enjoy!

Yeaaah the Dragon! Can't wait to see this...the Dragon is my favourite game to play, from both sides. I'm rooting for black though

Thanks Rennier, this line with an early ...Nxd4 and ...b5 looks interesting for black - I've seen it once or twice before but didn't really know much about it. Nice to hear your thoughts on it.

On the other hand, while it looks solid and safe, that also kind of puts me off of it...I mean, we play the dragon for the fireworks right? Well, I do anyway...

Hi Renier,

Just a quick note or two, as I play this with Black in blitz.

You mentioned 7.f3 is a mistake as ...Qb6 takes advantage of the bishop on e3 but I always had a hell of a time holding things together after 8.Nf5, and if ...Qxb2 9.Nxg7+ Kf8 10.Na4 is a hard move to beat. The best I could come up with was 10...Qe5, but even here after 11.Bh6 Kg8 and 12.Rb1 I feel Black is left in a precarious situation. Do you think my fear is well founded in this line? Has Black found a good way around this that I am unaware of?

At time mark 17:16 probably 20...Rc5 is best to add defensive strength preventing e5. I think for White to maintain an edge he'll have to try f4 and e5. Anyway, I think White is fine in either case. I just don't feel Black gets enough from this sort of pawn trade on the queenside.

19.e5 by LarryC was a nice find! I remember seeing this played on ICC and felt that he was in control with this.

@19:31 in the variation where Black can play 24...e4!? you considered Re5 but I think Re2 is a bit stronger as it keeps the pawn on b5 under pressure as well as the pawn on e7. I like White a lot, but it is still very complicated.

@22:42 Black played 19...d5 and we both seem to agree that something is wrong with Black's plan when this move has to be played with the light-squared bishop on b7, however, I felt that Black was okay, then an instant later I remembered that it was Christiansen playing White and of course I realize that Black is, in that regards, in a terrible way!

@23:15 where you were discussing the line with 22...a4 and 23...b4 you looked at 24.f5 (Qe3 may be best, holding on to a persistent and annoying edge), I feel Black may have a defense based on taking on a3 followed by Qb2 and then taking on a3 and sliding the f-rook out of the way for the queen to come back to f8. I would still like White here, yes, but maybe Black holds this way. Yes, it is grovelling, but sometimes that is a sad fact in the game.

Poor Larry, he started out like gangbusters but ran out of steam. I've known him for a long time and I think that he may be having some problems with not being as physically fit as in his youth. I'd like to see him shed a few pounds as it may give him a bit more stamina for these long tough battles.

Thanks for bringing us this game, good analysis. Looking forward to your next feature presentation!

Sorry i'm a little busy these days, will answer soon

Thanks

Renier

Renier, Great game to bring us my friend. Thank you. I agree with you too Steve in that Christiansen came out like gangbusters, but sadly faded after his rapid start. All in all is was a great week (+) to be a chess fan. The U.S. Championship had a plethora of games to follow, go over, and just enjoy.

Thank you again
~Mike

No, Renier wasn't talking about playing Qb6 (after f3) immediately. Black should castle first. And only if white plays Bc4, then Qb6 is strong. If white plays something like Qd2 instead of Bc4, black can play the move d5. Obviously that is not what white wants. That's why Bc4, Bb3 is considered the mainline from that position.

f3, 0-0, Bc4, Qb6 actually wins a pawn, but white gets some compensation for it. Black can either give the pawn back and play a very comfortable position or trade his dark squared bishop and keep the pawn.

I don't know the exact line, since I don't have a chess board in front of me. I'm sure if you take a look in the databases you'll see what I'm talking about.

Speaking of the dragon, John Donaldson gave a lesson in his commentary, if you go to saintlouischessclub.org and watch game 4 part 1 commentary of the matches, he goes into quite some detail about the accelerated vs dragon and the ins and outs and whys, just thought I'd share it was a really good live commentary of robson vs finegold