The Open Sicilian: Richter-Rauzer

The Open Sicilian: Richter-Rauzer

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 – Entering the Richter-Rauzer (also possible after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5) 6 … e6 7. Qd2 and already Black has two major continuations, with possible transpositions between, 1) 7 … Be7 and 2) 7 … a6.

1) 7 … Be7 8. O-O-O O-O (8 … Nxd4 9. Qxd4 a6 10. f4 Kasparov-Kramnik 1996) 9. f4 – 9. Nb3 may allow more flexibility for White but I have rarely been satisfied with many of the resulting games. In any case, I will systematically go through the major replies you will probably see to the relatively novel 9. f4: A) 9 … d5, B) 9 … Nxd4, and C) 9 … a6.

A) 9 … d5 10. e5 Nd7 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. Bb5 Nxd4 13. Qxd4 and Black has 3 real replies A1) … Nb8, A2) … Nb6, and A3) … a6.

A1) 13 … Nb8 14. g4!? Nc6 (… Bd7 15. f5!? Bxb5 16. Nxb5 Qd7 [... Nc6? 17. f6! Qb4 18. Qxb4 Nxb4 19. c3 Nc6 {on ... Nxa2 20. Kb1 gxf6 21. exf6 Nxc3+ 22. bxc3 and the win is easy} 20. Rhe1 Rfd8 21. g5! and White just forces a win against almost any of Black's continuations, e.g. 21 ... a6 22. Nd4 Nxd4 23. Rxd4 b5 24. h4 gxf6 25. gxf6 Kh8 26. Rg1 Rg8 27. Rdg4 and every move ends the same for Black, with an easy endgame for White] 15. Qf2 a6 16. Bd3 b5 17. g5 Rd8 18. Rhg1 b4 19. Na4 Rb8 20. Rg3!! g6 21. Rh3 Qf8 22. Nc5-And White’s moves can almost ignore Black. 22 … a5 23. Rh6 Bb7 24. h4 Qe7 25. h5 Nxe5 26. fxe5 Qxg5+ 27. Qd2!! Qxd2 28. Kxd2 and White wins by a landslide even after the sharp 28 … Kg7 29. hxg6 Kxh6 30. Rh1+ Kg5 31. gxf7 where a little technique is needed.

A2) … Nb6 14. Bd3 Bd7 15. h4 Rfc8 (15 … f6 16. h5 fxe5 [... f5 17. h6 g6 18. g4 fxg4 19. Rdg1 Rac8 20. Rxg4 +=] 17. Qxe5 Qf6 18. Qxf6 gxf6 19. f5 Rae8 20. fxe6 Bxe6 21. Rh4 Kh8 22. Nb5 Rg8 23. Nxa7 +=) 16. h5 Rc5 17. h6 g6 18. g4 Rac8 19. Rhf1 Qf8 20. g5 Qe7 21. Rf3 Rxc3 22. bxc3 Qa3+ 23. Kd2 Nc4+ 24. Ke1 Be8 25. Rff1 Qxa2 26. Ke2! and White has a monster lead after 26 … Qa3, … Qa5, … Qa6 27. Ra1! where any other move by Black drops the Queen after 28. Rb1 . The key move in this variation is the eventual f5 which breaks Black’s protection of his King wide open e.g. 26 … Qa5 27. Ra1! Ba4 28. f5 gxf5 29. Bxf5 exf5 30. e6 f6 31. gxf5 and White wins.

A3) … a6 14. Bd3 Rb8 (… b4/b5 15. Ne4 f6 16. Rhf1 fxe5 17. fxe5 Rxf1 18. Rxf1 where if Black played … b5 White has a decisive advantage Nd6 and the game is just advantage White when … b4 was played [18 ... Bb7 19. Nd6 Qg5+ 20. Kb1 Bc6 21. Qc3 Nc5! which is not possible after ... b5]) 15. f5 Qg5+ 16. Rd2 b5 17. h4 Qd8 18. fxe6 fxe6 19. Nxd5! exd5 20. Qd5+ Kh8 21. Qe4 g6 22. e6 Rfe8 23. Bxb5!! and White is up 2 pawns after 23 … Rxe6 24. Qd4+ Kg8 25. Bxd7 Bxd7 26. Qxd7 Qf6 27. Qd4 Qf7 28. Qc4 with a great advantage.

