SicilianB70

IM Albert Bokros (2405)
Pontus Carlsson (2186)

U-18 World Championships
Oropesa del Mar, SPN, 1999


1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be2 A small surprise for me as Bokros normally plays the Yugoslav attack with 6.Be3,f3 and Qd2. 6... Bg7 7. O-O O-O In this position white can choose between some different kind of setups. Bokros choses one based on Bg5. 8. Bg5 Nc6 9. Nb3 This is a s tandard move in the classical dragon. White moves his knight to b3 to avoid that it hangs loose at d4 due to some Nxe4 combination. 9... a6










White's plan in this variation is to place his c3 knight at d5. In order to achive this he plays f4 followed by Bf3. When the knight reaches d5 black normally has to take it so that white can't take at f6 and give black a double pawn. After black has taken the knight white takes back with the e-pawn. When this is done white puts a lot of pressure at black's e-pawn by doubling rooks at the e-file. Black's counter plan is to expand his queenside territory by advancing with his queenside pawns and to put white's e-pawn under some pressure. 10. f4 It`s also possible for white to play a4 to stop black's plan to play b5.The drawback with this move is that it weakens the b4 square. After 10. a4 play might follow 10... Be6 11. f4 b5! This is a normal theme in the Dragon and Sicilian. Black offers his wing pawn in order to get white's central e4 pawn. 12. Bf3 (12. axb5 axb5 13. Rxa8 (13. Bxb5 Qb6+ 14. Kh1 Nxe4 15. Rxa8 (15. Bxc6 Rxa1 16. Qxa1 Qxc6 17. Na5 Qa8 18. Bxe7 Re8 19. Nxe4 (19. Bh4 Nxc3 20. bxc3 Bd5 21. Rg1 (21. Rf2?? Qxa5!) 21... Re2) 19... Qxe4 20. Bxd6 Bd5 21. Rg1 Bxb2! 22. Qb1 (22. Qxb2?? Qxg2+! 23. Rxg2 Re1#) 22... Bd4 Some long variations but they are quite instructive. One should notice that black can afford to sacrifice one or even two pawns since it's an open position and in such positions the bishop pair can be cruel.) 15... Rxa8 16. Bxc6 Qxc6 17. Bxe7 Nxc3 18. bxc3 Bd5 with an edge for black whose bishops will dominate the board.) 13... Qb6+ 14. Kh1 Rxa8 15. Bxb5 Nxe4! with a good position for black. Play might continue 16. Bxc6 Qxc6 17. Nxe4 Qxe4 18. Bxe7 Bxb3?? and Black wins.) 12... b4 13. Nd5 Bxd5 14. exd5 Na5 15. Nd4 Qb6 16. Kh1 Rac8 17. f5 Rc4 with good play for black in the game Moutousis - Shirov (Santiago 1990) Here white has followed his plan but black's weakness at e7 more than compensates by white's weakness at the diagonal h8-a1 and black's firm hold of the important c4 square. 10... b5 11. Bf3 b4 12. Nd5 White continues his plan. Possible here is also 12. Na4 which led to unclear play in the game Gipsilis - Shirov (Daugavpils 1990) after 12... Qc7 13. c4 Nd7 14. Kh1 a5 15. Qd2 Nb6 16. Nxb6 Qxb6 12... Nxd5 13. exd5 Na5 The English super GM Julian Hodgson has played 13... Na7!? here but to me it looks more natural to aim towards the c4 square. 14. Qe2!










There are some other moves also but they are probably worse; for example 14. Rb1 Nc4 15. Qe2 Qc7 16. Kh1 Bf5 with an edge for black Zapata - Miles (Thessaloniki 1984) 14. Re1 Nc4 15. Qe2 Qb6+ 16. Qf2 Qxf2+ 17. Kxf2 a5 18. Be2 Ba6 with a slight edge for black Ciric - Petursson (San Bernardino 1991) 14. Nxa5 Qxa5 15. Kh1 Re8! 16. Re1 Bxb2 17. Rb1 Bc3 18. Rxe7 Rxe7 19. Bxe7 Qxa2 with an edge for black in the game Basanta - Tolnai (Saint John 1988) 14... Re8! A novelty that I found at the board. It feels quite weird that a natural move like this with an obvious point to guard the e7 pawn is a novelty. Earlier play has continued 14... Bxb2 15. Bxe7 Qb6+ 16. Qf2 Qxf2+ 17. Kxf2 Bxa1 18. Rxa1 Nc4 19. Bxf8 Kxf8 20. c3 a5 a5 with roughly equal play. 15. Rab1 White found no better move than to guard his b- pawn. In analogy black's rook at e8 is clearly better placed than white's at b1 since black might open up the game with e6 after moving his queen. 15... Bf5! White's problem is his bad b and c-pawns and his passive pieces. Black now wants to play Qb6+ followed by moving his queen's rook to c8 to create a strong pressure at white's queenside. When the rook is at c8 black is ready to either move his knight to c4, or to open up the game with e6. Another idea with the move Bf5 is that white hardly can allow that black's bishop is placed at f5,so I thought that he might chase it away with 16.g4 but then he has really weakened his kingside. So one point is also to provoke white to play g4. 16. Be4? Bokros tries to exchange my active bishop at f5,but this move leads to trouble. Better was 16.Kh1 When black has a pleasant choice between Qb6 and Qc7. 16... Qb6+ 17. Kh1 e6 18. Qd3 Nxb3 19. axb3 19. cxb3 Qb5! with a clear edge for black 19... Qd4 Now black wants to exchange queens since white has a lot of weak pawns and if the queens are exchanged it will be easier for black to attack them. 20. Bxf5 exf5










Black is now clearly better. White has problems both with his pawn structure and at the e- file. The difference in the pawn structure is best illustrated by black's double pawns at f7 and f5 and white's double pawns at b2 and b3. The black pawns covers important entryfields both for white and black rooks. And the black pawn at f5 also stops white from playing f5 ,while white's pawns at a2 and b3 only is in the way. 21. Qc4 Rac8! Black rejects white's offer to exchange queens at c4 since this clearly would have improved white's pawn structure. Instead I temporary sacrified a pawn in order to control the important c-file. 22. Qxa6 h6! An important zwischenzug that enables me to enter white's position with both my rooks since my king now has an escape square at h7. 23. Rfd1 23. Bh4 Rxc2 24. Qxd6 Qe4 25. Rg1 Rxg2 26. Rxg2 Qxb1+ 27. Rg1 Qe4+ 28. Rg2 Qf3 23... Qf2 24. Rf1 Qe2 Now white is forced to exchange queens. As if that wasn't enough he has to exchange queens on my terms. 25. Qxe2 Rxe2 26. Bh4 Rcxc2










With material equality and both rooks at the second rank the rest is just a matter of technique. Black will just take white's b-pawns and then march straight down with his own b-pawn. From now on Bokros might not defend in the best way but one should remember that there is no good way! 27. Rfc1 Rxb2 28. Rxb2 28. Rg1 and now black can choose between 28... Bd4 and(28... Rxg2!) 28... Rxb2 Now black wins the b3 pawn also. 29. h3 Rxb3 30. Rc8+ Kh7 31. Rc7 Rb1+ 32. Kh2 b3 33. Rxf7 Kg8 34. Re7 b2 35. Re8+ Kf7 36. Re7+ Kf8 37. Rb7 Rd1 38. Rb8+ Kf7 39. Rb7+ Kg8 And here Albert resigned and sportsly congratulated me to a well-played game. 0-1 [Carlsson P.]

Game(s) in PGN