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Sicilian Defence: Najdorf, Poisoned Pawn Variation

Short–Kasparov, PCA World Championship 1993 · Caruana–Nakamura, Norway Chess 2017 · 8:08 · ECO B97

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In this video

Game 1: Nigel Short (2655) vs Garry Kasparov (2805)

PCA World Championship 1993 · Black won (0-1) · 40 moves

Click a move to jump the video to it. Dotted moves are the opening line the video is about.

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Key moments

  1. 8.Qd2The first move after the opening line0:35
  2. 28.Re3The evaluation moves from −3.14 to −5.492:09
  3. 35...exf5The evaluation moves from −4.12 to −2.212:46
  4. 38...Rc3Black stays more than two pawns ahead from here3:02
  5. 39.Qg4The evaluation moves from −2.12 to −5.543:04
  6. 40...Qc6+Black wins after 40 moves3:12

Evaluation

Above the line, White is better; below it, Black. Scores are in pawns, capped at five either way.

Game 2: Fabiano Caruana (2808) vs Hikaru Nakamura (2785)

Norway Chess 2017, 16 June 2017 · White won (1-0) · 59 moves

Click a move to jump the video to it. Dotted moves are the opening line the video is about.

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Key moments

  1. 8.Qd3The first move after the opening line3:46
  2. 21...Nxd3+The queens come off4:48
  3. 28...Bg7The evaluation moves from +1.12 to +2.33, and White stays more than two pawns ahead from here5:22
  4. 56...Nd3The evaluation moves from +6.60 to +8.367:42
  5. 59.h6The evaluation moves from +8.63 to +10.007:55
  6. 59.h6White wins after 59 moves7:55

Evaluation

Above the line, White is better; below it, Black. Scores are in pawns, capped at five either way.

About these games

After 7.f4 White prepares e5 or f5 to attack the pinned knight on f6, and 7...Qb6 replies by hitting the d4-knight and the b2-pawn at once. If Black takes on b2, White gets a lead in development and open files on the queenside in return for a pawn, while the black queen risks being trapped on a3 or b2.

Short–Kasparov went 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Nb3 Qa3 10.Bxf6 gxf6: White doubled Black's f-pawns, and Black kept the bishop pair. Kasparov took a second pawn with 16...Qxe4 and gave back the exchange with 21...Rxc4. The turning point was 27...dxc4, which moved the score from −1.01 to −3.14, and 29.Rxc3 Bxc3 cost White more material. White fought back with 35.gxf5, and after 35...exf5 the score fell from −4.12 to −2.21. Then 39.Qg4 dropped it from −2.12 to −5.54, and after 40...Qc6+ Black won.

Caruana–Nakamura followed the modern 8.Qd3 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.f5. Where Short drove the queen back with a knight retreat, Caruana opened lines with 11.fxe6 fxe6 and a g4-g5 storm that ended in 18.Rxg7. The knight sacrifice 19.Ncb5 axb5 20.Nxb5 hunted the queen, and 21...Nxd3+ took the queens off into a better endgame for White. From 28...Bg7 White stayed more than two pawns ahead: +1.04 at 27...Be8 and +2.80 at 32...b5. The d-pawn then decided the game, and after 59.h6 (+10.00) White won.

Chapters

  1. 0:00Introduction and the opening line
  2. 0:10Game 1: Short vs Kasparov, PCA World Championship 1993
  3. 3:20Game 2: Caruana vs Nakamura, Norway Chess 2017

The opening line

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6

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