MARK RUBERY CHESS
One of the most dangerous lines of the Sicilian is the Dragon Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6) which can lead to extremely sharp and heavily analysed positions. It is often characterised by opposite-side castling and mutual pawn storms. Fearless grandmasters such as Bent Larsen, Tony Miles and Veselin Topalov honed it into a respectable system, whilst at the highest level Kasparov used it successfully as a surprise weapon in his 1995 World Championship match with Anand.
The name “Dragon” was first coined by Russian chess master and amateur astronomer, Fyodor Dus-Chotimirsky, who noted the resemblance of Black’s kingside pawn structure to the constellation Draco.
The following game is from the penultimate round of the 2011 SA Closed (that saw Kobese and Steel share the title with an impressive 9/11), and is a spectacular demonstration of the perils linked to this aggressive variation.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 (The Yugoslav Attack is still the most critical test) …0–0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.Bc4 Bd7 10.Bb3 Na5 (10 … Rc8 11 h4 Ne5 with ideas of sacrificing the exchange on c3 followed by … Qa5 is the usual Dragon counter play while the text seems less flexible) 11.h4 Rc8? (11 … h5 had to be played to avoid the carnage that follows) 12.h5! Nxh5 13.g4 Nf6 14.Bh6 Bxh6 15.Qxh6 e6 (Black is already without a decent defence although our silicon friends contemplate the likes of 15 … Nxb3 16 Nd5 Qa5+ 17 c3 Qxd5 which should not suffice either) 16.g5! Nh5 17.Rxh5! gxh5 18.Nf5! … exf5 19.Nd5! (19 g6 allows … Qh4+) … Kh8 20.Nf6 Qxf6 21.gxf6 Rg8 22.Bxf7 Rg3 23.Kf2 f4 24.Qxf4 1–0
In 1965 an English student, Geoffrey Hosking, based in Moscow played a game against a fellow student after both consumed vast quantities of vodka. Although Hosking was a beginner at chess, his opponent, a Russian candidate master, somehow contrived to lose the game. Shortly after, the Soviet Chess Federation cabled the university, asking them to send a foreign master to a tournament in Baku. Hosking was asked, and at first protested, but eventually was persuaded to go (doubtless he fancied a free trip to Baku). What he found when he arrived there was a dozen international masters out for blood. Alas, there was no happy end for the Englishman and he finished with 0-12.