'The Siberian Trap' Part 2

'The Siberian Trap' in the Smith-Morra Gambit Part 2 by GM Jesse Kraai. For more of his great lectures and many other great masters visit www.chesslecture.com

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Education

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• 'The Siberian Trap'
• Smith Morra
• Jesse Kraai

[kingscrusher]

Sorry I have just discovered your positional evaluation seems far too optimistic in this line: [Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "?"] [Black "?"] [Result "*"] [PlyCount "33"] 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Bc4 Qc7 7. O-O Nf6 8. Nb5 Qb8 9. e5 Ng410. Bf4 a6 11. Nd6+ Bxd6 12. exd6 b5 How exactly is White better? There is even a game at Chessgames COM in this line with black winning:

[MrHobbit1]

@kingscrusher Thank you for your comments and I appreciate you posting your video as a reply to mine. As I've said in the description, I didn't make this video so I can't exactly say what he was thinking. I will admit that Jesse Kraai does seem a bit too optimistic but perhaps that's just his personality. Computer analysis does show the game is somewhat equal with a small advantage for white but I can see some optimism for white. Whites pieces are a bit more active than blacks.

[MrHobbit1]

@MrHobbit1 Continuing from above. If black were to play 100% correctly along with white then there should be no problem keeping the game equal, but it looks a bit more easy and simpler for white to continue playing on more successfully than black. The pawn on d6 serves as a great outpost for white, allowing white to keep blacks position locked and uncomfortable. This is probably why the author shows so much optimism for white.

[MrHobbit1]

@MrHobbit1 If white were to continue from the position you left me with, white can continue with 13. Nd4 ignoring the threat of blacks pawn on b5 attacking whites light bishop. Black can either take the bishop on c4(bxc4) which would be a mistake for black, too long to get into or black can Nxd4 which is still equal but in my opinion the game looks a bit easy for white. Black can be even more complicated and play 13. Nge5, but I'd still say the position looks a bit simpler for white.

[Cakemeister1]

After 1. e4 c5 2. d4 ed 3. c3 dc 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Bc4 Nf6 6. Nf3 e6 7. 0-0 Qc7 8. Nb5 Qb8 9. e5 Nxe5 10. Nxe5 Qxe5,

At about the 3:00 minute mark you say Black is "busted".

After 11. Re1 Qc5 12. Bf1, Black just plays Kd8 to avoid the fork at c7. Sure, White can kick the queen around with Be3/Bd3/Rc1 etc. and definitely win the a-pawn, but Black would still be a pawn up.

Is there a refutation of 12...Kd8?

[MrHobbit1]

@Cakemeister1 Kd8 is a mistake, after Kd8 Bf4 can be played allowing another attack on c7 as well as opening the c file for the rook to be placed on c1 allowing a third attacker on c7. If you wanted to play something other than Kd8, black could just continue with a6 but then be3 would be played causing you to have to move your queen to something like Qc6 but then Na7 causing a lot of problems for black.

[vemonds]

Very instructive lectures, certainly in combination with Kraai's other videos on the Smith-Morra gambit. Thanks for posting them!

[kingscrusher]

Very interesting and excellent analysis which I was completely unaware of, when I did my video on the Siberian last night.

I will post my video as a reply to this, which should help bring this video more attention if you accept the video reply. I have a few thousand subscribers who might at the moment be very interested in these variations you present.