b5 12 g4 bg Nowadays 12..a5 is often pre- ferred. 13 Dxc6 Web Instead 13...bxc3 14 Dxe7+ Wxe7 15 dd &b7 16 13 is given as good for White by Nunn in ECO. 14205! White has not had time to play g4- g5, so he sacrifices the knight first. Even though he never gets to capture the rook on a8, the possibility of doing so makes this attack work. 14...exd§ 15 g5 dxeq? As far as I know, the losing move. A much tougher defence is 15..@xe4! 16 Sxd5 Wad 17 Bxe4 (17 &xa8 Acs! 18 bxc3 Seb! gives Black good counter- play) 17..%e6 18 Qd4 g6, holding White to a small edge. 16 gxf6 &xf6 17 Rxd5 Wa4 18 Whs! R06 18...@h8 is met in the same way. iG 19 Rxg7+ll 2xg7 And not 19...09xg7? 20 Whé+. 20 Tigi Afes a0, Tee ea mies te 480 0 Yi GY Perhaps hoping to answer 21 &xe4 with 21..sef8! as suggested by Bole- slavsky. 21 Sixg7+! dxg7 22 Whes Legs 23 Axeq b3 16Ostapenko in Informator 8 prefers 23...Bc5i, but then he continues 24 &d4 Be5 25 Sxh7+ PhS 26 215+ des 27 QxeS dxeS 238 Wh7+ WB 29 Lxeb feb 30 Wh8+, picking off the a8-rook at last. 24 Sxh7+ Gh8 25 Rfs+ wes 26 Wh7+ Sf8 27 Lh6+ wes 28 Wg8+ we7 29 g5+ Sd7 30 Wxt7+ ec8 31 2xe6 31...2b6 Boleslavsky thought that 31...Wed might hold, but White wins after 32 Wd7+ deb6 33 Wxd6+ Keb 34 Rd8+, 32 Se3+ Yas 33 AxcB Kxc8 34 Ws+ e535 Axch Whs 36 &b4a+ Yxb4 37 a3+ ca 38 Wxb5+ axbS 39 cxb3+ dd 40 &d1 1-0 An important game for the theory of this opening. Now it’s time to hand over to Yury: We begin our more detailed cover- age with an important theoretical game between two legends. In this game Leonid Stein, three times USSR cham- pion, demonstrated many interesting ideas which follow an 11 Ad5 sacrifice, Semen Furman, Karpov’s coach and a noted theoretician, defended like a The Knight Sacrifice on d5 lion, but he couldn’t do anything against Stein’s various threats. Game 5 L.Stein-S.Furman USSR Championship, Moscow 1969 Led c5 2 Df3 e6 3 d4 cxda 4 Axd4 a6 5 Dez We7 6 g3 bs This risky move, neglecting devel- opment of the king’s wing, has been all but abandoned at higher levels in fa- vour of the disruptive 6...2b4: for ex- ample, 7 @de2 Df6 8 &g2 Le?! (the bishop drops back to e7 to answer a later £4 with ...d6, thereby keeping the said bishop out of harm’s way) 9 0-0 0-0 10 h3 Ac6 1 f4 bS 12 Re3 Bb7 13 g4 d5! X be boi y SS < gave Black good counterplay in the oft-quoted game J.Tarjan-F.Ghcorghiu, Los Angeles 1974. 7 &gz 2b7 8 0-0 Af6 It is already hard for Black to wrig- gle out of the net he has made for him- self, After 8...d6, Davies cites J.Nunn- 17Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian GSigurjonsson, London 1975, which went 9 Hel e7 10 a4 bxad 11 Wh! g6 12 We2 Bc 13 Sxa4 with a strong ini- tiative. Also if 8..2c6 9 Hel d6? (Quinteros later played the stronger 9...e5) 10 a4 b4 11 Ad5S! Wad then White has a pleasant choice between Hulak’s 12 Axc6é and Almasi’s 12 Wh5. Finally, Taimanov’s 8...&¢5 9 @b3 @e7 can be met with Davies’ suggestion of 10 Hel d6 11 a4 b4 12 a2. 9Me1 d6 10.44 10 a3 is passive and not in the spirit of the Open Sicilian. White must be prepared to offer his knight when the signs are favourable. 1o...b4 11 Dds 11 a2 is another good possibility which leads after 11...Wed (or 11..e5 12 ALS g6 13 Aho Acé 14 £g5 Le7 15 Kel Wa5 16 3 bxc3 17 Wb3 Ads 18 Axc3 and White got some advantage, A-Berelovich-K.Van der Weide, Sol- ingen 2005) 12 4b3 a5 13 3 to a slight advantage. 11..,exd5 12 exd5+ s2d8 Many computers will tell us that Black is better, but White's threats are coming. ad 12...,Re7 is bad due to 13 APS A\g8 14 Bg5 £6 15 Dxg7+ HE7 16 Deb Wo6 17 Whs mate. 13 Qgs A common idea which generally leads to the capture of Black’s knight and the consequent spoiling of his structure. 13...)bd7 Our computer likes 13.08, but praxis proves otherwise. The game O.Quinones-K.Higashi, Siegen Olym- piad 1970, continued 14 &xf6+ gxf6 15 Wh5 Ba7 16 Hed O97 17 Hael Wed 18 We2 £d7 19 Db3 Who 20 a5 WS 21 We3 Ac7 22 Wid Me8 23 Wxd6 Hxed 24 Lxes hc8 25 Afl Wad 26 Axb4 Wa2 27 Dc5 Wal 28 Axb&+ dexbB 29 Axaé+ 1-0. We find it curious that Levy cites this game and not Stein’s antecedent. 14 We2 wc8 The king tries to scurry away, but Stein is not deterred. His next move aims to open the c for his rook. 45 ¢3 b3 Black keeps the c-file closed, but White has more tricks up his sleeve. 16 Acé 1816..,.Qxe6 17 dxcé A natural move, but White missed a simple win. After 17 We8+ Dxe8 18 Bxe8+ &b7 19 dxc6+ ¥bb6 20 a5+ Wbs 21 4+ Sb4 22 cxd7 Be7 23 2d2+ bcd 24 Be3+ Gb4 25 RxaB Wxd7 26 Axhs Black is lost. 17...e5 18 Baz An original idea! The manoeuvre Ha3-b3-b7 will cause Black extra prob- lems. 18...d5 19 Rxb3 .d6 20 Axf6 gxf6 21 Sxd5 Dxcé It took some doing, but now we have the typical aftermath of a Ad5 sacrifice. Black's disorganized pieces and bad pawn structure give White a serious advantage. 22 Was Wd7 23 Wxd7+ Wxd7 24 Bb7+ eT 25 &gz The best move. White wins mate- rial. 25..Rad8 26 2h3+ &d6 27 Na+ des 28 bat beg 29 2F14 db3 30 Hxc7 30 Hbi+ a2 31 Exc? Ae5 32 f4 Bxb1 33 fred fee 34 Bxab Pc? 35 ef2 %d2+ 36 £e2 is another way to win. The Knight Sacrifice on d5 30...Hxd1 31 Lxc6 &xaq 32 gz aS 33 bxa5 Ehd8 34 Axfé £8d7 35 a6 An extra passed pawn and two weak black pawns decide this game. 35..ce1 36 2d3 Hxe3 37 &xh7 Seb5 38 ie4 Ha3 39 &b7 bcs 40 h4 dg 41 Refs Re7 42 hs Hes 43 Hf4s Wes 44 hé 1-0 Black can’t stop all White's passed pawns, Stein's approach in this game is a model. Decades later, his plan is still scoring points. Witness the following game: Game 6 E.Hagara-M.Manik Pardubice 2000 Le4cd 2 Dfs e6 3 da cxd4 4 Axda a6 5 cz bs 6 g3 2b7 7 Lg2 We7 8 0-0d6 9 Ee1 Dt6 10 a4 Dangerous but less incisive is 10 @d5'!?7 exd5 11 exd5+ Bd8 12 &g5 Dbd7 13 a4 (the wild 13 c4!? hé 14 19Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian &xf6+ Dxfo 15 cxbS axb5 16 Wb3 Wed as in B.Horberg-A.Kotov, Telegraph Game 1959, looks unpleasant for Black after 17 We3 Dxd5 18 We8+ Yc7 19 Wxf7+) 13..h6 14 Qxf6r Dxfo 15 axb5 axbS 16 Hxa8+ xa8 17 Wal &b7 18 BDcb+ Qxc6 19 dxc6 d5! 20 Wa8+ We8 21 Wa5+ Wc7 and the opponents decided on a draw in W.Browne-L.Evans, U.S. Championship, Chicago 1974. 10...bxa4 Deviating from Furman’s 10...b4. It doesn’t look right for Black to create a weak pawn on a6, but the open b- and c-files may give him counterchances. 11 d5! After 11 Bxa4 Re7 12 We2 0-0 White has a comfortable position. The text is more ambitious. 11...exd5 12 exd5+ #d8 13 &g5 Abd7 Probably 13...@c8 14 Hxa4 Qe7 15 2d2 a5 creates an unclear mess with chances for both sides. 14 We2 White is copying Stein’s moves, but the extra Hal-a4-c4 threat gives him even better chances. 