Until he castles, Black’s tactical soft spot is f7, defended only by the king.
Lev Aronin White
A. Kantorovich Black
Moscow 1960
Sicilian Defense, Hyper Accelerated Dragon Variation B27
1 e4 c5 2 ♘f3 g6 3 c3
White prepares to build a model center, 3...♗g7 4 d4 cxd4 5 cxd4.
3...b6? 4 d4 ♗b7 5 ♗c4!
Nothing wrong with defending the e4-pawn. But the text targets f7, e.g. 5...♗g7? 6 dxc5 bxc5? 7 ♗xf7+! ♔xf7 8 ♕b3+ and 8 ♕xb7.
5...d5?
After 5...♗xe4 White gets a second-class advantage from 6 ♗xf7+ ♔xf7 7 ♘g5+ ♔g7 8 ♘xe4 ♘f6.
Question 44: How does he get a first-class edge?
In retrospect, 5...e6 is best although White is better after 6 d5 or 6 ♕e2.
6 exd5 ♗xd5 7 ♕a4+! ♗c6
Black would also lose after 7...♕d7 8 ♕xd7+ and 9 ♗xd5. Or 7...♘c6 8 ♗b5 ♖c8 9 ♘e5 ♕d6 10 ♗f4!.
Black may have seen this far when he chose 5...d5 and concluded that 8 ♗b5 ♗xb5 9 ♕xb5+ ♕d7 wasn’t so bad. For example, 10 ♘a3 cxd4 11 ♘e5 ♕xb5 12 ♘xb5 ♘a6.
He may also have looked at 8 ♕b3 e6 and hoped that 9 ♘e5 ♗xg2 is bearable.
8 ♘e5!
But he missed 8...♗xa4 9 ♗xf7 mate.
8...♕c7 9 ♘xc6 ♘xc6 10 d5 resigns.
Jan Ambroz White
Laszlo Barczay Black
Debrecen 1987
1 e4 c5 2 ♘f3 g6 3 c3 ♗g7 4 d4 ♕c7 5 dxc5 ♕xc5 6 ♗e3 ♕c7 7 ♗d4 e5 8 ♗e3 ♘f6 9 ♘a3 0-0 10 ♘b5 ♕c6 11 ♘xe5 ♕xe4 12 ♘xf7 ♖xf7 13 ♘d6 ♕c6 14 ♗c4! ♗f8 15 ♗xf7+ ♔g7 16 ♘xc8 ♔xf7 17 ♘xa7 resigns.