Between the Stripes

Evgeny Zanan – Matan Poleg
38th Israeli Chess Championship; Eilat, January 27, 2025
Sicilian Defence B47

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be2 Nf6 7. Ndb5 Qb8 8. f4 d6 9. Be3 Be7 10. g4 a6 11. Nd4 Nd7 12. g5 Qc7 13. Qd2 b5

14. Nf5!? A thematic Knight sacrifice and... nothing new under the sun.
14. ... Bf8? The critical line seems to be 14. ... exf5 15. Nd5 Qd8 16. Qc3 0-0 17. Qxc6 Rb8 followed by ... Bc8-b7 with a complex but roughly balanced play.
15. 0-0-0 exf5 16. Nd5 Qb8? Theoretically speaking, this is a novelty, but not an improvement on 16. ... Qa5 15. Qxa5 Nxa5 16. Nc7+ Kd8 17. Nxa8 Bb7 18. Nb6 Bxe4 19. Rhg1 which left Black with insufficient compensation for the Exchange in Romanov – Begmuratov, 17th Georgy Tadzhikhanovich Agzamov Memorial, Tashkent 2024.
17. exf5 Bb7 18. Rhe1 Ne7 19. Bf3 f6 20. Bh5+ Kd8 21. Qa5+ Kc8

White to move and win:
22. Ba7! Bxd5. Black cannot take the Bishop with either Queen (22. ... Qxa7 23. Qc7#) or Rook (22. ... Rxa7 23. Rxe7! Bxe7? 24. Nxe7#) without being mated, and he finds nothing better than to give up his Queen just to play on a few more moves.
23. Bxb8 Nxb8 24. Rxd5 Nxd5 25. Re8+ Kb7 26. Qd8 Nc7 27. Rxf8 Nc6 28. Qxa8+ Nxa8 29. Rxh8 fxg5 30. Bf3 Nc7 31. Bxc6+ Kxc6 32. fxg5 1–0.