page 1 of 39; games 1-25 of 961  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. E Joppen vs Bronstein 0-1 40 1954 Belgrad B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 2. Keres vs Panno 1-0 31 1955 Goteborg ct (02.09.55) B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 3. Keres vs A Fuderer 1-0 18 1955 Goteborg ct (10.09.55) B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 4. Tal vs Tolush 1-0 31 1956 Leningrad B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 5. Neistadt vs Petrosian   0-1 44 1956 34th Moscow Championship B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 6. Keres vs Tolush 1-0 29 1957 Moskva ch-SU (10.02.57) B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 7. Bannik vs Tolush   ½-½ 51 1957 URS-ch24 B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 8. A Matanovic vs K Darga   ½-½ 61 1957 EU-chT (Men) B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 9. Conrady vs A M Giustolisi   0-1 31 1957 Dublin zt B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 10. Seidman vs J Sherwin   ½-½ 39 1957 US Championship B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 11. J Boey vs O'Kelly   0-1 22 1957 Belgian Ch B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 12. A Dueckstein vs Euwe 1-0 34 1958 ? B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 13. Keres vs C B Van den Berg   1-0 35 1958 Munchen ol (01.10.58) B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 14. Korchnoi vs Tolush 0-1 39 1958 URS ch B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 15. E Pedersen vs C B Van den Berg   ½-½ 60 1958 13th olm final B B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 16. Siciliaans vs A M Giustolisi   1-0 19 1958 SN65/10 B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 17. Mednis vs R Weinstein   ½-½ 26 1958 US Championship B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 18. V Mikenas vs Tolush   ½-½ 41 1959 05 B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 19. Hort vs Smyslov   ½-½ 41 1960 Moscow B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 20. Parma vs Fischer ½-½ 39 1961 Bled B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 21. Lutikov vs Bannik   1-0 42 1961 URS-ch28 B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 22. C B Van den Berg vs F Olafsson   ½-½ 40 1961 Hoogovens B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 23. I Bilek vs Fischer 0-1 27 1962 Izt B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 24. Stein vs Bronstein ½-½ 41 1962 Ch URS (team) B97 Sicilian, Najdorf 25. Gipslis vs Minic   1-0 38 1962 Lvov B97 Sicilian, Najdorf  page 1 of 39; games 1-25 of 961    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)

