Lowenthal Sicilian

PBE6

Only Chess

14 Oct '10 17:24

PBE6
Bananarama
False berry
Joined
14 Feb '04
Moves
28719
14 Oct '10 17:249 edits
I just played an OTB game which I lost as white playing the Lowenthal variation of the Sicilian. I can't remember the whole game but I'll post what I can:

Invert Board PGN Comments

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 a6 6. Nd6+ Bxd6 7. Qxd6 Qe7 {Apparently the book move here is 7. ... Qf6 with an eye on moving to g6 and applying pressure to white's e-pawn.} 8. Qxe7+ {?! Not quite sure if this is as horrible as it looks, but it's what I played. My thinking was that retreating the queen to d1 would lose time, and I wasn't sure if having the bishop pair was compensation enough for such a lag in development. Apparently, this line of thinking is dead wrong because retreating the queen is the best move according to the book! Whodathunkit?} 8. ... Ngxe7 9. c3 {Despite my earlier objection to losing time by retreating the queen, I decided to make this time-wasting move in order to prevent black's knight from penetrating to d4 or b4, threatening the c2 square and making my life hell. I'm not sure what's best, but in many variations of the Lowenthal white's light-square bishop ends up on d3 providing protection for both the c-pawn and the e-pawn. Maybe the immediate 9. Bd3, giving up the bishop pair but slowing black's progress, would have been best here?}

Unfortunately it gets hazy after this. The game continued with me awkwardly attempting to free my queenside pieces (without succeeding) while keeping my king in the centre, allowing my opponent a nice bishop outpost on d3, opening the position while behind in development, and generally getting squeezed to death. It's funny how the cool, calm collection flies out the window when you venture into unknown territory.

Any thoughts are welcome!
Schach Attack
Joined
07 May '10
Moves
237
14 Oct '10 22:113 edits
Well, another advantage of ...Qf6 is that if White takes, the recapture places Black's king's knight on a better square. On the other hand, if White doesn't take, with ...Qe7 the f6 square is still free for the knight.

The question really is, if everything had gone according to book, where would White have been? Black would have had two pieces developed (albeit a misplaced queen) and White would have had ...none. In fact, after Qd1 it's Black's turn so he gets to develop another piece.

White moves the same piece (knight) three times in the opening, simply in order to take it off the board and end up with zero development. If that is the way this opening is supposed to go, personally I'd pick a different opening.
erikido
Joined
09 Dec '05
Moves
955
15 Oct '10 00:02
Originally posted by Schach Attack
Well, another advantage of ...Qf6 is that if White takes, the recapture places Black's king's knight on a better square. On the other hand, if White doesn't take, with ...Qe7 the f6 square is still free for the knight.

The question really is, if everything had gone according to book, where would White have been? Black would have had two pieces dev ...[text shortened]... f that is the way this opening is supposed to go, personally I'd pick a different opening.
silly gm play.

q-c7 is 1a as I remember it
PBE6
Bananarama
False berry
Joined
14 Feb '04
Moves
28719
15 Oct '10 13:141 edit
Originally posted by Schach Attack
Well, another advantage of ...Qf6 is that if White takes, the recapture places Black's king's knight on a better square. On the other hand, if White doesn't take, with ...Qe7 the f6 square is still free for the knight.

The question really is, if everything had gone according to book, where would White have been? Black would have had two pieces dev f that is the way this opening is supposed to go, personally I'd pick a different opening.
Apparently the bishop pair is compensation enough, because despite black's head start in development white is still considered to have the advantage. This is the reason given as to why more people don't play this variation as black.
Jack Bertram
Joined
28 Apr '09
Moves
44258
15 Oct '10 13:28
Originally posted by Schach Attack
Well, another advantage of ...Qf6 is that if White takes, the recapture places Black's king's knight on a better square. On the other hand, if White doesn't take, with ...Qe7 the f6 square is still free for the knight.

The question really is, if everything had gone according to book, where would White have been? Black would have had two pieces dev ...[text shortened]... f that is the way this opening is supposed to go, personally I'd pick a different opening.
I play the Lowenthal as Black, although I very rarely seem to get the Open Sicilian played against me. The main line is indeed 7.... Qf6. There are four main moves for White here: 8. Qd1, 8. Qa3, 8. Qd2, and 8. Qc7. Qc7 and Qa3 are a little more aggressive.

While Black does have a little activity at this point, it is difficult for him to arrange to play ....d5 without sacrificing the pawn. He needs to play actively and aggressively to avoid White getting a positional stranglehold. Plans include b5-b4, Nd4, and in some cases d6 and f5 instead of d5. White's setup often includes Nc3, h4, Bg5, o-o-o, and Bc4.

You shouldn't be afraid of the Lowenthal as White - play good positional moves and you will emerge into the middlegame with a solid game.
kmac27
washington
Joined
18 Dec '05
Moves
47023
15 Oct '10 20:38
I agree with Qc7. Why trade queens? it allows black to push d5 easily. Blocking in that white bishop of blacks is a game stopper.
kmac27
washington
Joined
18 Dec '05
Moves
47023
15 Oct '10 20:39
or I play Wd1. By trading off blacks pieces pushing d5 becomes harder.

Only Chess Forum

Lowenthal Sicilian