Classical Game Recap: 2024 Sacramento Chess Club Closed Championship, Round 1
Classical Game Recap: 2024 Sacramento Chess Club Closed Championship, Round 1
Or, When a Hyper-accelerated Dragon is just an Advanced Caro-Kann and I forget some rules about that.
It’s round 1 of the 2024 Sacramento Chess Club Closed Championship. I signed up and was expecting to be the last seed, as every other player was rated 1800 or higher. In fact, I wasn’t sure that I would make it, but it turned out that a few other players who could have signed up and knocked me out of the qualification by having a higher rating chose a concurrent semi-class championship tournament instead.
The roster for this tournament was as follows:
Albert Ziatdinov - 1918 USCF
NM James MacFarland - 2200 USCF
Nicholas Visel - 1651 USCF
Joe Birt - 1800 USCF
Alonzo McCaulley - 1939 USCF
Aaron Thompson - 2057 USCF
Since this is a round-robin, I am guaranteed multiple games against significantly stronger opponents which means I have a lot of learning opportunities. I expect to win no games, but if I get a single win, that would be satisfying. In this list are three newcomers: Myself, Albert, and Aaron. The other three are stalwarts of the club. One player I will draw attention to throughout this series of recaps is Joe Birt, who has played in this tournament many times in the last two decades and yet never won.
That being said, let’s get into my first game, which is against my good friend and fellow Chess enthusiast (and guest author on this very Substack), Aaron Thompson. Aaron has good chances to win this event. NM MacFarland is at his floor, and Aaron has been climbing up. So this may be the hardest game to win in the tournament — if I ever get a chance, that is!
Time Control: 60 minutes with a 15 second increment per move.
White: Nick Visel (1651 USCF)
Black: Aaron Thompson (2057 USCF)
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6
This move, preparing the fianchetto of the King’s Bishop to the g7-square, results in an opening position known as the “Hyper-Accelerated Dragon”:
“Dragon”, because of the idea of playing g6+Bg7 in the d6 line of the Open Sicilian. This occurs after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6.
This line is perfectly playable at a high level, but the most fierce test of it is the “Yugoslav Attack”, which occurs after 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 Nc6 8.Qd2 O-O, where White plays either 9.O-O-O or 9.Bc4 and goes for an all-out attack (“Sac-sac-mate”, according to Fischer) with an opposite-sides castled position and mutual pawn storms. White is known to be better in this line with best play. Because of this attack, the Accelerated Dragon exists.
“Accelerated”, because of the idea of omitting the move d6 in the Nc6 line of the Open Sicilian — Black is hoping to save “time” (hence, “accelerated”) by not playing d6 and then d5, but rather playing d5 in one go. This occurs after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6.
If White tries to go for a Yugoslav Attack with Nc3, Be3, f3, Qd2, and O-O-O or Bc4, Black, on account of having not spent time on the move d6, can break with d5 at an opportune moment and emerge completely equal. Since White is not usually in the interest of making Black’s game easy for them, the most common response to 4…g6 is 5.c4, creating a “Maroczy Bind” on the position with the intention to never let Black play d5. I actually really like playing this structure with White, but fare poorly against the Accelerated Dragon in general, so I decided not to allow this in the game.
“Hyper-”, because of the possibility of the Bishop coming to the g7-square even on the 3rd move. This can lead to distinct play that is different from both the traditional Dragon and the Accelerated Dragon. If White wants, they can transpose to the Accelerated Dragon by playing 3.d4, and if 3…cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6/Bg7.
3.c3
This is my choice against the HAD. I simply blunt the bishop immediately, try to build a strong pawn center, and play for a slight advantage in the center. The symmetrical nature of the pawn structure basically turns this into any other normal anti-Sicilian.
3…Bg7 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 d5!
This break forces some choices for White.
6.e5!
This is natural, gaining space, opting against an isolated Queen’s pawn which would occur after 6.exd5?! But now the position takes on a closed character, and could be accurately classified as an Advance Caro-Kann structure.
6…Bg4 7.Be2?!
Statistically, White is already in big trouble. Check out these stats from Lichess.org’s databases:
Masters:
Lichess Players:
These numbers are shocking, despite a misleading +0.2 nod by Stockfish 16.
In an analogous position for White in the Caro-Kann (after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5!? 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3?! Bg4!), White may begrudgingly play 6.Be2, but already Black scores astoundingly well here.
Accordingly, in the game, instead of 7.Be2, which leads to similar miseries, I should have played 7.Bb5!, which leads to a massive improvement over the game. Christof Silecki’s suggestion, in his excellent Keep It Simple 1.e4 2.0 course on Chessable, continues 7…Nc6 8.Bxc6+! bxc6 9.Nbd2! The point is that Black’s counterplay relies attacking the d4 pawn which is characteristically weak in these (decelerated Sicilian/)Caro-Kann/French Structures. So, we swap off an attacker, solidify the position, and enjoy a position where the d4-pawn is safe, the c6-pawn is backwards and open to attack, and Black’s good bishop on g4 is likely to be out of a job and best traded off, leaving the g7-bishop biting (as it were) on granite.
OK that’s enough stats for now. Back to the game!
7…Nc6 8.Nc3 Nh6 9.Qb3?!
