Traps, Tricks & Mistakes: Mistake in the Dragon

It is well known that the Sicilian Defense is an opening plenty of tactics. Players who enter into its intrincate variations have to know exactly what to do. Samuel Reshevsky played a famous inaccuracy in the Sicilian accelerated dragon. He played black against Bobby Fischer. Reshevsky played an apparently normal move, but overlooked the strong replay.

Reshevsky didn’t play according with basic opening principles (i.e. development of pieces). The position demanded to open first the door to his queenside bishop (8…d6). And then start his plan of Na5. Then his position would have been safer.