14...82c8 Instead 14...Wb6 15 Bxa4 Wxb2 16 We8+ Bc7 17 Wxi7 We8 18 &xl6 gxf6 19 &h3 is winning for White. a a a tatad 15 Bxag Acs Losing, but 15..De5 16 Qxf6 (an- other way is 16 f4! Wd7 17 Hb4 &xd5 18 Qxfo a5 19 &xd5 axb4 20 &xa8) 16...gxf6 17 £4 Wh6 18 fxe5 dxe5 19 @h1 is but a temporary stay of execution. oe a x Y : cmon Yi 16 Dxfé gxf6 17 We8+ Wd8 18 2h3+ fs 19 2xfs+ Sc7 20 Wxf7+ YbB 1-0 Black can’t argue with 21 Mb4 and 22 @c6 or 21 Be8. In this excellent ex- ample of White’s mating attack after a d5 sacrifice, all of White's pieces en- joyed enhanced mobility. 20Now we will see how Anatoly Kar- pov sacrificed his knight on d5 against a great player and coach, GM Dorfman. Even though this sacrifice in the Scheveningen Variation was perfect and effective, Black almost drew a lost position. Game 7 A.Karpov-J.Dorfman USSR Championship, Moscow 1976 Led cS 2 D3 dé 3 da exd4 4 Axd4 AE 5 Dc3 e6 6 g4 Be7 7 g5 DAfd7 8 h4 Dcé 9 2e3 a6 10 We2 This is not Karpov's natural style. However, he is happy to block his king’s bishop with his queen in order to castle queenside and open the e-file by sactificing his knight on £5 or d5. 20...We7 11 0-0-0 b5 12 Axc6 Wxc6 13 dq ba 14 Ad5!2 a 2O as oy After this rather unclear positional sacrifice, White will get at least two pawns for the piece, while Black will have four pawn islands and a king in The Knight Sacrifice on ds the centre. All these factors give White plenty of compensation 14...exd5 15 2xg7 According to Speelman, 15 exdS Wxd5 16 &xg7 Wxhl 17 Mel Ded 18 &xeS dxe5 19 Wxe5 0-0 wins for Black. 15...1g8 16 exd5 We7 17 2f6 Des Black defends as well as he can, try- ing to trade as many of White's active pieces as possible, but White's attack still leads to the gain of a third pawn for the knight. 18 Axes 18 4 Bxf6 19 gxi6 Bed 20 Wed xd1 21 &xd1 Bgs 22 Re2 beds 23 Jaxg4 Dxg4 was good for Black. 18...dxe5 19 f4 The best move which wins a third pawn due to the pin on the e-file. 19...8f5 20 2h3 20 fxe5 was another good choice. 20...2xh3 21 Hxh3 HeB 22 fxes, 22...We4 Dorfman’s brilliant defensive skill has forced Karpov to trade almost all the pieces, but White must keep on the queens to retain his attack. 23 Hdd3! Wfa+ 22Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian 23...Wxa2 24 dé c5 25 We3 Wad 26 6 Be5 27 exf7+ txi7 28 Wi2+ we7 29 dxe7 Be8 30 Wi6+ Sg8 31 Bhe3 gives White a winning position. 24 Gb1 Beq 25 dé Hea 26 Lhe3 Mxe3 27 dxe3 Wxhs The best chance to hold. After 27...2d8 28 K&S Wxh4 29 e6 £5 30 e7 Wed 31 d7+ Sexd7 32 Wred fxed 33 BIS White is winning, 28 WF3 Wixgs Possibly better was 28...2d8 since the long line 29 d7+ Be7 30 Wi6+ &xd7 31 Wxf7+ dc6 32 Web+ &b7 33 Wd5+ Sb8 34 a3 Wxgs 35 Wdé+ Qc7 36 Wexb4+ dc8 37 Wed is only slightly bet- ter for White. 29 Hea Wg2 Otherwise 29...d8 30 Hfl Wg6 31 We6+ {8 32 Wd7 Yg7 33 e6 Of6 34 e7 Wed 35 Bgl+ @hé 36 Wh3+ &h4 37 Bh1 h5 38 Wxh4+ Wxh4 39 Bxchd+ @xh4 40 b3 and the white pawns are unstoppa- ble. 30 Wfs Ve, ayy fl 2 a Y & Wa fy \ cn 30...2g6 After 30...Wg4 31 Wxh7 Hg7 32 Wd3 Abd 33 RE We8 34 Bd oef8 35 d7 Was 36 WIS shg8 37 06 216 38 Wd5 WB 39 Hi a5 40 cd Black position is tied up and hopeless. 34a Lifa Wd5 32 dxe7 Sxe7 Instead 32...a5 33 Wh5 h6 34 e6 is given a ‘!! by Speelman, but after 34... Wxe6 35 WxaS Wxe7 36 Wa8t bd7 37 Wb7+ &d8 we don’t see a win. 33 Wea Black's three pawn islands and cen- tralized king give Karpov enough tar- gets and advantage to win this end- game. 33...a5 34 Whas wes 35 Wxh7 WF3 36 Wh8+ he7 37 Wha+ des 38 Wed Wb7 39 b3 At long last White makes some Luft! 39...He6 40 Het Karpov’s temporary pawn sacrifice further opens up Black's king. 40...0xe5 41 Egs+ we7 42 Wha+ &d7 43 Wf6 He? 44 Wts+ dé 45 Wxas Bes 46 Wd8+ Se6 47 dbz f6 48 ES Wg7 49 We8+ Sd5 50 Weds 1-0 Black gave up as 50...¢ed6 51 Hd8+ ‘be7 52 Wc7+ wins the queen. We now come to a very complicated 22The Knight Sacrifice on d5 game with hundreds of variations which are very difficult to calculate even for a computer. After Iordachescu sacrificed his knight on dS in the Scheveningen, 1 had to prove to the computer in a lot of variations that White is better, not worse. I believe that if you too analyse this game with a computer, your tactical ability will im- prove and maybe you can find im- provements for both sides. Game & V.lordachescu-F.Guido Jesolo 1999 Leg c5 2 AS e6 3 da cxda 4 Dxda Afe 5 2c3 d6 6 g4 Dcé 7 g5 Dd7 Bh4 Le79 Bez a6 10 f4 0-0 11 Ber Axdg 12 Wxd4 bs 13 h5 White is ready to castle queenside and to create a deadly attack on the black king. Black, for his part, is forced to play aggressively too. 13...b4 14 Dd5! MES Pocagiai ty Gi awa 2 wy, we) ata ae Sgn We Sr n With the idea of diverting the e- pawn from blocking the long diagonal. Instead 14 Wxb4 2b8 15 Wad Bxb2 gives Black counierchances, while 14 6 €5 15 Wxb4 Bb8 16 Wad g6 17 Ad5 Hxb2 is good for Black. 14...exd5 15 h6 gxh6 16 0-0-0 b3 Instead after 16...hxg5 (which looks good because 17 Axh7? fails to 17...8.f6) 17 Wxd5 Abe 18 Wd3! 5 19 Bh6 fxed 20 Wb3+ Af7 21 Qhs Wrs 22 fxg5 2b7 23 gO hxg6 24 Qxgs RAS 25 Mxt7+ dxf7 26 Sxd5, White wins. 17 axb3 Wa5 18 Gb1 hxgs 19 ba We7 20 exd5 HeB Black might have raced on, but after 20...a5 21 Bxh7 46 (21.216 22 Wed axb4 23 Bdh1 Md8 24 Bxf7 dxf7 25 Sh5+ 8 26 Web Halt 27 Sexal Sxb2+ 28 dex? We3+ 29 Sb! Web 30 £5 &g7 31 &xg5 wins material) 22 Dh6 axb4 23 Wd3 2d8 24 dhl Bes 25 Bhs+ dg7 26 Wh7+ Dxh7 27 Wxh7+ &f6 28 Wh6+ White wins. 21 Wd3 And not 21 Exh7? £6 22 Wd3 Rxe3 23 Wxe3 Sxh7. 21...Df8 22 2d4 2d7? Closing the b1-h7 diagonal by 22...f5 doesn’t save Black: 23 &h5 Bd8 24 23 Wa7 25 Kdel h6 26 Hes Axes 27 Wxf5 266 28 Wixfo Wg7 29 2£7+ G18 30 dxeé Wxf6 31 Bxf6 Lxe6 32 Qxe6 HeB 33 &.d5 and wins. However, the superior defence 22..Wd7 23 fxg5 WES 24 Wc3 216 25 gxf6 Hxe2 26 Hd2 Bxd2 27 Wxd2 Weg6 28 Kho WiS 29 hi We6 30 Bho WfS 31 Hh1 leads only to a draw as | discovered. 23 Exh7! A rook sacrifice which heralds the final, decisive wave of the attack. 23Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian fay, ‘yy Y ane ~ Ay 23...xh7 24 Hha Af 25 fxgs Bacd 26 exfe Wxe2+ 27 Wxe2 Hxc2 28 fxe7 1-0 Black can’t save his rook and avoid checkmate. Game 9 A.Sulypa-B.Andonov Sautron 2004 1e4 c5 2 DF3 e6 3 da cxda 4 A\xd4 FE 5 Dc3 dé 6 2e3 Le7 7 g4 ab B g5 Dfd7 9 hg We7 A superior handling of the black pieces was 9...7\c6 10 WhS 0-0 11 0-0-0 Dde5S 12 2d3 Axd3+ 13 Hxd3 BeS 14 Rdd1 b5 15 f4 Act 16 Ach Wd7 17 Dxe7+ Wxe7 18 2d4 b4 19 De2 5, which gave Black a good position in §$.Movsesian-L.Van Wely, Panormo (blitz) 2002. 