bragesjo wrote on 09/21/11 at 14:29:22:

Thanks for doing my job.  You are right.

a4 is a "preventive attack" , as did Israeli aircrafts at the beginning of the Six days war : b5 is not yet defended by pieces , so it can't yet attack
My opponent is a SIM , better rated than I , so I suppose he had foreseen this possibility
I am not the first to use this strategy ( I have one game in my DB with the same outcome )

If it can help you :
[Event "Mare Nostrum IV "]
[Site "ICCF"]
[Date "2010.10.15"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Le Page, Claude"]
[Black "Satici, Aydin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "2361"]
[BlackElo "2411"]
[PlyCount "67"]
[EventDate "2010.??.??"]
[WhiteTeam "FRANCE"]
[BlackTeam "TURKEY"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "FRA"]
[BlackTeamCountry "TUR"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 a6 7. f3 b5 8. Qd2
Bb7 9. a4 e5 10. Nb3 b4 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 Nd7 13. O-O-O a5 14. f4 Bg7 15.
fxe5 Bxe5 16. Bh6 f6 17. Bb5 Qc7 18. Nd4 Kf7 19. Ne6 Qc8 20. Kb1 Ba6 21. Bf4
Bxb5 22. Bxe5 dxe5 23. Qh6 Ke7 24. axb5 Kd6 25. Qh4 Rb8 26. Rhf1 g5 27. Qh6 Qg8
28. Nd4 Qf7 29. Nf5+ Kc7 30. d6+ Kd8 31. h4 g4 32. Ne7 Rxb5 33. Qe3 Qe8 34. Qa7
1-0

Well the thing I really didn't understand was why white - after going a4! - suddenly decided to try and mate you on the kingside. 

9.. h6 does feel rather premature  - it makes it somewhat hard for you to castle. Given that, at that stage, white was still likely to castle kingside and play in the centre/queenside (and keep his e3 bishop to aim at b6) I'd have thought that a valuable option to retain. I think you may have struggled slightly to develop sensibly if white hadn't gone g4,g5
(After which h6 made a lot of sense!)

bragesjo wrote on 02/21/10 at 21:03:15:


It relies on an early ...b5 so that the bishop can move to b7, so an early a4 pretty much rules out that Dragondorf stuff.

Hi Martin,

thanks for your reply. I had meant to post sooner but have been tied up.

I've been studying Simon Williams dragon setup, and in all the literature, an early a4 is not mentioned, so I figured (perhaps incorrectly) that its not one of Whites best lines.

The problem I have is that it really imedes ..b5 and forces me to go for a normal dragon setup and makes the placement of the white squared bishop a problem - where do I develop it to ? e6 ? In this game thats what I eventually did.

You say you did not understand the rest of the game - I was a little dissapointed although I am not particularly high standard - around 135BCF (1750ish fide).

I met whites standard g4 with the usual ideas set out by Williams and played by Ward in his really instructive game in the London League (2005 I think). I'll link it if you're unfamiliar with this.

If you think I made any particularly bad mistakes in this game - I'd be happy to take instruction !!

thanks again,

Peter

In a recent game, 

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 a6

my opponent played 8.a4

I sunk into thought. White has played f2-f3 and a2-a4. Where will his king go ? I have not seen this recommended in any theory and spent quite some moments thinking of a fitting reply.

8...Qc7
seizing the c-file and hampering the natural development of the f1-bishop, and also waiting for white to commit further before deciding how to develop the queenside. But is the queen vulnerable here ?

The game continued
9. Qd2 h6 10. g4 Nc6 11. Rd1 Ne5 12. g5 hxg5 13. Bxg5 Qc5 14. Be2 Be6 15. Nxe6 fxe6 16. Qd4 Qxd4 17. Rxd4 Nh5 18. Rb4 Ng3 19. Rg1 Nxe2 20. Kxe2 Rxh2+ 21. Ke3 Nc6 22. Rc4 Rxc2 23. Rh1 Kf7 24. e5 Bxe5 25. Rh7+ Ke8 26. Rch4 Kd7 27. Ne4 Rxb2 28. Rf7 Rh8 29. Rg4 Rb3+ 30. Kd2 Rh2+ 31. Kc1 Ke8 32. Bxe7 Nxe7 0-1


Thoughts on 8.a4 and 8...Qc7 would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.