Smith Morra Swindle

Been looking at Richard Palliser's book 'Fighting the Anti-Sicilians'.

I've rarely seen such breadth and depth (sorry if I tediously emulate this 'depth' virtue, here!). In the 'Gambits' chapter, I especially liked the treatment of the Smith-Morra with ...e6, ...a6, and...b5 for Black.

However, I have been having great success with the Smith-Morra. How? Here is a representative example--the position is from the (absolutely excellent) book, except White's eighth move is my own novelty:

1 e4 c5 2 d4 cxd4 3 c3 dxc3 4 Nxc3 Nc6 5 Nf3 d6 6 Bf4 a6 7 Bc4 Nf6 8 Nd5!

White sacks the e-pawn, seemingly a great crime indeed, and first of all, I do not suppose, here, that most players (playing Black) would improvise the idea of declining that pawn in a real game.

But 8 ... Nxe4 9 Be3 highlights a weakness in black's position, the b6 square. Then, say, 9 ... Nc5 10 b4 and black can't play 10 ...e6 (I'll come back to 9...Nd7!) 11 Bg5! and what now? Perhaps 11 ... f6 12 bxc5.

And, black could try either 12 ... fxg5 or 12... exd5, but I'll take white's attack. For example, 12 ... exd5 13 Qxd5 Qd7 14. O-O-O!

Now, what if black respects the soundness of the e-pawn sacrifice in this line (though it goes a second pawn down--you'd think that anybody would demand proof here!), and declines, then how much fun does white still get to have?

Black certainly does have a number of options, but, briefly, I think that 8...e6 is not sufficient for equality, and neither, in my view, is 8...Nxd5, and also not 8...b5. But what about 8...Bg4(!). Just to illustrate how much potential White has here, I offer 9 Rc1 Nxe4 10 O-O e611 Re1 f5 12 h3 Bh5 (I'm clearly not reviewing all ofblack's alternatives in this line, but here he surely can't play 12...Bxf3 13 gxf3 Ng5 14 Bxg5!) 13 g4 Bg6 14 Ng5 exd5 15 gxf5 Ne7 and, although white has already sacrificed one piece, the exchange sacrifice 16 Rxe4! is a crusher.

Now, I promised to come back to 9...Nc7! I wanted to save what looks like Black's best for last. Here, I think White can play 11 O-O e6 (pending contradiction, let me just say that I have no confidence in 11...g6,when White's move is 12 Re1.) 12 Re1 exd5 13 Bb6+. I have to advise that I know how optimistic this one might look, as White only gets a queen for a rook and two minor pieces. Not everybody's cup of tea. But I like 14 Rxe7+ Nxe7 15 Bxa6, which has among its virtues, that it might allow White to follow up by pursuing a passed pawn on the queenside before Black can even get developed.

Again, and seriously, I think White is better than fine--I expect disagreement here, however, so here are a few more moves: 15...bxa6 (although black also has15...Nxb6 or 15...Rxa6) 16. Bc7! Bb7 17. Qe2! Rc8 18.Bxd6 Rc6 19 Bg3 and things are going according toplan.

Now, here is the way for Black to draw. Heh, heh. I think that I have a way, but I'm not sure if I should post it here... :)