10 Wh 0-0 11 f4 Zc6 12 0-0-0 White's dangerous attack forces Black to play actively. Moreover, Black has to be ready for all of “Ad5, &f5 and £4-£5 hits. 12..xd4 13 Axda b5 14 &d3 ba 15 Ads Fritz likes 15 &xg7! as White mates after either 15..s¢xg7 16 Wh6+ seg8 17 €5 or 15...bxc3 16 e5. We will analyse similar variations in the next game. 15...exd5 16 e5 Throwing another pawn on to the fire. Two centralized bishops, an active queen and a potent pawn-storm gives White more than enough compensation for the knight. Alternatively, 16 &xg7 most likely Ieads to another win: for example, 16...2c5 17 Wh6 b3 18 axb3 He8 19 b4 218 20 Bxf8 Axd3+ 21 Bxd3 Hxf8 22 £5 f6 23 gxf6 M7 24 Egl+ vhs 25 Hdg3 &xf5 26 exfS Wd7 27 Rg7 Bxg7 28 fxg7+ Sg8 29 £6 and wins. However, the typical 16 exd5 is probably not so good in view of the resource 16...f5 17 Ahel Ac5 18 #b1 Axd3 19 Bxd3 &b7 20 Hde3 Hac8. 16...26 According to the computer the best move, but in any case it won’t save the black king. 17 Wh6 Keg Otherwise, 17...dxe5 18 h5 exd4 19 hxgé Wxl4+ 20 bl Af 21 g7 25 22 gxf8H+ 2xf8 23 Wxf6 wins material, 24and 17...Axe5 18 fxe5 dxe5 19 h5 AES 20 SUxf5 gxi5 21 g6 fxg6 22 hxg6 26 23 97 Wxg7 24 Bdg_ is hopeless for Black. 18 e6 Gabt te ast Me a10 & og The final nail in the coffin. White's mating threats decide the game. 18...f6 18...Ae5 doesn’t help, since 19 exf7+ Bxi7 20 Wxh7+ Heb 21 Bxe5 dxeS 22 Wxg6+ wins for White. 19 &xgé 1-0 Game 10 E.Szalanczy-V.Gavrikov Debrecen 1988 Led c5 2 Df3 d6 3 d4 cxda 4 Dxd4 AE 5 De3 e6 6 2e3 a6 7 B4-Ac6 8 g5 Ad79 h4 Re7 10 Wh5 0-0 11 0-0-0 Dxda 12 Rxd4 b5 13 2d3 Aiming at the h7-pawn. 13...b4 Losing immediately. According to the computer, 13...@e5 was the best choice for Black, neutralizing the white bishops. However, after 14 £4 4)xd3+ 15 Hxd3 b4 16 De2 Wa5 17 #1 5 18 2e3 The Knight Sacrifice on d5 Reb 19 b3 MfcS 20 Hd2 Hc3 21 Axc3 bxc3 22 Hf2 exf4 23 Exf4 Mc8 24 Khfl g6 25 WES Wed 26 Hx? 218 27 Bxf8+ White is winning, T.Luther-M Brod, Oberwart 2005. 14 @d51? Amazingly enough 14 &xg7! wins after 14...bxe3 (14..6exg7 15 Whor weh8 16 05 £5 17 g6 E718 gxi7 WIS 19 Wxi8+ 2xf8 20 Hhgl costs Black material) 15 €5 cxb2+ 16 @b1 £5 17 gxf6 with a mat- ing attack. 14...exd5 14..4e5 could give Black counter- chances after 15 Axb4 We7 16 a3 &b7. 15 &xg7 25Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian This unexpected sacrifice finishes the game. 15...WeB Alternatively, 15..€xg7 16 Who gS (16..s8h8 is perhaps more stub- born, but 17 e5 £5 18 g6 Zf7 19 gxf7 Wis. 20 Wxf8+ DxfB 21 Edgl looks good for White) 17 exd5 {5 18 gxf6 Hi7 19 Rhgl+ Bh8 20 Bg7 Dxf6 21 Bxf7 wins for White. 16 2f6 1-0 Following 16...Axf6 17 gxf6 &xf6 18 5 h6 19 Shg1+ Black will be mated ina couple of moves. Note that Gavrikov is a strong tactician who participated in the legendary USSR Championship. Indeed, it’s amazing how he couldn't survive more than three moves after the Ads sacrifice. Game 11 M.Tal-M.Mukhin USSR Championship, Baku 1972 1 ed c5 2 Df3 d6 3 d4 cxda 4 Dxd4 ATE 5 Dc3 a6 6 Qeq 26 Fischer's favourite weapon against the Najdorf. 6...e6 7 &2b3 b5 8 0-0 2b7 9 Het Abd7 10 &g5 Ach 11 Qd5! Sacrificing a bishop and preparing the next trick after 11...b4. 41...b4 After 11...exd5 12 exd5+ &d7 13 b4 Dad 14 Qxad bxad 15 cf Hc8 16 Wrad Wd7 17 ch White’s great activity gives him good winning chances. 12 &xb7 Axb7 13 4\d5 After this sacrifice Black is losing in all variations. 13...exd5, Entertaining is the line 13...a5 14Rxi6 gxf6 15 Dcé We8 16 Axf6 mate. 14 exd5+ Levy's 14 e5 dxe5 15 Hxe5+ @d7 16 c4 also looks good for White. 14...2d7 15 3 15 Dcé Wh6 16 Oxf6 gxf6 17 Whd @Das 18 WiS+ Bc7 19 Dxd& Bxd8 20 Wx{6 is another way to win material. 15...b3 Many years fater after 15...Wa5 16 Rxf6 gxf6 17 cxb4 Wxd5 18 Wad+ he7 19 Hacl+ Bc 20 bxeS dxe5 21 Bed Bigs 22 g3 seb6 23 Ab3 Wh5 24 Hd7 Hes 25 Wa5+ &c6 26 cdl We2 27 Ad4+i Black resigned in the game A.Areshchenko-S.Akbarinia, Kuala Lumpur 2002. 16 Wxb3 Acs 17 We4 We8 18 Z\c6 h6 19 Rxf6 gxf6 20 He3 White follows the typical plan after sacrificing a knight on d5: place the remaining knight on 6, spoit Black’s pawn structure on the kingside, double rooks on the open file, and wait for the resignation. 20.87 21 b4 BUM © Dak ‘Y a2 # LS YY a Winning a piece. 21.,.Bg8 1-0 The Knight Sacrifice on d5 Game 12 O.Kozlitin-R.Nechepurenko Samara 2004 Led c5 2 Df3 d6 3 da cxd4 4 Zixdg DE 5 Dc3 a6 6 2c4 e6 7 2b3 b5 8 0-0 2b7 9 Ret Dbd7 10 Rgs h6 11 Vh4 Acs 12 Rds b4 If 12...exd5 13 exd5+ d7 14 b4 Dad 15 *xa4, then 15..g5 could give Black some counterchances after 16 &g3 bxa4 17 c4, although it seems to me that White's initiative is more than enough for the bishop. Here a weaker defence is 15...bxa4, as we'll see in Chapter Seven. 13 Qxb7 @xb7 14 ids Black's idea of ...g5 reduces White's threats after the knight sacrifice, but it is not enough to solve all his problems. 14...exd5 15 exd5+ Gd? 16 c3 Promising too is 16 Ac6 Wc8 17 WES Sc7 18 Lxf6 gxfo 19 Wxf6 Hh7 20 a3 due to Black’s open king, disorganized Pieces and many pawn islands. 26...b3 i2i7.Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian Sacrificing a pawn, but closing the e-file, 17 DAc6 We8 18 Qxf6 gxf6 19 Wd 19 Wf3 and 19 Wh5 were two other strong possibilities to attack Black’s king and pawns. 19...2¢7 20 Wxf6 Rh7 24 axb3 White can consider his sacrifice a success. He has won three pawns for his bishop and all his pieces are very active, whereas Black can only dream about finding good squares for or ex- changing his pieces. 21...Wd7 22 Wda Among many ways to win this tricky position is 22 Had cS 23 Hed Be8 24 HxeS Wxe8 25 GFl Hg7 26 ba 2)d7 27 Wad which wins material. 22...Bg7 23 Wea Wgq 24 Dd4+ Dc5 25 g3 Sd8 26 b4 Ab7 27 Leg ‘The superior 27 Bxaé wins immedi- ately in view of the line 27,.Bxa6 28 Wx26 We8 29 Bc6+ de7 30 Da7 Wd7 31 DbS+. 27... We 27... Wixed 28 Dc6+ wins the queen. 28 We6 Now White regains his piece, leav- ing him a couple of pawns ahead, Black's position is hopeless. 28... Wxc6 29 dxc6 Dc5 30 bxes c7 34 cxd6+ &xd6 32 Afs Eg6 33 Dxd6 Hxdé 34 He7+ Gxcé 35 Hxf7 Rd2z 36 Hfe+ Sbs 37 cat sexca 38 Kaxaé De8 39 Mac6+ Sb3 40 Hb6+ Wag 41 Oxhe Ls 42 Bhf6 1-0 Game 13 L.Dominguez-J.Corral Blanco Spanish Team Championship 2002 1 e4 c5 2 D3 Neb 3 da exd4 4 Dxdg DMG 5 D3 dé 6 2c4 06 7 Le3 Le7 8 We2 0-0 9 0-0-0 a6 10 2b3 Wes Preparing ..b5 and moving the queen away from the range of the rook on dl. More recently, 10...We7 11 Hhgl b5 12 g4 b4 13 Dxc6 Wxc6 14 AS exd5 15 g5 Axes 16 &xd5 Wad 17 Rd4 265 18 Bxet Sxed 19 Wxes Wxa2!? 20 Wxe7 Bae8 21 We7 Bed 22 e3 Ket 23 Wxd6 b3 24 @d2 was rather unclear in K.Movsziszian-K Spraggett, Tarragona 2006, although White went on to win. 2811 Bhg1 Preparing a kingside attack. 