Sicilian Rossolimo: Anand shows the way !

In this entry, I will look at a blitz game from Anand versus Nakamura in the London 2014 event.

The Rossolimo variation starts after 1 e4 c5 2Nf3 Nc6 3Bb5

one of the key points is to accelerate white's development. White typically plays 0-0 and starts to occupy the center. Hikaru picked 3..d6 which is less common than 3..g6 or 3..e6. Maybe he wanted to avoid Anand's prep.

And here is the position they reached after 20 Qc3! attacking f6.

White has achieved a winning position in 20 moves. 

Knights cannot be captured.

If Black tries 20..exf5  21 ef5+ Kd7 22 Nf6+ Kc7 23 Qa5 Checkmate

If Black tries 20..exd5 21 exd5+ Kd7 22 dc6+ Rc6 23 Qd4! with checkmate threats.

If 20..e5 to stop Nf6+ then 21 Qa3! and c4-c5 will open up lines for White's attack.

Hikaru played 20..Rh6  but giving up the exchange did not work out.

Full game replay with annotations .

Great example where Anand quickly built pressure againt Nakamura using 3Bb5 against the sicilian

Opening Traps : Sicilian Defense

Here I want to cover 2 openings

1 e4 c5 2 d4 cd4 3c3 Morra-Smith Gambit . Morra was a french player from Nice,France (1900-1969) who studied the opening and played it in correspondence games. 

 1e4 c5 2Nf3 Nc6 3Bb5 is the Rossolimo (You could play Bb5 against d6 as well).

and here you could see 21 lines containing many traps and quick wins in the morra gambit as well as in the Rossolimo opening.

game 3 Wch Caruana-Carlsen Draw Sicilian Rossolimo

Key moments of Game 3

[Event "Wch 2018"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.11.12"] [Round "3"] [White "Fabiano Caruana"] [Black "Magnus Carlsen"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "B31"] 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. O-O Qc7 7. Re1 e5 8. a3 Nf6 9. b4 O-O 10. Nbd2 Bg4 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Nxf3 cxb4 13. axb4 a5 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15. Bd2 Raa8 16. Qb1 Nd7 17. Qb4 Rfe8 18. Bc3 b5 19. Rxa8 Rxa8 20. Ra1 Rxa1+ 21. Bxa1 Qa7 22. Bc3 Qa2



23. Qb2 Qxb2 24. Bxb2 f6 25. Kf1 Kf7 26. Ke2 Nc5 27. Bc3 Ne6 28. g3 Bf8 29. Nd2 Ng5 30. h4 Ne6 31. Nb3 h5 32. Bd2 Bd6 33. c3 c5 34. Be3 Ke7 35. Kd1 Kd7 36. Kc2 f5 37. Kd1



fxe4 38. dxe4 c4 39. Nd2 Nc5 40. Bxc5 Bxc5 41. Ke2 Kc6 42. Nf1 b4 43. cxb4 Bxb4 44. Ne3 Kc5 45. f4 exf4 46. gxf4 Ba5 47. f5 gxf5 48. Nxc4 Kxc4 49. exf5 1/2-1/2



also available here chessbase : Caruana-Carlsen-wch(3) 2018 annotated.html