B) 9 … Nxd4 10. Qxd4 Qa5 11. e5! dxe5 12. Qxe5 Qb4 13. a3 Qc5 14. Be2 and White had a nice lead in the game. 14 … Qxe5 15. fxe5 Nd5 16. Bxe7 Nxe7 17. Bf3- And Black’s position cannot easily extricate itself! 17 … Rb8 18. Nb5 a6 19. Nd6- White’s advantage is solidified and Black will typically lose material to dislodge the Knight. Perhaps Black’s best try is the immediate 19 … f6 20. exf6 gxf6 21. Rd3 b5 22. Rhd1- Black has little concrete to improve his position.  He cannot dislodge White’s Bishop, doubled Rooks, or Knight without sacrificing what few positional pluses he has.

C) 9 … a6 10. Be2 Ne8 (best) 11. Bxe7 Qxe7 12. h4 Nxd4 13. Qxd4 b5 14. h5 h6 (… Bb7 15. h6 g6 16. g4 Rc8 17. Rfh1 Rc5 18. Kb1 +=) 15. g4 Bb7 16. f5 d5 17. e5 b5 18. Na4 Rc8 19. Bd3 Rc6 20. Rde1!

2) 7 … a6 8. O-O-O and Black has 2 main continuations, A) … Bd7 and B) … h6.

A) 8 … Bd7 9. f4 and A1) … b5, A2) … Be7, and A3) … h6

A1) 9 … b5 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. f5!? – To play as sharp as possible.  Continuations are typically either A1a)11 … Nxd4 or A1b) … Qb6.  On 11 … h5 12. Kb1 Qb6 13. Nxc6 Bxc6  14. Qf4 Tiviakov – Galliamova-Ivanuchuk 1998.

A1a) 11 … Nxd4 12. Qxd4 Bh6+ 13. Kb1 Bf4 14. fxe6 fxe6 15. Ne2 Be5 16. Qd2 Qb6 (16 … 0-0 17. g3 Qb6 18. Bh3 Mecking-Panno 1978) 17. Nf4 Ke7 (17 … a5 18. g3 0-0 19. Bh3 Hjartarson-Kozul 1993) 18. g3 a5 19. Bh3 Hilario Ta Fier-Milos 2005.

A1b) … Qb6 12. Nc6 Bxc6 (12 … Qxc6 13. Bd3 0-0-0 14. Rhf1 Jansa-Commons 1974) 13. Kb1 Qc5 14. Bd3 0-0-0 15. a4 Lagrave-Timofeev 2006.

A2) 9 … Be7 10. Nf3 b5 11. Bxf6 gxf6 (11 … Bxf6 12. Qxd6 Be7 [12 ... Ra7 13. Kb1 b4 14. Ne2 Van der Wiel-Spassov 1972] 13. Qd3!? b4 14. Na3 Tseshkovsky-Gurevich 1989) 12. f5 Qb6 (12 … Qa5 13. Kb1 0-0-0 14. g3 Kb8 15. Bh3 Tal-Byrne 1966) 13. Kb1 0-0-0 14. g3 Kb8 15. fxe6 fxe6 16. Bh3 Bc8 17. Qe1 Swathi-Madl 2008

A3) 9 … h6 10. Bh4 Nxe4 11. Qe1 Nf6 12. Nf5 Qa5 13. Nxd6 Bxd6 14. Rxd6 O-O-O 15. Rd2 Ne7 (… e5 16. Bc4 exf4 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Bxf7 Gipslis-Tal 1958) 16. Bd3 g5 17. fxg5 hxg5 18. Bg3 Nh5 19. Bd6 Nd5 20. Qe5! f6 (… Rde8 21. Ne4 Qxa2 22. c4! Nhf4 [... Qa1+ 23. Bb1 f6 24. Qd4 Bc6 25. cxd5 exd5 26. Qb6! and the win is easy] 23. cxd5 Nxd3+ 24. Rxd3 Qa1+ 25. Kd2 Qxh1 26. Bb8 and White wins) 21. Nxd5 Qxd5 22. Qxd5 exd5 23. c4 Be6 24. cxd5 Rxd6 25. dxe6 Nf4 26. Bf5 Rxd2 27. Kxd2 Nxg2 28. e7+ Kc7 29. Bg6 Kd7 30. e8Q+ Rxe8 31. Bxe8+ Kxe8 32. Rf1 Nf4 33. h4 and the endgame is an easy win.

B) 8 … h6 9. Be3 Bd7 10. f3 b5 (10 … Qc7 11. g4 Ne5 12. h4 Karpov-Van der Wiel 1980) 11. g4  Ne5 (On11 … Qa5 11. Nxc6 Bxc6 12. Kb1 Tal-Calvo 1981. On 11 … b4 12. Nxc6 Bxc6 13. Ne2 Larsen-Gligoric 1974) 12. Bd3 b4 13. Nce2 d5 14. Ng3 Nxd3 15. Qxd3 Kupreichik-Peshina 1980.

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