11...Dd7 12 ga Dc5 13 g5 bs 14 Axcé xb3+ 15 axb3 Wxc6 16 Whs According to the computer, Black’s threats make his position very danger- ous, but White’s future sacrifices will destroy the black king's fortress. 16...b417 Sdal 17..Rb7 It's hard to believe, but the best try here is most likely 17...bxc3 18 Wh6 exb2+ 19 dexb2 eS 20 Rxe5 Wxc2+ 21 @xc2 dxed 22 WhS Reb 23 Rd3 Mfc8+ 24 b2 a5 25 Bal cS when White has a queen for a pair of bishops, but his at tack is spent while Black has plenty of potential. ‘Unclear’ is perhaps a cop- out, but this is as close to the truth as I can determine. 18 Dd5 The computer believes that White is absolutely lost, but after the two play- ers follow its recommendations for seven moves, White lands up winning! This reminds us that sometimes a hu- man’s intuitive sense can still be better than the computer's calculations. The Knight Sacrifice on a5 18...exd5 19 Rd3 The typical queen sacrifice, 19 Wh6, loses after 19...Wxc2+ 20 dxc2 Bfc8+ 21 SkbT gxh6 22 gxh6+ £8 23 exd5, leav- ing White down a piece. 19...BFfc8 Alternatively, 19..Hac8 20 ¢3 bxc3 21 bxc3 £6 22 Bh3 fxg5 23 &xg? wins, while after 19..f6 20 %h3 Mac$ 21 Weh7+ Bf7 22 exd5 Wxc2+ 23 Wexc2 Bxc2t 24 dexc2 Mc8+ 25 kd3 fags 26 1f3+ &g6 27 He3 White wins material. 20 c3 bxc3 21 bxc3 dxe4 22 Hh3 &fe 23 go! The natural 23 Wxh7? actually loses for White after 23...e8 24 g6 Wd5 25 29Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian gxt7+ sed7. 23...fxg6? This loses in couple of moves. In- stead 23...h6 was the best move which leads to a very unclear position after 24 Sxg7+ Se8 25 gxf7+ kd7 26 WIS+ Bc7 27 c4 a5 28 Uxh6 a4 29 Beé Wd7 30 b4. Even though computers like Black here, I believe that White has enough counterchances to survive this mess. 24 Wxh7 eB 25 Hxgé Wb5 26 Axg7 Sgs+ 27 He3! xe3+ 28 fxe3 Black's extra rook is nothing com- pared to White's mating attack. Indeed, only a couple of checks can postpone Black’s fate. 28... Wf1+ 29 @b2 1-0 The line 29...Wf2+ 30 a3 WES 31 Weg6r Yd8 32 Rb6+ He7 33 Axc7+ dec8 34 We6 mate finishes the game. Game 14 A.Lukashok-V.Smirnov Belarus Championship, Minsk 2003 1 APS 5 2 €4 Deb 3 da cxd4g 4 Anda DTG 5 e3 d6 6 S406 7 Le3 a6 8 Wer We7 9 0-0-0 Das 10 2d3 bS 11 £4 &b7 12 af2 White moves his bishop twice in the opening to defend the e4-pawn and prepare ‘Dd5, as well as to introduce the dangerous ideas of e4-e5, f4-£5 and Ah4, Instead after 12 Yb1 Le7 13 £5 e5 14 Db3 Acd 15 Sct hS 16 Khel Bc8 17 fixct Wed 18 Wixc4 bxed 19 Dd2 £d8 20 @f3 e7 White eventually managed to win this even endgame in V.Kupreichik-$,Voitsekhovsky, Tula 2002 12...c8 13 Hhet £7 14 g4 0-0 15 g5 Ad7 16 Dd51 The computer doesn’t believe that after Black played all the natural moves one crazy sacrifice can win the game. However, we shall soon prove otherwise... 16...exd5 17 AfS Afes Interesting is 17...2d8 18 exd5 g6 (this weakening appears forced) 19 Dh6+ hg7 20 Rdd+ £6 21 Web Acd 22 xed bxcd 23 Agi Hb8 24 5 Ac5 25 We3 Wh8 26 fxg6 hxg6 27 gxfo &xf6 28 Exg6 Sxd4 29 Wxdd+ Wh7 30 Edgl and 30The Knight Sacrifice on d5 White has a mating attack. Another possible line runs 17..c5 18 exd5 Dxd3+ 19 Bxd3 Bd8 20 Bd4 Wd7 21 Wed Hos 22 Hh3 £6 23 Ao7+ Axe7 24 Wxh7+ &{7 25 Wh5+ g6 26 Wh7+ de8 27 Wxgor Od8 28 gxfo Bxf6 29 &xf6+ dB 30 BH7, trapping Black’s queen. 18 exd5 2f8 Altematively, 18.05 19 fxe5 Sixg5+ 20 &b1 Bxe5 21 Wg4 h6 22 Exes dxe5 23 23 Wd8 24 h4 Sf6 25 Bxh6 go 26 h5 leaves Black's king with no chances to survive. ig Wxe8 Hxe8 20 Axes White threatens 21 De7+ @h8 22 RES, 20...f6 Even after the best response 20...g6 White still wins: 21 Dh6+ ve7 22 2d4+ £6 23 gxf6+ &xh6 24 Be3 Axf6 25 &xie cB 26 15 gxf5 27 Hgl £4 28 &p5+ whd 29 Let+ Sod 30 Rxgdt dexgs 31 Bere S2f5 32 Heo £3 33 Rd3+ dia 34 Beds WES 35 Re4+ wins the queen. 216 After this move Black's king is in huge trouble. 21...hxg6 22 De7+ Hh7 23 Qxgé+ whé 24 Bg11-0 Black can‘t escape checkmate. Game 15 B.Spassky-G.Zaichik Moscow 1972 Led c5 2 AES d6 3 da cxd4 4 Axds ATE 5 Dc3 a6 6 2gs e6 7 4 Abd7 8 WES Wc7 9 0-0-0 b5 10 £43 A popular variation which leads to lots of very complicated continuations with many sacrificial possibilities for both sides. 10...b4 As hinted elsewhere in this chapter, 10... 27 is a decent alternative here. 1a 4\d5 Otherwise 11 Ace2 is safe but un- promising, 11...exd5 12 Hhe1 £e7 The aiternative 12...2b7 will be dis- cussed in the next game. 13 exd5 The promising, extremely compli- cated 13 Af5i actually appears to be winning after 13..b3 14 axb3 Dc5 15 7Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian Dxg7+ #18 16 Bh6 Wad 17 exdS Walt 18 ded2 Wa5+ 19 c3 Ags 20 We3 Dxd3 21 DfS+ KeB 22 Dxe7 Les 23 Wxd3 Dxh6 24 Acé WS 25 Wes. 13...DbB Trying to cover the c6- and f5- squares, but Black is helping White to organize a dangerous attack. Better is 13..8(8 14 ALS ds 15 Axg7 h6 16 &xf6 Axf6 17 ALS with chances for both sides. 14 Oxf6 gxfé 15 Whs White's. than activity is enough compensation for the bishop. Note that Black’s pieces are very pas- sive and his pawns are weak, while more White is trying to double his rooks on e-file and trade the light-squared bish- ops, thereby capturing the f5-square with serious pressure. 15...Ha7 16 Hez Mf 16...Wa5 17 &b1 Ec7 18 &£5 is very unpleasant for Black. 17 Sfs dB 18 Wxh7 Wes 19 Rxc8 &xc8 20 Wg7 Kde 21 Wxf7 Hdd7 22 Dts White successfully follows his posi- tional plan. He has easily traded the light-squared bishops, placed the knight on f5 and prepared to double his rooks on the open file. 22...2d8 23 We6 Hac7 24h4 White's passed h-pawn and activity decides this game, as Spassky follows a famous rule: if you have a passed pawn, just push it. 24...€b7 25 Weg a5 26 h5 a4 27 Sebi a3 28 g4 dea 29 Wa Promising too is 29 Adé Wad 30 e6 Ba7 31 63, which helps White to get two connected passed pawns. 29...Wb5 30 Wd3 Was 34 b3 Hc3 32 Wada Eh3 33 Bes While Black is trying to stop 32The Knight Sacrifice on d5 White's passed pawns, White has put more pressure on the weak b4-, d6- and f6-pawns. 33..2b6 34 Wd2 Wc5 35 Hea Bh2 36 Wad3 &b7 37 h6 Aas 38 He6? Spassky drifts around here, perhaps due to a shortage of time. Instead after 38 gS fxg5 39 fxg5 WE2 40 Dil We? 41 Wed White is better due to his two passed pawns and continuing attack. 38...2a7? Better was 38...A\c7 39 Bod Axd5 40 Bod Dc3+ 41 Bal Wh2 42 Axdo+ Axd6 43 Wxd6 @xd1 44 Wa7+ Yab 45 West when it’s perpetual check. 39 Hxf6? Another mistake; 39 Hed #b7 40 Bcd Wa5 41 g5 would have been win- ning for White. 39...0h¢7? And another! Dc7 40 Ags AxdS 41 Det Wc6 leaves White in big trouble due to Black's activity, 40 Bet After this defensive move Black can’t stop the three passed pawns. 