Chess Opening: Sicilian Defense Theory to Practice

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In Chess Opening: Queen’s Gambit Theory to Practice and Chess Opening: Nimzo-Indian Defense Theory to Practice, you have seen that starting with the basic theory of the respective openings discussed in Chess Opening: Control of Center – Part 3 and Chess Opening: Control of Center – Part 2, how some actual games proceeded to bring win to White as well as Black. The idea was to enable you to look carefully at the moves by the players to understand where White or Black went wrong in following the rules of chess strategy as well as chess tactics, which handed over the game to their opponents.

In continuation of the same theme for developing your comprehension about the opening theories, we now take up two games using Sicilian Defense that was discussed in Chess Opening: Control of Center – Part 1. Here also, White wins one game and Black wins the other within practically the same number of moves. None of the players may be known to you but all had ELO ratings in 2300-2600 range.

Since you have seen the first five moves of Sicilian Defense Najdorf variation in Chess Opening: Control of Center - Part 1, here we start with move 6 in both the games (ECO code: B95)

Borek Bernard-Tomas Civin Prague, 2003				Leonid Milov-Robert Ruck Griesheim, 2002
6.	Bg5	e6		6.	Bg5	e6
Position after move 6				Position after move 6

7.	Qf3	Nbd7		7.	Qf3	h6
8.	0-0-0	Qc7	Had 5. … a6 not been played, White Knights would be able to move to b5 to harass the Black Queen.	8.	Bh4	Nbd7
9.	Qh3	Nc5		9.	0-0-0	Qc7
10.	Bxf6	gxf6		10.	Qh3	Be7
Position after 10 moves				Position after 10 moves

You may note that White’s position is nearly identical in both games, but Black’s position looks cramped in both, though more solid in game 2.
11.	Be2	b5		11.	f4	b5
12.	a3	Rb8		12.	a3	Rb8
13.	b4	Nb7		13.	e5	dxe5
14.	Bh5	Nd8		14.	fxe5	Nxe5
15.	Rhe1	Bd7		15.	Bg3	b4
Position after 15 moves				Position after 15 moves

16.	Nd5!	exd5		16.	axb4	Rxb4
17.	exd5+	Be7		17.	Nf3	Nfg4
18.	Rxe7+	Kxe7		18.	Qh5	Bf6
19.	Qe3+	Ne6		19.	Re1	g6
Position after 19 moves				Position after 19 moves

20.	Bxf7	Kxf7		20.	Nd5	exd5
21.	dxe6+	Kg7		21.	Nxe5	0-0!
22.	Nf5+	Kg6		22.	Nxg4	Bxb2+
23.	Rd5	Resigns	White was threatening 24. Qh6# 23. … h6 24. Qg3+ Kh2 (24. … Kh5 25. Ng7#) 25. Qg7# 23. … Bxe6 24. Qh6+ Kf7 25. Qg7+ Ke8 26. Qxc7 (threatening 27. Qe7#) Bxf5 27. Qxb8+ Kf7 28. Qxh8 etc. White missed a quicker win by: 23. Qh6+ Kxf5 24. Qh5+ Ke4 (24. … Kxe6 25. Re1# or 24. … Kf4 Rd4#) 25. Qd5+ Kf4 26. Rd4#	23.	Kd1	Rd4+	White Resigned. After 24. Ke2 Qxc2+ 25. Ke3 Qd2+ 26. Kf3 Bxg4+ 27. Qxg4 Rxg4 28. Kxg4 Qg5+ 29. Kf3 (29. Kh3 Qf5+ 30. Kh4 Bf6#) Qh5+ etc. with checkmate only a matter of time.
The final position				The final position