MartinC wrote on 02/07/14 at 21:53:00:


Well it could be the crazy Sicilian (the first of my father's family to come to America was a Sicilian) in me, but 18...b5 19.Qf2 b4 really looks somewhat better for Black.  White should probably play a different 19th move, and that's part of the point--the queenside play is going to distract White.   

The French in me (no joke, my Sicilian great great grandfather married a French woman and moved to New York) sympathizes with 15...g5, though.  Still...you're playing a Sicilian .

I lent my GM6 to a clubmember; I was very impressed by Ftacnik's coverage, very likely you'll find everything worked out.

It could be added that the perhaps yucky 12...Ne8 was played by Beliavsky against Spassky, and in the 12...Ne4 line, 16...Bc6 (instead of 16...Nxb3) 17. Qc2 Bd5 "with compensation" was given by Minić.

Well, it's been a long while since I played the open Sicilian for either side, so maybe I'm completely out of tune when wondering why 9...Bd7 is "!?", I suppose you mean that you gain "the half-tempo Nb3" but Nb3 holding c5 doesn't look too bad, and isn't the Bd7 just in the way?

In the game, after 12.g4 I would prefer 12...Be8 and reassign Nf6 to d7, and probably play for a6, b5 instead of ...d5 (especially if it must be followed up by ...Ne4 Nxe4 dxe4), or perhaps something involving ...b6 and Nd7-c5.

Just my two cents 

I'm not actually saying that Black is better, more that he seems to have "good play" and some things to work with.  I'd prefer Black but like I said earlier, it might only be objectively equal.  

Anyway it'd be good to hear other opinions. 

True, you can't force White to take on e4 I don't think.  I thought briefly about 22...e3!? initially, but don't think that it comes to anything as you can't arrange a good battery on the long diagonal (White sometimes has c3-c4).  

Still, at move 18 it really feels like Black has something to me.  You have the two bishops, a safe king, sound structure, and White has weakened his kingside and light squares tremendously.  He's also walking himself into a lot of pins, i.e. the c-pawn is pinned to the queen on c2, the knight is pinned to a queen on e4 if the pawn is captured, and the knight is pinned to the bishop on e3 after ...Bc5.

Your ...g5 ideas might be fine, but they would certainly not be the first ones I considered.  I want to keep Black's advantages of a safe (for now) king and sound structure.  How about gaining space and creating weaknesses in White's queenside?  I.e. creating a second weakness?  I also like 18...b5 and 18...Rac8 very much, just creating pressure down the queenside files for Black's rooks.  With enough queenside space, it's possible that a later ...e4-e3 pawn sac will work because Black will introduce a rook into the attack or be able to create the powerful Q+B battery.  Something plausible like 18...b5 19.Rfe1 Rac8 20.Qe2 Qd5 21.a3 a5 still looks pretty good for Black, and you're keeping your two bishop advantage, not going into that opposite-colored bishops position you did in the game.  

That's just my take on the position.  I'm not saying that I'm right and you wrong, but sometimes you just need to hear other people's ideas about a position to think a little differently.  

I really didn't like 18...Bc6 for some reason, partly because you aren't giving White enough chances to go wrong (accepting the sacrifice on e4), partly because you're blocking the c-file, and partly because I think that you can still "build" your position for a while (minority attack on the queenside).  Your minority attack on the queenside has the benefit of opening another front, so that White can't as easily just "blockade the pawn then shove the kingside."  In fact, I think that only in the pure opposite-colored bishop middlegame can White think about doing that, as then your bishop on c6 is too passive behind the blockading pawn.  I also strongly disliked 28...b4, because after 29.c4 White is keeping the queenside lines closed while depriving you of access to b5 and d5 (some of the squared you need to put your queen on to get a light-squared counter attack working).  

Hmmm...I think that may be the crux, you needed open lines on the queenside for your rooks to distract White from his slow build-up.

I hope to benefit from this "feature" myself before long, so I'll chime in.

My first instinct around move 16ish is that White has seriously weakened his kingside light squares, and that you have an unopposed light squared bishop.  I want to just give away the e4-pawn, which clogs your play on the long diaganol.  Something like 18...Bc5 19.b3 (19.Qxe4?? Bc6! and Black wins) Qa6 20.Qxe4 Bc6 looks very promising for Black, doesn't it?  Note that 21.Nxc6 Qxc6 doesn't solve White's problems because the bishop is hanging on e3.

Just my first instinct, for what it's worth.