40,..WF2 44 Dxd6 1-0 White wins another pawn. We will next see another important idea behind the Ad5 sacrifice; White trades his knight on c6 and the result- ing passed c-pawn becomes an extra threat, Game 16 U.Atakisi-L.Mazi European Championship, Antalya 2004 Led c5 2 \f3 d6 3 d4 cxda 4 Axd4 V6 5 Dc3 a6 6 Qgs e6 7 f4 Abd7 8 Wz We7 9 0-0-0 b5 10 2d3 b4.11 Ad5 In the previous game we saw how Spassky successfully used this sacrifice against Zaichik. In this game Atakisi uses Spassky’s ideas, but adds his own flavour. 11...exd5 12 exd5 2b7 For 12...@e7 13 Bhel, see the previ- ‘ous game. 13 Shei+ Wd 14 Acé+ Sxcé 14...&c8 is losing after 15 &xf6 Axi6 16 2£5+ Bd? 17 Res+. 33Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian 15 dxc6 Abs Another alternative is 15...\b6, but after 16 Axft6+ (16 &h4!? BB 17 &xae Ha8 18 2b7 Bxa2 19 wb Rad 20 Bes Dad 21 Wed Rxe5 22 fxe5 Who 23 Ras 25 24 WAS b3 25 exd6 bxe2+ 26 exc @xb7 27 &xt6 forced Black to resign in E.Berg-Li Chao, Beijing 2006) 16..gxt6 17 &f5 Be7 18 We3 BB 19 He2 Hb$ 20 Edel Black’s uncoordi- nated pieces are in big trouble. Practice has seen too 15..2c5 when 16 &xfor gxf6 17 Qcd Ha7 18 Hdd Wo 19 WE5 Be7 20 &dS a5 21 Wed a4 22 We7 Be8 23 &xi7 b3 24 Exd6+ svc8 25 23 gave White more than enough ini- tiative for the piece in P.Thipsay- L.Ravi, Mumbai 2003, 16 Sixf6+ gxf6 17 Req a) SL we ha § Fe This position reminds us of Spassky-Zaichik. For the knight White has a pawn, active pieces, a dangerous pawn which paralyses Black’s queen- side, an open e-file, weak black pawns, to target and a mating attack. How- ever, even though Black’s pieces are badly placed, an extra piece can give him good drawing or even winning chances if he can just trade a couple of active white pieces. Indeed, objectively the position is unclear with chances for both sides. 47...H5 Black's best chance was to free his pieces on the queenside by 17...a5 18 We3 Le7 19 Wd5 Ba6 20 Ad2 Axcé 21 Hde2 He8 22 Axi7 His 23 @d5 Mes, which would have remained rather unclear. 18 2.d5 Ea7 19 We4 &g7 20 Wxb4 The collection of the pawn harvest begins. 20...a5 21 Wea f5 22 He3 Aaé 23 2F3 ze te Asa oe a (erms Z Y Preventing ...Ac5 and aiming at Black’s weak pawns. 23...8c8 24 Hdea Hd8 25 Wd5 Acs 26 Waxt5+? The f5-pawn was not going any- where. Better is 26 &xh5 Wb6 27 c3 Be7 28 Wxf5+ and the extra material gives White excellent winning chances. 26...<%b8 27 Wd5 Wb6 28 c3 Deé 29 g3 hg 30 Sb1 I believe this prophylactic move was a small mistake. The active 30 &h5 We 31 M43 hxg3 32 hxg3 Le7 33 fixt7 34Wxd5 34 Hxd5 Dxfd 35 BbS+ dec8 36 &b3 Ad3+ 37 dd2 Dc5 38 Bxad Bxc6 leads to an unclear position, although this probably should end as a draw. 30...hxg3 34 hxg3 Be7 Py 4 Ra ] WY Pg as i, nt Black has activated all his pieces, while White has equalized the material count. It looks like Black should sur- vive this messy position, but White's positional pressure proves too much for Mazi. 32 deez ha7 33 f57! 33 Bh5! Exc6 34 Qxf7 Bd4+ 35 eed 4c5 36 Wg2 was a better try. 33..Ag5 34 Sg2 Ebs 35 b3 Les 36 Wd2 6 Vi The Knight Sacrifice on a5 Suddenly Black has activated his pieces, defended his weak pawns and is ready to seize the initiative. Probably it was wrong to give up the e5- and g5- squares by pushing White’s f-pawn. 37 Hd3 Wes? After the manoeuvre 37...27 38 g4 Dd8 39 Bd5 Axc6 White could only dream about survival. 38 Hd5 Wa3 39 sb1 Ab6 40 cq The sacrifice 40 Rexe5! gives White an extra pawn and good winning chances after 40...dxe5 41 Ha7 Sxb3+ 42 axb3 Wxb3+ 43 Wb2 Wxb2+ 44 dxb2 hbo 45 Bd6. 40,,.a6? A better try was the wild 40...Rxb3+ 41 axb3 Wxb3+ 42 Wel Wxed+ 43 Sd1 We4+ 44 Be2 Wadi 45 Bel xg3+ 46 sefl Wal+ 47 Wd1 Wxd1+ 48 Exd1 2e5 49 Mbl, although this still is lost for Black. 41 Obs a4 42 He3 axb3 43 Hexb3 Waq 44 We3+ 1-0 Checkmate follows. Game 17 D.Bronstein-F.Gheorghiu Petropolis Interzonal 1973 Leqc5 2 Df3 dé 3 da cxdg 4 Axdg Afe 5 Ac3 a6 6 Rgs e6 7 f4 Abd7 8 We2z Innovative. In order to castle as quickly as possible, White blocks his light-squared bishop. In addition, e4-e5 and %\c3-d5 can become serious threats in the future. 8...We7 9 0-0-0 b5 10 a3 Hb8 Threatening 11..b4. A respectable 35Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian alternative is 10.207, while after 10...£b7 11 g4 Se7 12 Gg? 0-0 13 &h4 g6 14 Bhfl Abé 15 Rd3 Act 16 Bh3 Hac$ 17 £5 e5 18 Db3 d5 19 exd5 e4 20 Rxed Axed 21 Qxe7 Dxc3 22 Exc3 Hfes 23 {6 &xd5 White achieved an advan- tage, but the game was later drawn, in T.Radjabov-S.Karjakin, European Team Championship, Crete 2007. 11 Dd5 After the sacrifice is accepted, Black’s rook on b8 will become a target for White’s remaining knight. Ad..exd5 12 exd5+ 2e7 13 “\c6 A\b6 14 Sixf6 gxfé 15 g3 After 15 Oxb8 Wxb8 both sides have their chances. 15....b7 15..Bb7 16 WhS 2d7 17 Rg? &xc6 18 dxcé Mb8 19 Bhel gives White enough initiative for the piece 16 Dxbs Wxbs 17 2g2 Wd8 18 her Material is equal, but by attacking Black's weak structure and centralized king, White can continue to pose his opponent serious problems. 18...f5 19 Hd3 &d7 20 Whs cB 21 Waf5+ kbs 22 Wixt7 So the Black king has escaped, but White's two extra pawns and open e- file give him a winning advantage. 22...Sf6 23 Hde3 &xb2+ The last chance to complicate the game. 24 texb2 Acq+ 25 a2 Dxe3 26 xed Wb6 27 He8+ Exes 28 Wxe8+ a7 29 Wea L, We 4 a, a ae mee Wan White has defended his king and is now ready to roll his passed f-pawn. 29...¥f2 30 Sb2 a5 31 f5 bE 32 g4 hé 33 2f3 Wxh2 34 16 Wha 35 War wc7 3647 1-0 36... We7 37 Wig7 will make a second queen. Game 18 L.Zaitsev-B.Anetbaev Odessa 1972 1e4 c5 2 Af3 dé 3 da cxda 4 Axds ATE 5 e3 a6 6 2gs 6 7 f4 Re7 8 WES We7 9 0-0-0 Dbd7 10 &d3 b5 11 Hhea 2b7 42 Dd5 Kasparov doesn’t trust this sacrifice, although GM Alex Stripunsky believes 36The Knight Sacrifice on d5 it is enough for a draw. Maybe it’s not so good, but it has baffled many strong players. Certainly, though, it's a memorable sacrifice for me, as a while ago I was teaching one of my students this crazy variation. In the beginning it made her lose a couple of important games, but later she easily checkmated a master and so qualified for a World Gitl’s Championship. 12...exd5, My game continued 12..@xd5 13 exd5 &xd3? (critical is 13...0.xg5 14 Bxe6+) 14 Wxd5 exd5 15 Bxe7+ Gf8 16 2£5 h6 (16..hd8 17 Reb wins) 17 Qg6 (better was 17 Bxd7) 17...hxg5? (the amazing 17...0h7 creates an unclear position) 18 Sxf7+ Se8 19 Deb Wed 20 Bxg7 and mate. 13 As Of8 This should lose! Better is 13...dxe4 14 Sxed Dxed (14...He5 15 fxe5 Axed 16 Bxe7 cB 17 4\xg7+ forced Black to give up in M.Brodsky-V.Mudrov, Nov- gorod 1995) 15 Hxe4 with chances for both sides. 