Todorov,M (2005 BG) - Dorobanov,S [B76]
Team National Championship, Bulgaria, 1988
(Dorobanov, 1999)

This was the 11th Team National for young hopes, held in the small town of Ihtiman, Bulgaria. Each city was to present a team of 5 boys under 14 years of age (4 boards, 1 substitute). If you have read "My Bulgarian Experience" under "Lessons" you know the Rousse youth club was notoriously good at the time. On board 1 we were armed with Veselin Topalov, only 12 years old and already a world famous young master. A year later he became the Youth World Champion (under 14), in the same event where Antoaneta Stefanova (only a 10-year old girl at the time) earned the same title with a shocking 11-0 score in the 12 and younger championship. 1989 was a true holiday for Bulgarian chess. Topalov and Stefanova became grandmasters in their teens and now remain the strongest Bulgarian players, for men and women respectively. I remember everybody wishing Topalov on his birthday to become a world power one day, but he surprised everybody to enter the top 10 in just a few short years. Of course, he aced board 1, allowing just one draw of 7 games. Boards 2 & 3 were defended by experts S. Andreev and S. Kostov, both of whom became masters shortly after. They were both 14, the "elders" of our team. C. Botev and I had the privilege to defend board 4, both assumed to be promising "A" players, although our system at the time did not permit ratings below 1900 and it was hard to tell. C. Botev and I were both 12, however Charley was the one with more experience, so our coach, Ivo Donev, decided I needed the tournament experience and appointed Botev the substitute position after a good performance of 1.5-0.5 from the first two games. The tournament started for me at round 3 and I was very excited to defeated my first expert: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 Exactly what I had began to study. Dragon Variation of the Sicilian, it sounds cool enough to win every kid's heart. Sicilian has been the most popular opening almost ever since its discovery. Nowadays endless analysis reveal that it is also one of the most difficult openings to master, as Black is faced with tactical problems very early on in the game. I think its very name contributes to the fashionable popularity of this defense - Mafia, organized crime, power, violence, Sicilian! However, not all its fans realize the "all or nothing" spirit of the opening makes it one of the most difficult systems to equalize with. 6.Be3 Bg7 7.f3 This system seems to have a different name on each continent. In Europe it is known as Rauzer Variation, in America - Yugoslav Attack. Whatever the name, it is the most dreaded system against the Dragon. It is worth a mention that Accelerated Dragon (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6) has a unique way of preventing this setup, which is the reason for the rapidly increasing number of Acc Dragon players. 7...0-0 8.Qd2 Nc6 9.0-0-0

White is almost fully developed, his king is safe, and he is ready to launch a powerful kingside attack by advancing the g- and h-pawns. Black must counterattack quickly on the queenside or the center, otherwise he will find himself under a massive and rarely defendable attack. 9...d5 At the time I was reading Gufeld's book "Sicilian Dragon" where this pawn sacrifice was was awarded a "!". I had no idea this was one of the most theoretical and complicated variations in chess, and I didn't care either. It made enough sense and it allowed me to go after the king. My coach, however, wasn't thrilled with the idea of me playing Sicilian and I knew I was to be severely criticized if I didn't win! 10.Nxc6 bxc6 11.exd5 cxd5 12.Nxd5 Nxd5 13.Qxd5 White takes the challenge. In exchange for the pawn, Black receives open lines on the queenside and having ripped up the center he is worry free about getting attacked himself. Avoiding the queen trade, however, is very necessary. 13...Qc7!

14.Qc5! White could take the a8-rook, but only if willing to exchange his queen for the other one: [14.Qxa8 Bf5 15.Qxf8+ Kxf8³ This position is considered preferable for Black.] 14...Qb7 15.Bd4? [15.Qb5 Qxb5 16.Bxb5 Rb8µ; 15.Qa3 was Gufeld's recommendation (from the same book) and he evaluated the position as minimally better for White. However, this entire line has been stricken from fashion and modern books recommend that White doesn't accept the pawn sacrifice at all. Instead, 10.Qe1 or 12.Bh6 have become popular.] 15...Bf5!µ Now the threat is 16...Rfc8 with deadly pressure on c2. From here White's position begins to worsen rapidly. 16.Bxg7 [16.c3 Rac8 17.Qb5 Bh6+ led to material losses for White.] 16...Rfc8! 17.Qxc8+ Rxc8 18.Bc3 Now surely White regrets not having traded his queen for the two rooks while he had the chance. 18...Qc7! Now the maneuver with the queen aims to weaken some of White's position and create a target of attack. 19.g3 Qc5 20.Bg2 Qc6! 21.Rd2 Qa4-+ 22.a3 a5 23.Rhd1?

23...Rxc3! and now Black wins by force: 24.bxc3 Qxa3+ 25.Kb1 Be6 26.Rd8+ Kg7 27.Rb8 Ba2+ 28.Ka1 Bb3+ 29.Kb1 Qa2+ and mate the next move. We won the tournament with 21.5 points (of 28 total), followed by the Plovdiv team (19 points). I scored 4 points of the 5 games I played. I'll never forget how angry everyone was when I blew a winning position in round 4, probably because it resulted a team loss against our main competition, the Plovdiv team. Since then I never liked team tournaments much. Next time I played in one I was Captain and the responsibility was even greater... hence the result was worse! :-) 0-1