A beautiful Sicilian Najdorf in which Robson sacrificed two pieces for the initiative, but Wesley So refuted them in style and won brilliantly!
Ray Robson vs Wesley So, Sicilian Defense, Najdorf (B94)
2010 Spice Cup, Round 8, Lubbock, Texas
Wesley So usually played the French back in 2010., so the opening might have surprised Ray Robson. When they entered the Najdorf, Wesley played a very rare move on move 6, which must have been even more confusing for Robson. He misjudged the position and made a few theoretical inaccuracies which made his position worse very early on. To improve, he played a very tricky piece sacrifice. It has been played only once before, so the players probably didn’t know about it, but such sacrifices are thematic for a few variations of the Sicilian, especially in the Najdorf.
He gave up a piece and started attacking. Wesley defended well, but gave Robson the chance to take the lead. Ray equalized, but failed to find a continuation which would have at least lead to a forcing draw. Wesley punished that with even more precise defense.
Robson decided to give up another piece! He sacrificed both his bishops and his position wasn’t completely hopeless yet. After a while, though, when he’d played a few less than ideal moves, it was over and he had to give up. So found a forced queen exchange and Robson resigned.
Game moves:
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5
Nbd7 7. Bc4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. f4 e6 11. Bxe6 fxe6
12. Nxe6 Qa5 13. O-O Kf7 14. f5 Be7 15. Qe3 Re8 16. Qg3 Nc5
17. Nxg7 Rg8 18. Ne6 h6 19. e5 dxe5 20. Qxe5 Rxg5 21. Nxg5+
hxg5 22. Rfe1 Bf8 23. Rbd1 Bd7 24. Nd5 Nce4 25. Rxe4 Nxe4
26. Qxe4 Bc5+ 27. Kf1 Qa4 28. Qe2 Bb5 29. Rd3 Bxd3 30. cxd3
Kf8 31. Qh5 Qh4 32. Qxh4 gxh4 0-1