14e5! Superior here to 14 exd5+, as my student's student once tried without success. 14...dxe5 15 fxes 15...xe§ According to the computer Black is better after 15..e4, but in fact he should lose after the fascinating line 16 Qxed dred 17 Bxet &xe4 18 Wxed Wh8 19 €6 eS 20 exf7+ Lxi7 21 Hd 7+ Dxd7 22 Wid5+ deg6 23 Dhd+ Hh5 24 WES Hes 25 24+ dxh4 26 We5 mate. 16 Dxg7+ This wins back the material and soon the game. 16... 2xg7 17 Lxf6 SFB 18 2xg7+ kexg7 19 Wg3+ &f8 20 Hxe5 Wbé 21 Ef Wh6+ 22 Sb1 Hgs 23 Uxf7+! 37Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian A beautiful sacrifice, which imme- diately concludes the game. 23...xf7 24 Bf5+ 1-0 It’s mate after 24...%e6 25 WeS+ &d7 26 HE7+ Sed8 27 We7+ ec8 28 Wc7. Game 19 J.Fluvia Poyatos-A.Gual Pascual Badalona 2001 Ledc5 2 Afs dé 3 da Af6 4 Ac3 cxd4 5 ®xd4 a6 6 Dgs e6 7 f4 Dbd7 8 WES We7 9 0-0-0 b5 10 2d3 2b7 11 Hhet e712 Ads? White chose to give this compli- cated idea a try even though theory hasn't always trusted it. 12...Axd5 13 exdS 2xgs 14 Lxes+ apetiee pte A theoretical rook sacrifice which makes life very difficult for Black 14...fxe6 15 Axe6 After 15 Wh5+ 26 16 &xg6+ hxgo (and not 16...8e7? 17 Wxg5+ Af 18 WNS+ d7 19 dxe6+ Bc6 20 Bxd6+ Wxd6 21 Axd6 &xd6 22 7 DAS 23 e7 De7 24 WeS+ Sd7 25 {5 Hhe8 26 Re6+ Dxeb6 27 Wxeb6+ Bc7 28 f6, which forced Y Black to resign in Djikic-B.Damljanovic, Yugoslavia 1980) 17 Wxg6+ Bd8 18 Dxeb+ cB 19 Wxg5, despite being down two pieces White can still pose a number of problems: for example, 19... Wee 20 Wy7 Hd8 21 We7 Hes 22 WIT Af6 23 Hdd Wel+ 24 Bdl Wed 25 d4 with a repetition. 15..S.xf4+? Natural, but bad. Better is 15... ¥b6 16 Wh5S+ g6 17 Bxg6+ Be7 18 Wxg5+ 26 19 &h5 Bags 20 \g7 We3+ 21 Hb1 Bc8 22 Wh4 Bixg7 23 Bel Wxelt+ 24 Wxelt &d8 when material is equal, but the position very unclear. 16 Wxf4 Wb6 17 Wgs i ay q ae Black is helpless. 17...0¥8 18 Hei Axes 19 Rxe6+ df8 20 Wfs+1-0 After 20...%g8 21 Be7 Wgl+ 22 @f1 Wexfl+ 23 Wxfl &xd5 24 WiS Ocd 25 Wd? White will force mate. We now turn to a famous game in which the American master Sidney Bernstein sacrificed his knight on d5, but Fischer easily won by placing his pieces on the right squares. 38Game 20 S.Bernstein-R.Fischer U.S. Championship, New York 1957 1e4.c5 2 Df3 dé 3 d4 cxdg 4 Anda AE 5 23 a6 6 gs e6 7 f4 2e7 8 Ws Dbd7 9 0-0-0 We7 10 g4 b5 11 Sg2 This natural move wastes 2 vital tempo and probably misplaces the bishop. Instead 11 &xf6 Axf6 12 g5 ®d7 13 £5 is a well-known theoretical variation. However, if White wants to sacrifice his knight he should prefer the central strategy 10 &d3 followed by 11 Khel, as we've just seen in action. 11...2b7 12 fhe bq After 12...2b6 13 &xf6 Qxf6 14 g5 Re7 15 h4 b4 16 Ace? g6 17 HI d5 18 5 Sad 19 h5 Wh6 20 Bht 0-0-0 21 hxgé hxgé 22 Bh6 Sb8 23 Kdhi Bhis 24 Kh7 a5 25 Be? 246 26 Mhh7 &c5 the posi- tion was unclear in Y.Sakharov- V.Korchnoi, Leningrad 1960. 13 Dds? This certainly looks good, as all The Knight Sacrifice on d5 White's pieces are ready to smash the black king. However, Black’s king can sidestep the threats. Thus 13 Aad looks like the best try. 13...exd5 14 exd5 &f8! 14...92d87 15 We2 Abb 16 AS Ac& 17 Axg7 DBe8 18 DH Lxgs 19 fxg5 is too dangerous for Black. 15 fs Hes White hopes to double his rooks on the e-file, improve the position of his queen and push his kingside pawns, but Black can position his pieces in the right places much more quickly. 16 We3 2d8 Larsen against Tal forgot to place his Bishop on d8, as we will see shortly, but Fischer understood how this seemingly passive bishop can spring into action from bé6. 17 Wida £8 Alternatively, the line 17..a5 18 HxeB+ AxeS 19 @xd8 Wxd8 20 el Acs 21 AxeB+ Sexe8 22 Wxe7 d7 23 Wxi7+ €c8 should win too for Black. 18 ih4 18 Wxb4 gives White chances fo sur- vive. 39Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian 18.,.7\¢5 19 Dxg7 Better fighting chances were offered by 19 &xf6 gxfo 20 Bxe8+ Gxe8 21 Wxbd Oxf5 22 gxtS Hyd. 19... 2xg7 20 g5 2F5 21 gxf6+ Lhé The black king is actually quite safe, whereas White king’s is in danger. 22 Weq Dd7 23 Wxc7 Qxc7 24 23 Las 25 Qgs+ Hg6 26 Bei Qxfé6 27 Ghar he Sid continues to fight, but down a piece he could have packed it in for the day. 28 Axf6 Axf6 29 Hgs Le4 30 Ra 2g6 31 Bfgi Ke3 32 Adi eq 33 H5g2 fs 34 fe2 a5 35 h4 Ah3 36 hs Oxhs 37 Rd3 Qg6 38 Lf Ks 39 edi Df 40 Het Dxd5 41 Hf2 Le3 42 Ogi Hey 43 hd2 Sg7 44 RF3 0-1 Game 21 D.Lima-I.Morovic Fernandez Sao Paulo 2002 Led c5 2 AF3 d6 3 da cxd4 4 Axdg AE 5 Ac3 a6 6 Les e6 7 f4 Dbd7 8 Ws We7 9 0-0-0 2e7 10 ga b5 11 &xfé Quk6 12 g5 Dd7 13 f5 Acs 13...Sxg5+ is another theoretical move, but the text will allow White to demonstrate two amazing sacrifices. 14 {6 gxf6 15 gxf6 2f8 16 gi hs 17 Bg7 2b7 After 17..Qxg7 18 fxg7 Bg8 19 @DdxbS axb5 20 AxbS5 We7 21 Axdé+ Whites wins the queen and the game. Thus the most popular option is 17...b4!?, after which, for example, 18 Ad5 exd5 19 exd5 Ad7 20 Acé &b7 21 Bel+ De 22 Axed dxe5 23 Lh3 Wd6 24 WeS Wxf6 25 Wxed+ WxeS 26 Hxes+ @d8 27 Exi7 Sc8 28 ExhS Mxh5 29 Bxf8+ de7 30 d6+ dexd6 31 Bxc8 Maz 32 Hd8+ saw Black manage to draw in R.Hall-A Kiss, correspondence 2002. 18 &h3 b419 Dds uae oan a re nt “46g e aG a. i, 19...exd5 20 exd5 Ad7? This logical move loses immedi- ately. The superior 20.808 21 Acé+ Rxc6 22 dxc6 Bxg7 23 fxg7 Kgs 24 WxhS De6 25 Bfl Axg7 26 West tes 27 B.d7+ WB 28 We6 DIS 29 Wxfs Ap7 30 h4 would only have given White a slight advantage 21 Axd7+ Wxd7 22 Dc6 &xc6 23 Reis 40248 24 dxcé Wc7 25 Wea 2.xg7 26 fxg7 1-0 We now come to a famous game, the finale of Tal’s 1965 Candidates maich against Larsen. Tal’s knight sac- rifice has long graced the pages of many chess books and magazines. In- deed, for about 40 years now many chess coaches have demonstrated this game as an example of Tal’s tactical genius. That it may well be. But was it correct? Let us see... Game 22 M.Tal-B.Larsen 10th matchgame, Bled 1965 Leac5 2 AfZ3 Deb 3 da exdg 4 Axdg e6 5 \c3 d6 6 2e3 SAFE 7 £4 2e7 8 WEE 0-0 9 0-0-0 Wc7 10 Ddb5 Wb8 11 g4 a6 12 Ada Dxd4 13 2xd4 bs The aggressive 13..c5 14 g5 &g4 15 Weg3 exd4 (15...Rxd1? 16 gxf6 Qxf6 17 Dd5 Wh8 18 Axf6 gxf6 19 23 looks like a win for White) 16 Axd4 2e6 17 gxf6 &xf6 18 Hd3 is unclear, but we would rather be White. 14 g5 Ad7 15 2d3 bq The seemingly natural 15...2b7 forced Black to resign after 16 Wh3 Ad8 17 Hhgl €5 18 AdS &xd5 19 exd5 g6 20 65 exd4 21 fxg6 hxge 22 &xg6 48 23 Axf7+ dext7 24 gor seg? 25 dfl &f6 26 Axf6 in ASuetin-E Jimenez Zerquera, Havana 1969. 