A move I should have considered was 9.Ng5. This move was relatively successful for masters, but I think the main reason why it was worth considering is that the g4-bishop is strong and I don’t think the light-squared bishop for White is good in these kinds of positions and is often a liability anyway.
9…Bxf3! 10.Bxf3
10…O-O!
10…Nxd4 would be met with 11.Qa4+, with an equal position.
11.Be3 Nf5 12.Rd1
Unfortunately, I realized I can’t win the d5-pawn at this point and not beforehand, when I would have chosen a different move (such as 9.Ng5!). The point is that 12.Qxd5? is met with 12…Nxfd4! 13.Qxd8 Rfxd8 14.Bxc6 (otherwise Nxf3) bxc6 and the e5-pawn is hanging due to the threat of Nc2+ picking up the exchange.
12…e6
Now d5 cannot be won, and my position is looking a bit loose.
13.O-O Na5 14.Qc2 Nxe3 15.fxe3 Nc4
This move represents a major strategic win for Black. Though technically we are equal here, this knight is a rather huge pain for White. Black has ideas of Rc8 (tactically pinning the c3 knight and threatening b7-b5-b4, and surveils the e3-square which is a huge weakness. White wants to liquidate this pawn with the move e4, but if played immediately here, Black wins the exchange after 16…Ne3!
16.Rfe1?!
A defensive mindset starts to take over and I’m immediately a bit worse here. This rook is extremely passive, and takes its gaze away from the one semi-open file I have any control over. A move I had looked at here was 16.Qf2, which would cover the e3 square and give the queen a bit more use (right now, it’s just a liability on the c2 square).
16…Bh6?!
This move is extremely thematic in the games I’ve played against Aaron, and I’ve been inspired by it myself games against other players. However, here I think it’s a bit of an inaccuracy. 16…Rc8 was simply a stronger move, because it x-rays the queen and usefully commands the c-file. Bh6 gives me a chance to consolidate and maintain equality.
17.Rd3?!
Another ugly move. I hate that I played this. I keep finding moves that limit my options rather than keep them open. Again, 17.Qf2! would have solved the problem of the Rc8 threat and defended the e4-pawn with more vigor, and increased the possibility of counterplay.
17…Rc8!
Aaron’s back on track, and I am in some serious trouble.
18.Qf2
This move is still the best, but it was better before Black had improved their position this much. Now I’m worse. Stockfish says this position is -0.4 But a cursory glance at the position reveals that my position’s coordination has so deteriorated that we could call it strategically lost.
18…b5!?
Aaron called this a “difficult move” to find. I think it’s a rather beautiful one with a lot of purpose behind it.
19.a3?!
First, that pawn shouldn’t be taken: 19.Nxb5?? Rb8! 20.Nc3 (20…a4 a6!) Rxb2 and White can resign at once. Seeing this, I tried to prepare b4, after which I might be able to take on b5. Here, Stockfish recommends 19.e4! (countering an attack on the flank with one in the center!) and White is basically equal. This is the move I wanted to play but I was worried by 19…b4 in response — but I should just play 20.Na4 and I’d still be in the game. As it was, I was playing very reactively by this point and my position continues its quickening death-spiral.
19…Rb8!
No more Nxb5. :(
20.e4?!
This move is no longer good, because Black can just continue with their plan on the queenside with no interruptions. Instead, counterintuitively (and I did look at this, but misevaluated it), 20.a4! and if 20…b4, 21.Nd1 continues to put up a fight in a worse position that hasn’t quite become lost.
20…b4! 21.axb4 Rxb4
22.Rb1?!
Again with this passive mindset. 22.Nd1 is ugly but it holds the pawn without dropping control of e4.
22…dxe4! 23.Nxe4??
This is why I didn’t play Nd1 earlier, but I had forgotten to be objective a long time ago in this game, and because of that, I fall to a tactic.
23…Nxe5!
I shortly collapse afterwards. At first my thought was to try to generate an attack, but Aaron’s precise deconstruction of such a conceit is instructive and ends the game
24.dxe5 Qxd3 25.Nf6+ 26.Rd1 Qe3
The queens come off and Black is up a pawn and the exchange. Let’s not waste any more time.
0-1
Game in a GIF:
Takeaways:
Don’t sleep in the opening. I had correctly recognized the structure as a typical Caro-Kann Advance with an exchange on the d4 square. However, I did not recognize the actual moves that Black could use to get a similar advantage if I responded in turn with analogous moves. I should not turn off my brain when it comes to knowledge of opening B, even if the course of the game in opening A leads to a structure reminiscent of opening B.
Passive-mindset. Sometimes I feel like this is out of control. The late Silman would tell me to always insist on my own plan. Here I played many defensive moves (7.Be2, 16.Rfe1, 17.Rd3, 19.a3, 22.Rb1), instead of doing something more disruptive. I need to focus on what I want to do, and not simply reply passively to my opponent’s every idea!
At the end of round 1, Jim MacFarland, Alonzo and Aaron picked up a whole point. Statistically these players are the favorites to win, so this result is not shocking. The next round, which would occur the following week, would have me paired against Alonzo, a very strong Class-A player who has often been at the expert level. But before that game occurs, I have four games from a weekend event to play.
Nice write up Nick, it was instructive review for a sometimes HAD player!