Secrets of Opening Surprises

Nov-02-03    Shadout Mapes: My thoughts on the poisoned pawn variation: the main line, 8.Qd2, seems unsound. The best variation cited in MCO gives white a draw, and the attack looks unconvincing. I think 8.Nb3 is probably the safest way to go. Any thoughts on this? I think it's funny how this is the most popular opening choice (if you click on the top choice on the opening explorer). Nov-02-03    Shadout Mapes: Well now that I've looked some more, I think I've found that it might be a good line if you play 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Nb3, which leads to an ok game. One again, any thoughts? Nov-02-03    thekleinbottle: I've had excellent results over the board with 9. Nb3, as many people who play the poisoned pawn are not as familiar with this line (as opposed to Rb1). In correspondence chess, it is usually easier for black to find all the right moves and consolidate. Now you have me curious and I need to go check the openings explorer... Nov-04-03    thekleinbottle: the results of the openings explorer/database is quite interesting. I'm surprised that there are more games in the database with 7...Qb6 than with 7...Be7. Shadeout Mapes: I don't think the database provides a good enough sample to provide any useful conclusions on 8. Nb3 or 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9 Nb3 from a practical standpoint. I've since abandoned 6. Bg5 for 6. Be2 anyway... Jan-01-04    Helloween: The move I use is 8.a3!?, and I have found it to be the most challenging over the board. Black cannot take at b2 on account of 9.Na4, winning. Therefore, 8...Nc6 seems to be Black's best response. White then plays 9.Nb3 and the usual continuation is 9...Be7 10.Qd2 0-0 11.0-0-0 Rd8 12.Bxf6 Bxf6 13.g4, with an exciting game and a definite plus for White in terms of the speed of his attack. Black usually can find ways of draining the game down into a slightly worse ending and squeeze a draw out of it, though. Feb-18-04    Calchexas: Excuse my ingorance, but why is this opening called the Poisoned Pawn? Which pawn is "poisoned?" (Being about a 1450 player, I don't usually get to see this playing against my friends at school.) Feb-18-04    Bears092: white rarely ever makes an attempt to defend the b2 pawn. instead, he plays Qd2 and gets compensation by either gaining time on the queen, or leaving the queen there and attacking on the kingside where the queen won't be able to help defend. Feb-18-04    Resignation Trap: Calchexas, the Poison Pawn variation goes like this: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2. There is an old cliche that states "Never take the b-Pawn with your Queen!" Here, Black defiantly ignores this "rule", and does it anyway! White gets compensation for his Pawn after 9. Rb1 or 9. Nb3, but whether it is enough or not has been the subject of debate for over 40 years. The best-known game with this line is undoubtedly: Spassky vs Fischer, 1972 Mar-23-04    ruylopez900: <The most "popular" opening played in the Opening Explorer is a Sicilian Najdorf, Poisoned Pawn> I determined this by clicking on the most often played option every time. It goes 19.5 moves deep (39 ply). BTW does anyone know a response to the Najdorf other then Bg5? Mar-23-04    Benjamin Lau: Shadout, I like your 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Nb3 line. There isn't much point to kicking the queen with a rook move cause that will allow black to recenter the piece. Nb3 sort of "smothers" the queen's power. Mar-23-04    BiLL RobeRTiE: <ruylopez> I like the 6. Be3 (English Attack) line and know the basic ideas fairly well, though my knowledge of concrete lines in it is nil. I think there is some discussion on it at the B90 page. Mar-23-04    PinkPanther: <Calchexas> Like the others said, the poisoned pawn in this variation is the b2 pawn. The pawn is said to be poisoned because in taking the pawn with the queen, black takes his queen out of the game for some time to come. The same thing happens in the poisoned pawn variation of the Winawer French. Jun-01-05    Backward Development: Some interesting lines... 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 e6 7.f4 Qb6 8.Qd2 Qxb2 9.Rb1 Qa3 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5 Nfd7 12.Bc4 Bb4 13.Nxe6!?<an enterprising move, but not the best. Nevertheless, the text leads to monsterous complications. For now, let's suppose black didn't know his theory and plays>13...Bxc3?<hard to believe such a move deserves a question mark?>14.Nc7+!!<14.Nxg7+ leads only to perpetual check, although that line has more pitfalls for black. the main line is 14...Kf8 15.0-0! Qc5+ 16.Be3 Qxc4 17.Qd6+ Kxg7 18.Qh6+ Kg8 19.Qg5+ => 14...Kf8 15.0-0! Qc5+ 16.Qe3!! Qxc4 17.e6! Bd4<17...Qxc7 18.Rxf7 Kg8 19.Rbf1 Bf6 20.R1xf6! gxf6 21.Bh6 >18.e7+ Kg8 19.e8=Q Nf8 20.Qxc8 Bxe3 21.Bxe3 Nbd7 22.Qxa8 Qxc7 23.Rxb7 Qe5 24.Bf2 btw, the remedy for 13.Nxe6 is 13...fxe6 14.Rxb4 Qxb4 15.Bxe6 h6! 16.Bf7+ Kxf7 17.e6+ Kg8 18.exd7 Bxd7 Jun-16-05    bomb the bishop: <Helloween> I like your 8. a3 line, but maybe 10. f3 is better than 10.d2 then black can play 10..h6, followed by: 11. xf6, xf6 12.0-0-0, c7 and 13.h4 with an equal game May-19-06    you vs yourself: 15/0 game on FICS. It's the poison pawn variation. We followed this game S Petronic vs Wang Yue, 2001 until move 12. Then my opponent came up with 13.Bc4 click for larger view Then I played 13...Bh6 14.Qd3? Ne5 15.Qh3 Nxc4 16.Rb3 Qc1+ and it's all over. Oct-25-07    labralege: why not Rb1? Nov-20-07    Timeline: Actually, 8.Qd2 Qxb2 is in poor status these days after 9.Rb1. I wouldn't be surprised if it makes a comeback in a near future though. The line goes 9...Qa3 10.e5 h6 11.Bh4 dxe5 12.fxe5 Nfd7 13.Ne4 Qxa2 14.Rd1 Qd5 15.Qe3 Qxe5 16.Be2 Bc5 17.Bg3 Bxd4 18.Rxd4 Qa5+ 19.Rd2 O-O 20.Bd6 Rc6 21.O-O. After few more moves, the best black can do is to get an inferior endgame. Nov-21-07    labralege: I mean 8.Rb1 Sep-26-08    mohawk3484: i'm new to E4 so would anyone care to enlighten me what's the best response to sicilian najdorf? Sep-26-08    hrvyklly: <mohawk3484> There's no *best* response, although 6.Be3 is the most popular with the elite nowadays. It depends on your style and taste, 6.Be3, 6.Be2, 6.Bg5, 6.g3, 6.Bc4, 6.f4 all have their pluses and minuses. Dec-02-08    zoren: I read somewhere in the WCC page that Kramnik avoided the Poisoned Pawn Variation because of the obvious drawing lines. Unfortunately the annotators (Malcom Pein, et al) have not elucidated any of these lines, which are supposed to be "obvious". Maybe I misread somewhere, but if someone knows of these lines, I would like to be enlightened. Dec-03-08    euripides: <zoren> I don't know this line at all well, but this game and the kibitzes on it give some idea: Vallejo-Pons vs Kasparov, 2004 In aggregate, this line draws 38% of the time in this database - a fairly normal ratio - so these theoretical possibilities may not be too much of a practical problem at most levels. Jul-28-09    randomsacrifice: Helloween, after 8.a3 the game is completely equal according to Fritz Jul-28-09    parisattack: What a thrill it was to watch this variation unfold in the 1960s. A new shot alomost every day, it seemed. Zuckerman had some great articles on it in Chess Life. It was more fun before Fritz/Rybka and the rest of the silicon beasts, IMHO.

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