16 d5?! In almost every book before you will have seen ‘H attached to this The Knight Sacrifice on 45 move, perhaps because the great Tal won this game. However, we believe 16 Se2 was safer and stronger. 16,..exd5! 16...2d8? 17 A\f6+ is winning for White: 17...gxf6 18 gxf6 &xf6 19 Hhgl+ Wh8 20 e5 We8 21 exfs Afs 22 WhS 45 23 Bxg8t dexg8 24 Wh6 mates. 17 exd5 5 18 Ades Lf7?! Much better was 18..2d8! a la Fischer. It is important to keep this bishop for now, watching e7 and pre- paring a well-timed ....2b6! to kill off a white attacker. Then 19 h4 Acdt (19...2b6? 20 &xg7! dexg7 21 Whs Bt7 22 Whe: Ses 23 Bes+ AB 24 h5 Lda 25 g6 We7 26 gxh7+ Wh8 27 Bgl Axg! 28 Wg6 Ieads to mate) 20 204 Med 21 g6 h6 easily stops White's attack, leav- ing Black with an extra piece. 19 ha 19 RxfS ALB 20 Leb Dxe6 21 dxes 35 is good for Black. 19...2b7 The alternative 19...A\c5 is not good enough, e.g. 20 h5 Dxd3+ 21 Wxd3 £18 22 g6 Bb7 23 h6 gxh6 24 Wg3 We7 25 He8 with a win. 42Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian 20 2xf5 Bxfs The best was 20...D£8, but even so 21 &xh7+ Wxh7 22 5 Sxg5 23 Wed+ bg8 24 fxg5 Wd8 25 g6 Mc7 26 Bhgl Hac8 27 h6 gxh6 28 Wd Bxc2+ 29 tbI should crush the black king. 21 Rxe7 Des 22 Weg WEB 23 fxeS KF4 24 We3 ‘24.. .RxA5 25 exd6 Axd4 26 Wxd4 &xh1 27 b3! leaves Black with an extra bishop, but a bad position where White's dangerous d-pawn, active pieces and attack should prove deci- sive. 25 We2 Wxe7 26 Wxf3 dxeS 27 Het 42 dB 28 Exes Wd6 29 Wis AFB 30 Wea With two extra pawns, White can even allow some checks. 30...b3 34 axb3 Hf1+ 32 sed2 Wb4+ 33 3 Wid6 34 2c5 Wxc5 35 KeS+ AES 36 We6+ Yhs 37 Wi7 1-0 Larsen defended like a lion, but Tal's amazing tactical ability over- whelmed his resistance. Let us now return to the position af- ter 17 exd5 and check out Black’s main alternative defence: 17.086 For many years this was considered a better try than 17...{5, but... 18 Hhea!! £48 After 18..Be8 19 2£6 Axf6 20 gxfo h5 21 We3 Gigd 22 fxe7 Oxdl 23 Oxg6 fxg6 24 Wxg6ét #h8 25 Wh6r Sg8 26 Weg5+ Ph8 27 £5 Black can’t protect his king. 19 Wh3 Aes 19...A\c5? doesn’t stop the mating at- tack after 20 Wh6 Axd3+ 21 Hxd3 £6 22 gxfo We7 23 Le7 Wxe7 24 fxe7. Neither would 19...h5 have helped: 20 gxh6 2£6 21 Bxf6 Axfo 22 Wh4 Mh7 23 We3 We724 £5 g5 25 £6 4 26 Re7 We5 27 Wi4 b3 28 axb3 Wad 29 bbl Wds 30 &xh7+ Sixh7 31 We5 3p8 32 Axf7+ Wh8 33 Bg7 Ma7 34 Mel 25 35 WxfS and Black’s position is hopeless. 20 Wh6 2b6 21 f5!! We analysed many moyes, but only this generates a strong enough attack to keep White in the game. 24...2x5, Here 21...gxf5 22 Rxb6l! Ags 23 Adal! is an amazing queen sacrifice which took us many hours to find and then work out: 23...Axh6 24 gxhé Hd8 (the superior 24...f6 25 He7 BE7! 26 Re8+ 2{8 27 He7 HE7 forces a repetition) 25 Ad2 Se6 26 dxe6 fxe6 27 Hxe6 Lf8 28 Hg2 He8 29 for de7 30 Sxf5 dB 31 Af7 Ha7 32 Sxa7 Wra7 33 Sxa7 wins. 22 Q2xf5 gxfs 23 Hxes dxes 24 2xb6 Wes The Knight Sacrifice on d5 Another eventually level line runs 24,..<3c8 25 Md3 e4 26 Ndi Wf4+ 27 Wbt ‘We 28 Bg] We2 29 g6 Wxc2+ 30 eal fxg6 31 Exgot hxg6 32 Wxg6+ &f8 33 Wi6+ dee8 34 Weo+ S835 Wie+ Sg8 36 Wg6+ Wi8 37 Wi6+ with perpetual check. 25 d6 25...Wd7 Better than 25...Wc6? 26 d7 Wxhé 27 gxh6 Bfd8 28 Bgl+ dhs 29 &c7 HiB 30 Bd1 Bad8 31 Qd6 Ggs 32 Agl+ hs 33 Re7 £6 34 Bxd8 Hxd8 35 Ag7 ed 36 He? ‘kg8 37 Be8+ Yf7 38 Bxd8 and wins. 26 Ed3 f4 27 Hh3 Ws 28 d7 Hfds 29 Hd3 £3 30 Ws Wxfé 31 gxfé f2 32 Axf2 Mab8 33 2c5 Hb7 34 Hg3+ Whs 35 Le7 Hdxd7 36 2f8 hs 37 Hgs wh7 38 Bg7+ Shs 39 Kgs Again the game should finish in a draw by repetition. 43Chapter Two The Knight Sacrifice on e6 The sacrifice A(x)e6 is one of the less common sacrificial ideas in the Sicilian, as it tends to be a true sacrifice; White generally obtains only two pawns for his piece, However, from a strategic viewpoint, White gains complete domination of the vital central squares d5 and £5, whilst ripping away the pawn cover of the black king. The light-squared bishop which settles on e6 can play a leading role in the attack, especially if the g6-square has been weakened by an advance of Black's h- pawn. The weakness of g6 is in fact a green light for 4\xe6, as in the follow- ing classic contest. Game 23 M.Stean-W.Browne Nice Olympiad 1974 1e4c5 2 Df3 dé 3 da cxd4 4 Dxd4 AE 5 De3 a6 6 Ses Abd7 7 2c4 06 At that time 7...Wa5 had been get- ting hammered, as in Spassky- Petrosian, 19th matchgame 1969, which will be discussed in more detail in Chapter Seven. 80-0 Threatening a timely &xe6! 8...h6 9 2xf6! White plays a la Spassky. 9...2xf6 10 2b3 bé 11 f4 &b7 12 Wd3 Re7 Now White must decide whether to 44play fairly calmly with the standard thrust f4-f5, or to sacrifice something on e6. Since the American chess patron LS.Turover had offered a prize of $1000 for the most brilliant game at Nice, the young English IM went for the sacrifice with gusto. 13 Dxeb! fue 14 Sxe6 Now Black’s king is stuck in the centre, and there is the nasty if obvious threat of efe5 followed by Wd3-g6+. Note that White had to sacrifice this way round: 13 S&xe6? fxe6 14 Axe6 Wa7 15 Dxg7+ S18! 16 DS Qxcd! wins for Black. 14...b5 In_ the noted that he would have answered 14..Ad7 with 15 Had] AcS 16 Wh3 @xeé 17 Wxe6. If instead 14...2.08, the bishop drops back to b3 and Black is no closer to escaping from the centre. 15 e5 Wb6+ 16 Bhi dxe5 17 Wg6+ hds 18 WF7! tournament book, Stean 7 gis Ss 6 eB 2RES a: Now the plan is Zad1+ and/or fxe5. 18,..Wc5 19 fxe5 Qxg2+ Hoping for a miracle on the g-file. Gligotic gives 19...2f8 20 Wxg7 Dd7 21 The Knight Sacrifice on e6 Hfd1 as winning, while 19..Ae8 20 Kad1+ @c7 21 Rd7+ is futile. 20 sexg2 Hfe 21 Bada+ Sc7 22 Wxg7 Ege 23 exf6! Keeping the bishop around to sup- port the resulting passed pawn proves to be the cleanest way to win. 23...Exg7+ 24 fxg7 2d6 The point of White's 23rd is appar- ent after 24,..Wg5+ 25 @h1 Wxg7 26 Hi7 We5 27 Bxe7+ Wxe7 28 Dd5+. 25 Hf7+ dc6 26 Ld5+ Wb6 27 &xaB Wg5+ 28 hi Ge5 29 b4 a5 30Eb7+ White has mate in 8 with 30 @d5+ but the text is good enough. 30...06 It's mate after 30...@a6 31 Bxb5 Wxg7 32 Bxa5+ Sb6 33 Dd5, as Gli- goric pointed out. 31 g8/W Wxge 32 Ubs+ 1-0 Browne was undoubtedly short of time and could not pause to resign sooner. By the way, Stean got his $1000! It's harder to make Axe6 work if you pick up less than two pawns or if 45Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian the black king has castled. Thus when Black has castled, the sacrifice tends to be of the sham variety. White may be able to use the d5-square to recoup his investment, as in the following extract Game 24 O.Nikolenko-Z.Nagy Budapest 1990 Les c5 2 Af3 dé 3 da cxdg 4 Dud4 AE 5 Dc3 a6 6 cg e6 7 0-0 bS 8 Sb3 Ke7 9 ifs We This eccentric manoeuvre stems from Kavalek, I believe. These days 9...Wc7 is sometimes preferred. 