This week I chose to annotate a game played at the recently concluded u16 Olympiad. It features Zong Yang Yu, Canada's first board, playing a higher rated opponent with the black pieces. He chooses a positional sub-variation of the dragon and proceeds to outplay his opponent quite convincly, constantly putting his pieces on better squares than his opponent. Enjoy.
[Event "World Under 16 Chess Olympiad 2015"]
[Site "Ulaan Bataar"]
[Date "2015.08.26"]
[Round "8.1"]
[White "Vokhidov, Shamsiddin"]
[Black "Yu, Zong Yang"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "2367"]
[BlackElo "2230"]
[PlyCount "54"]
[EventDate "2015.08.20"]
[EventRounds "10"]
[EventCountry "MGL"]
[WhiteTeam "Uzbekistan"]
[BlackTeam "Canada"]
[WhiteTeamCountry "UZB"]
[BlackTeamCountry "CAN"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 a6 {Black
opts for a 'Dragadorf' setup which allows for more flexibility than the
concrete dragon variations.} 8. Qd2 (8. Bc4 Nbd7 9. Qd2 b5 10. Bb3 Bb7 11. Bh6
(11. O-O-O Nc5 12. Bh6) 11... Bxh6 12. Qxh6 Qb6 13. O-O-O) 8... Nbd7 {Note
that in all standard dragon variations, the Knight goes to c6 instead of d7} 9.
Bh6 (9. O-O-O b5 10. g4 Bb7 11. a3 Nb6 12. Bh6 Bxh6 13. Qxh6 Qc7 14. h4) 9...
Bxh6 10. Qxh6 b5 {Personally I like developping the f1 bishop to b3 against
this dragadorf setup because it protects the king against potential exchange
sacrifices on c3 and always hits the f7 square.} 11. O-O-O Bb7 12. Kb1 Rc8 13.
h4 Rxc3 14. bxc3 {This exchange sacrifice is extremely typical in dragon's
and offers lasting compensation due the the double isolated pawns and the
weakened White king.} Qc7 15. h5 Rg8 16. hxg6 hxg6 17. c4 (17. Qe3 {keeping
the pawn makes more sense} d5 18. e5 Qxe5 (18... Nxe5 19. Re1 Nc4 20. Bxc4 dxc4
$13) 19. Qxe5 Nxe5 $11) 17... bxc4 18. c3 e5 19. Nc2 g5 $1 {Cutting off the
White queen} 20. Ka1 Qa5 21. Rxd6 $4 (21. Kb2 Ke7 22. Bxc4 Rc8 23. Na3 Rxc4 24.
Nxc4 Qb5+ 25. Ka1 Qxc4 $15) 21... Qxc3+ 22. Kb1 Ke7 {Now the Black rook will
swing to b8. White's king is just too weak.} 23. Rxd7+ Nxd7 24. Kc1 Rg6 25. Qh5
Nc5 26. Be2 Nd3+ 27. Kd1 Nf4 0-1
