TN wrote on 06/20/11 at 06:24:20:


LOL

Your queen is right in the middle of the board during the start of the Sicilian. I think you have bigger concerns than how he's going to protect his e4 pawn...

Hm. Someone do me a favor and prove how stupid this line would be for black...

7. ... Qa5
8. 0-0 Qh5
9. Be2 Qe5

then maybe white plays

10. f3 to defend on e4
10. ... d5 for the triple threat
11. Bd3 to defend again
11. ... dxe4

i think black wins this eventually, considering the possibility of an eventual ...Nxd4 but surely white must have a more solid answer than 10.f3 or 11.Bd3 that would make this less attractive for black. I guess what I'm playing at here is the weaknesses in whites center. and how 8...Qh5 diverts the white bishop from c4, making ...d5 more interesting.

or white could just take on d5
10. f3 d5
11. exd5

or maybe after ...Qe5 white plays
10. Qd2, looking at h6
10. ...0-0

it just seems like black should be able to use the queens firepower to exploit weaknesses in whites center

EDIT: i think part of it is that usually early queen play comes from an open d file, which means there is no d pawn, but in this situation, we have the d pawn AND the queen, both with the ability to apply pressure on the e4 square. the queen also augments the knight and dragon bishops influence on the d4 square.

Generally speaking the queen doesn't do much on h5 in the Dragon. Just about the only variation that comes to mind where the queen can be well placed on h5 is the 2...Nf6 3.d4 Bg4 Scandinavian.

I played this against my dad yesterday.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 Qa5 8.0-0 Qh5

It just popped into my head and I didn't think too hard before playing it. I figured if he didn't take, I have some interesting possibilities with my Queen's bishop and Knight on F6, looking at h2. And if he did take, I could even take back with my pawn and look for some rook action on the g file. I don't know. What does anyone think about this position? Qh5 might have been a little premature but I think there are possibilities.

9. f3

Then I wasn't sure if I should do something stupid like d5 to force something interesting to happen. I was also eyeballing the e5 square for potential placement of my dark squared bishop, if I could find anything useful to do with my knight first.

I looked at a couple lines that felt pretty natural, and there are definitely pitfalls for both players.

Thoughts?

eg continuation
9. ... d5 10. Bxd5 Bg4 11. fxg4 Nxg4 12. Bf4 Be5

Of course this is a ridiculous line but it makes me wonder if something good for black could be forced. there is definitely room for some very interesting play here. And of course a more conservative answer would be something like 9. ... d6 or a6 or something.

Also I just realized white should play 9. Be2

-mike (i'm new!)