10 2e3 Wb7 11 Wg3 “\bd7 22 £3 0-013 Ads! 248 Of course, 13...exd5? 14 AFS is deci- sive. 14 Dxf6+ 2xf6 15 Bada A computer would snatch the d6- pawn at once. 15...01d8? More obstinate was 15...2e5. 16 A\xe6! This transaction will leave White comfortably ahead in material 16...fxe6 17 Rxe6+ Wh8 18 Ads There's that square again! 18...Wb8 19 Qxa8 Wxas 20 Wxd6 Only now! At this point 20.48 21 Wxd8! is strong, so Black played... 20...8.b7 21 We6 and White duly converted his mate- rial plus and won in 38 moves. Nonetheless, we have included a few examples of Axe6 sacrifices against a castled king. It's hard, though, to find many examples at high levels nowa- days, as defensive technique has im- proved considerably thanks to the pro- liferation of silicon. (Also, consult Minic-Fischer in the introduction to Chapter Four for an example of A\xe6 working against a king castled short.) Over to Yury... Game 25 B.Spassky-K.Darga Varna Olympiad 1962 2 ed c5 2 AF3 Dc 3 dA cxd4 4 Axd4 e6 465 c3 We7 6 2e3 a6 7 a3 bS 8 2e2 2b7 9 £4 Af6 10 £3 d6 110-0 Aas It must be wrong to play actively before developing your pieces. More logical is 11..2e7 12 Wel Axd4 13 Axdé e5 14 Se3 0-0 15 Bdl Hfes 16 Wg3, as in R.Nezhmetdinov- B.Vladimirov, Baku 1961, and now the most direct scems to be 16...Wced with good play. 12 We2 “\c4 13 e5 13..7)Ke3 After 13...dxe5? 14 AdxbS axbS 15 @xb5 Wd7 16 Wxc4 Kes 17 Wb3 an ex- tra pawn, three passed pawns and de- cent activity should give White a win- ning position. 14 Wxe3 dxeS 15 fxe5 Dd7 16 Oxb7 Wxb7 17 Wa Ab6 18 Hada \aqg?? After 18...2d8! 19 De4 we have: a) The attempt to win a pawn can cause Black a lot of problems: 19... A\c42! 20 b3 4xa3 21 whi Md7 22 Dg5 Ac5 23 Ddxeé!! tres 24 Axes Lb6 25 Bxd7 Wxd7 (25..stxd7 leaves Black's king in a mating net after 26 Wg4 de8. 27 Bxg7+) 26 E81 Wo? (26...We7 27 WES xt 28 We6+ wins) 27 Wet Wd5 The Knight Sacrifice on e6 (27.28 28 We6+ We7 29 We6+) 28 Whs+ g6 29 Axg6 Kgs 30 Dh, pro- tecting the g2-pawn and winning ma- terial after 30...8d8 31 Rdl &d4 32 3. b) 19.,.4d5! 20 @h1 Acs 21 Dgs Bcd 22.53 Bxdd 23 Axd4 AxeS 24 Wed gave Black a defensible position in S.Korolev-H.Palm, correspondence 1982, but after couple of bad moves he lost. 19 @\xa4 bxa4 20 G1 2e5 The best try was 20...c8, although 21 43 leaves White with an advantage sufficient to win. 21 Dxeé! After this sacrifice the black king will be stuck in the centre forever. Now White’s queen will tease him from both flanks until his resignation. 21...fxe6 22 Wage Wb5 23 We4 Black can’t defend both pawns. 23...We6 24 Wxg7 fs 25 Axf8+ &xfs 26 Wxh7 Black's king is surrounded and nothing can help him. 26...Rc8 27 Wg6+ 1-0 White wins with 27..sbe7 28 Rdé Wed 29 Wh7+. 47Seven Ways to Smash the Sicilian Game 26 G.Kasparov-L.Van Wely Wijk aan Zee 2000 Le4c5 2 Af3 d6 3 dé cxda 4 A\xd4 DFE 5 Dc3 a6 6 Se} e6 7 f3 b5 8 g4 h69 Wd2 Abd? 10 0-0-0 Ab7 11 h4 b4 12 Daa A typical position for the English Aitack where White is planning to as- sault Black’s kingside. 12.45, 12...Wa5 is another choice which af- ter the popular 13 b3 Dc5 14 a3 Axat 15 axb4 We7 16 bxad leads to a very complicated position with chances for both sides, 13 &h3 g5 Alternatively, 13...Wa5 14 b3 dxe4 15 gS hxg5 16 hxg5 ex!3 17 Dxe6 fxe6 18 Qxe6 Bxh1 19 &xd7+ Sf7 20 Exh Ded 21 Wad Wd5 led to a very unclear position in the game B.Lugo- LNovikov, San Diego 2004. We believe this game should finish as a draw, but after couple of mistakes White lost the endgame. 14 &g2 gxh4 Kasparov suggests 14... g8!? with a playable game. 15 Oxh4 dxeq Our computer's choice 15...A\xe4?! left Black in a completely lost position after the further 16 fxe4 Wxh4 17 exdd 25 18 dé e4 19 Dc5 Axc5 20 AfS Ad3+ 21 cxd3 Wd8 22 dxet Wd7 23 Wd4 of A.Copar-P.Clement, _ correspondence 2003. Instead 15...Wa5 was analysed by Kasparov, who gave 16 b3 dxe4 17 g5 2d5 18 Axes! fxe6 19 fxe4 as winning. 16 g5 Ad5 17 Hxeq hxgs The computer believes that after 17... Wa5 Black is better, but according to our analysis after 18 @xe6! fxe6 19 &h3 Wxad 20 &xe6 0-0-0 21 Eed+! (21 &xd5? is losing after 21..A\c5 22 Bxb4 Bxd5 23 Wxd5 &xd5 24 Bxad Axad 25 Exd5 hxg5 26 &xg5 Hhl+ 27 &d2 Hh2+ 28 e3 205+ 29 Yes Exc2 and Black will enjoy an extra knight) 21..s8b8 22 Sxdb Dds 23 Wd Wxa2 24 Bc8+ AxcB 25 Bf4+ SaB 26 Bxb7+ exb7 27 Wed+ Geb6 28 Hxd8 hxgS 29 Exc8 Hhi+ 30 shd2 gxf4 31 We6+ da 32 a8 Black will be mated in a few moves. 18 &xgs Was? Better is 18..Wxg5! 19 Wxg5 &h6, al- though White is still better according to Kasparov. 19 f4 Hh2 The attempt to slow White down by playing 19...c5 proves fruitless after 20 )f5 (Kasparov gives 20 Db3! as win- ning) 20...f6 21 ed fxg5 22 Dxd5 gxft 23 Dabo Axd5 24 AxdS ds 25 213 &g7 26 Wxf4. Meanwhile the defensive 48try 19.2716 leads to trouble after 20 Axf6 Dxf6 21 Axeb! &xe4 22 &xed HB 23 DxfS We7 (23...Wxad 24 Wd6 Axed 25 WeS+ dexf8 26 Wxh8+ de7 27 Wxcs wins material and mates shortly) 24 B15 Md8 25 Ad7 Dxd7 26 Hel+ Lf8 27 Wxb4+ dhg7 28 Wdd+ Di 29 Hgl+ and Black will lose material 20 Dxe6! This concludes the game in style. 20...fxe6 21 Lxe6+ 27 22 Wd3 297 23 W5+ dg 24 Exd5 Wxad4 25 %e7 1-0 Black can’t escape the mating threats. A crushing attack from the 13th World Champion which left nei- ther the computer nor Van Wely able to figure out what was going on. Game 27 LShamkovich-P.Benko U.S. Championship, Pasadena 1978 1e4 5 2 43 e6 3 dq cxd4 4 Axdg DFE 5 De3 d6 6 g4 a6 7 g5 Dfd7 8 Ges b59 a3 4\b6 10 gi A8d7 11 f4 267 12 F5, After the less direct 12 W£3 Bc8 13 The Knight Sacrifice on e6 B£2 We7 14 0-0-0 e5 15 DMS Dad 16 Bel DdcS 17 2d3 g6 18 Des Dxd3+ 19 Bxd3 exf4 20 Wxf4 we see a very un- clear position which White managed to win in P.Enders-L.Espig, German League 1999. 12...€5 13 De6? This looks like a good sacrifice where all White’s pieces are ready to pounce on an open black king, but in reality Black has enough resources to protect his Majesty. Instead 13 “b3 Hc8 14 £d3 Ded 15 Sxcd Exod 16 Wd3 Wa 17 d2 Be8 18 0-0-0 Ac5 19 Kxc5 BxcS left White with a slight advantage in Y.Balashov-B.Malich, Leipzig 1973. 13...fxe6! If Black refuses this kind offer, White can get a better position: for ex- ample, after 13...Wb8 14 Dxi8 Bxi8 15 Wd2 @c5 16 Hg4 Black has to solve many problems. 14 Wh5+ The alternative 14 fxe6!? doesn't give White enough initiative for a piece after 14...c5: for instance, 15 &xc5 dxc5 16 WE3 We7 17 DdS Axd5 18 exd5 Hd8 19 0-0-0 Hd6 20 &h3 g6 21 Wie 49