Main
Date: 15 Nov 2005 07:02:25
From:
Subject: pawn sac in the maroczy bind...
Hi,

I recently encountered the following pawn sac by white in the oczy
bind:

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Nc6 4.Be2 Bg7 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.d4 cxd4
7.Nxd4 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 d6 9.c5

The game continued 9...dxc5 10.Qxd8+ Kxd8 and I ultimately was able to
take advantage of my extra pawn. But I sure was extremely
uncomfortable for a number of moves.

Any opinions on this sac and how best to refute it?

Thanks





 
Date: 17 Nov 2005 12:30:23
From:
Subject: Re: pawn sac in the maroczy bind...
Thanks for detailed analysis...
I never thought of 10...Ne8 and 10...Nxd6



 
Date: 17 Nov 2005 17:47:21
From: Dc Gentle
Subject: Re: pawn sac in the maroczy bind...
[email protected] wrote:

> I recently encountered the following pawn sac by white in the oczy
> bind:
>
> 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Nc6 4.Be2 Bg7 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.d4 cxd4
> 7.Nxd4 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 d6 9.c5
>
> Any opinions on this sac and how best to refute it?
>

Hi, well I wouldn't take the pawn, declining the pawn sac
is much butter IMHO:

[Event "ozy-Bind: Pawn sac"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2005.11.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "White"]
[Black "Black"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "B36"]
[Annotator "Dc Gentle"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 Nc6 4. Be2 Bg7 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. d4
cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nxd4 8. Qxd4 d6 9. c5 O-O
(9... dxc5 {is good for White:}
10. Qxd8+ Kxd8 11. Be3 Nd7
(11... b6 {is not better:}
12. O-O-O+ Kc7 13. Bf4+ Kb7 14. e5 Nh5
{the knight has a very uncomfortable position here.}
15. Bg5 Bxe5 16. Bf3+ Kb8 17. Rhe1 f6
(17... Bxc3 {is not better:}
18. bxc3 f6 19. Bh6 e5 20. g4 Nf4 21. Bxf4 exf4
22. Re7 {threatening 23. Rd6 and also 23. a4 with a
strong attack}
)
18. Rxe5 fxe5 19. Bxe7 a6 20. Na4 Re8 21. Bd6+ Ka7
22. Bxa8 Kxa8 23. Nxb6+ Kb7 24. Nxc8 Kxc8 25. Bxc5
{and White will win most likely.}
)
12. O-O-O Bxc3 13. bxc3 Kc7 14. Rd2 a6
{other moves are not better here.}
15. Rhd1 b5 16. Rd5
{threatening 17. Bg4 Nb8 18. Rxc5+}
16... Ra7 17. e5 Kb6 18. Bg4 e6 19. Rd6+
{this rook intrusion already is decisive.}
19... Ka5
(19... Kc7 {is not better:}
20. f4 Kb8 21. a4 bxa4 22. Kc2 a3
{this pawn will not escape}
23. Bf3 Rc7 24. Rb1+ Ka7 25. Bc6
{threatening 26. Rxd7 with quick mate}
25... a2 26. Ra1 g5 27. g3 gxf4 28. gxf4 Rd8 29. Rxa2
Bb7 30. Bb5 Kb8 31. Bxa6 Bxa6 32. Rdxa6
{with a strong attack}
)
20. a4 bxa4 21. c4 Rb7 22. Bd2+ Rb4 23. Bxb4+ cxb4
24. Rxd7 Bxd7 25. Rxd7 Rc8 26. Be2
{and White has no problems to win}
)
10. cxd6 Ne8 {attacking the white queen}
(10... exd6 {is worse:}
11. O-O Re8 12. Bc4 Ng4 13. Qd1 Qc7 14. Bd5
{and White will get a nice game.}
)
11. Qe3 Nxd6 12. O-O Be6
{Black's plan is the attack on the queenside.}
13. Rd1 Qb6 14. Qxb6
(14. Qf3 {avoiding the queen exchange won't help:}
14... Rac8 15. a3 {in order to prepare 16. Nd5}
(15. Nd5 {directly fails due to:}
15... Bxd5 16. Rxd5 Qb4
{threatening 17... Qe1+ and 17... Nxe4}
)
15... Rc7 16. Nd5
(16. Bd3 {is not better:}
16... Rd7 {threatening 17... Rfd8 with strong attack}
17. Be3 Qxb2 18. Na4 Qf6 19. Qxf6 Bxf6 20. Nc5 Bxa1
21. Nxd7 Bxd7 22. Rxa1 b6 {with surplus pawn for Black}
)
16... Bxd5 17. exd5 Nf5
{threatening 17... Nd4. Black is better.}
)
14... axb6 15. f3 Bb3
{taking advantage of the underdeveloped queensite}
(15... Rfc8 {directly is not so good because} 16. Nd5)
16. Rd3 Rfc8
{the double pawn is compensated by the open rook files.}
17. Bf4 Bc4 18. Rd2 Bxe2 19. Rxe2 Bd4+ 20. Kf1 e5 21. Bg3
Bxc3 22. bxc3 Nc4
{with a bit better game for Black.}
*
Comments are welcome.

Regards,
DC






 
Date: 16 Nov 2005 06:26:34
From: Ray Gordon
Subject: Re: pawn sac in the maroczy bind...
> I recently encountered the following pawn sac by white in the oczy
> bind:
>
> 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 Nc6 4.Be2 Bg7 5.Nc3 Nf6 6.d4 cxd4
> 7.Nxd4 Nxd4 8.Qxd4 d6 9.c5
>
> The game continued 9...dxc5 10.Qxd8+ Kxd8 and I ultimately was able to
> take advantage of my extra pawn. But I sure was extremely
> uncomfortable for a number of moves.
>
> Any opinions on this sac and how best to refute it?

Unless a supercomputer can find a forced win for White, I would say that the
sac is unsound, but offers White practical chances against an unprepared
opponent.