Greetings.
I'll be discussing one of my games against a higher rated player against whom i was able to manage a draw. This will be a multi part series.
Below is the complete game without variations :
The opening that i chose for this game was Sicilian, accelerated fianchetto, modern variation with Bc4.
The Accelerated Dragon or Accelerated Fianchetto is a variant of the Sicilian Defence.
The Accelerated Dragon features an early ...g6 from Black. An important difference between this line and the Dragon is that Black avoids playing ...d7-d6, so that he can later play ...d7-d5 in one move if possible. Generally, this opening features a more positional style of play, unlike many of the other Sicilian variations.
Sicilian, accelerated fianchetto, modern variation with Bc4 is one of the main variations of Accelerated Dragon.
At move 7, most common black moves are 7...0-0 and 7...Qa5.
My opponent chose 7 ... 0-0.
If black had played Qa5 then most common moves for Qa5 are
After 7 ... 0-0, white's possible moves are
8 Bb3, a safe place for white's bishop, threatens f7 pawn and can provide support in case white castles queenside,
8 0-0, securing the king,
and 8 f3, providing support to e4 pawn.
Commonly played moves for 8 0-0 and 8 f3 are
So, i preferred Bb3.
At move 8, black has a comparatively cramped position.
With 9 ...d5, black tries to open up the centre, makes way for bishop on c8 and is consistent with principle that "if opponent king is in centre, best way forward is to open up the centre".
White has 3 possible choices for move 10.
10 Bxd5, offering to exchange bishop for knight. Knights are considered better in sicilian so this exchange can be better for white.
10 Nxd5. This exchange doesn't give any advantage to white
Variations for 10 exd5 and 10 Nxd5 are