FM Alisa Melekhina discusses three of her favorite c2 Sicilian games that were all won within 21 moves. This post is a result of translating her YouTube video into an article to demonstrate the strategy of the games for further analysis, in a move-by-move fashion. (She went really fast in her YouTube video … and even skipped over some of her moves.) I am thinking about turing this article into a series of c3 Sicilian game studies. Here, we look at game one.

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Game 1

FM Alisa Melekhina vs Lauren Swelply ?? elo 2100
[pgn]
1.e4 c5
2.c3

{ The main ways to for Black to respond here would be either 2.Nf6 or 2.d5. My opponent chose Nf6. }

2…Nf6

{This move makes perfect sense – since White committed to 2.c3 vice 2.Nc3 (which would have defended the e4-pawn), the e4 is unprotected, and free to be attacked. Black attacks while simultaneously developing a piece. }

3.e5

{White just attacks the Knight again, forcing it to move, similar to the Alikine. }

3…Nd5

{ At this point, it’s possible for White to play 4.d4 immediately … But I personally prefers 4.Nf3.

If you play 4.d4 now, it gives black too many options. They usually take 4…cxd4, and if you take back, 5.cxd4, then they have a nice 5…d6 move. This releases Black’s white Bishop; and I’ve found that Black’s light Bishop is extremely powerful in the c3-Silician. Usually: }

4.Nf3

{ Now, White could have played a popular variation here, and opted to go d2-d4 here:

}
(4.d4 cxd4 5.Nf3 ({not} 5.cxd4 d6) 5…Nc6 6.Bc4 Nb6 7.Bb3 {

The reason you do not want to take d4 on move 5 is that it give Black a nice chance to move d5-d6, which releases Black’s light-Bishop. Black’s light-Bishop is very powerful in the c3 Sicilion against White; we’d rather get them to move their e-pawn to e6.
} )

4…Nc6
5.Bc4

{Now, some players will play e6. But, Black has opportunity to chase White’s Bishop around, thus he played:}
5…Nb6

6.Bb3

{the typical way of playing from this position is: (6…c4 7.Bc2 Qc7 8.Qe2 g5) g5, is trying to deflect the Knight from protecting the e5-pawn … And White has good options for playing on: h3 or e6 are good options }

6…d5

(6…c4 7.Bc2 Qc7 8.Qe2 g5)

7.exd6 Qxd6

8.Na3

{the other main move is Castle for White, but since Black decided to bring his Queen out early, it’s a wonderful opportunity to develop against threats to it … Planning to support an early d4 while simultaneously threading the Queen with a future Nb5.}

8…a6

( {Typically Black would have played 8…Be6 here, and normal play would have continued with:

} 8…Be6 9.d4 cxd4 10.Nb5 {

and now you can see the purpose behind the earlier move of Na3. I would prefer to take back with a piece instead of a pawn, so as to avoid an isolated pawn structure. So the game might have continued something like:

} 10…Qd7 11.O-O Bxb3 12.axb3 e5 13.cxd4 a6 13.d5 {

But instead of this typical play, my opponent chose to play a6.})

9.O-O Bf5
10.d4 e6
11.Be3 cxd4
12.Nxd4 Nxd4
13.Bxd4

{So, I do not have to end up taking with the pawn. I ended with the Bishop. Now both of my Bishops are very powerful – aimed against the King.}

13…Be7

{ This last move is actually laying a trap for me … tempting me to take the g7-pawn … But this is a trap}

14.Qf3

({This move reviews the threat to b7 – while simultaneously allowing (now) the Bishop to take on g2 … Since the trap is no longer effective. Now Black must choose which pawn to protect.

The Trap:
Earlier, if I would have taken the pawn with the Bishop:

}
14.Bg7 Rg8 15.Qxd6 Bxd6 16.Bd4 Bh3 17.Bxb6 Rg2+ 18.Kh1 Rh2+ 19.Kg1 Kd7 20.f4 Rxb2 {

and my pawns are falling off the board})

14…O-O

{Black chose to castle kingside, perhaps queenside would have been better, but it looks scarey for Black to be a little open.}

15.Qxb7

{It may look like my Queen is headed for a trap, but my pieces will soon be coming into the center and, as it turns out, it’s actually Black’s Queen that may be in trouble.}

15…Nd5
16.Nc4 Qf4

{Black is looking for possibilities to create a kingside attack, but it’s well defended, and an attack is just an illusion. }

17.Ne3

{A powerful move, serving multiple purposes:

Protecting the g2 square (just in case Black’s Bishop comes to e4, Queen to g5, Bishop to h3 etc. )

Secondly, this Knight puts pressure on Black’s d5-Knight which is already under pressure via White’s b3-Bishop, and which (if eventually that square is taken over by White’s Knight) would be attacking the e7-Bishop (which is already under attack by White’s Queen). So this is a powerful move!

So, if Black plays something like a casual Be4, White takes Knight with his Knight (threatening the Queen … forcing exd5, followed by White’s b3-Bishop to take on d4, to take out Black’s Bishop … so, Black must be careful}

17…Bd6

{

This is unfortunate, it’s immediately losing. This looks like the right move, protecting Bishop, and threatening mate via Qh2. However, pushing pawn g2-g3 stops that.

Black’s best move was White’s Knight with 17…Nxe3, and White would have taken with Bishop, 18.Bxe3 forcing the Queen to move (probably to h4. White would have gained a pawn. But better than what happened in the game. }

18.g3 Qf3

{

Black is still trying to go for mate – but this is a lost cause, too many defensive pieces to stop this idea.}

19.Bd1

{

Suddenly, Black’s Queen doesn’t have that many squares available to him.}

19…Qe4

20.Bc2 Qf3

{There is no need for White to go for the perpetual move draw.}

21.Bxf5

{

Black looses a piece. He’s also running out of options: He can’t move his Knight on d5 due to the pin against his Queen. He has no checks, no discovery moves … And after he takes the Bishop, his Knight is lost. The Knight can take on d5. Basically that was it. Black resigned.

In retrospect, it really went downhill after a6 … But this was difficult to see at the time. }

1-0
[/pgn]