I've personally never seen this before  

I don't see it very often, it holds back on push the e or d pawn, typical in a Sicilian. via e6 d6. Black plans on attacking the center rather forcefully.

It's not that common below master level but very much super GM sound. It looks weak to give yourself the backward d pawn but it's all about dynamic piece play versus pawn structure. Pretty much every passive endgame is lost for Black. Its got so much theory on it so not an easy one to see for the first time. Ndb5, d6, Bg5, a6, Na3, b5 and then either Nd5 or Bxf6 is mainline btw. Nb3 isn't great because if Black gets d5 in he's a bit better

This is a new move to me! Usually I would play 'Najdorf' or 'Dragon'.

It was an oversight, actually... f3 or Bf3 would work better

Did you mean Bd3?

White is apparently caught by surprise and goes with the mediocre 6.Nb3. White has to play Ndb5 to have any chance of coming out of the opening with an advantage. After 7.Bd2, it looks like black has already equalized - white's bishop pair will not be sufficient compensation for the lost e pawn. 7.Bc4 would have been more active.

Main move is Bc4 to meet Nxe4 with Bxf7+ and Qd5. f3 will cause weaknesses when d5 comes in and Bd3 is playable but gives Black the better game after ... d5, exd, Nxd Black has a slight edge. After Bc4, 0-0 then Bg5, Qd3 and 0-0 are all playable but theory prefers Black. Ndb5 isn't the only move though; I played GM Nigel Short in a simul a few months ago and he opted for Morozevich's Nde2 which has some really dangerous lines in it

Nice analysis. Dangerous for white, I assume...

In your line, the second knight is still present on e5, so white has time to castle o-o-o and the material is even, with an edge for white. The line is bad for white, indeed, but for another reason: white doesn't recover the piece, since black doesn't have to lose any knight after Bxe5, NxBe5, then Qe2 in order to get one of the two knights and restore material balance, black goes Qh4, and if g3, Qg4, and white has to give black the time to castle - and save himself. Trying to avoid the queen's exchange with f3, Qxf3 and black comes out of danger with even more material. Instead of g3, white has to think about Nc5, trying to complicate things around the black king, but it doesn't work very well: NxNc5, QxNe5+, Ne6, and all white has is Qd6 or o-o-o, not enough compensation for the piece.

Strange series of moves here. White has compensated for the loss of a pawn here.

Not strange at all: white gets out the queen in order to get something for the pawn, forking the knight and the g8 pawn. The only way to defend for black is the knight two moves, the only ones that save the pawn in g8.

I'll keep that in mind for the next Sveshnikov I face...  

Think that this castle may have been done to soon, though I don't think it spells death here.

Which is the best move for white, here? Bd3 controls the advance in e4, but it is too passive against d5!. If Qg3 instead, attacking the central pawn, black can still play f6 and prepare to cope with h5-h6, or Qf6, and white can try to castle kingside with Bd3, o-o, o-o, or black can go directly o-o and leave white the choice if to recover the pawn, losing the bishop pair in the process, or move elseway. They are all different games, very interesting to analyze. If black defends with d6, white has o-o-o, taking advantage of the pin on the black queen. f6 is now needed for black, and white goes on with Bc4, with a strong attack. So I would recommend Qg3 for white instead, but castling queenside is part of the plan in most cases. Black can answer f5, but white still can take the e5 pawn.

It ended up being my whole plan as White - maybe I was focused too much on that...

White missed a shot here 12. Bc4 would have given white some interesting pressure. Seeing that blacks d-pawn is weak, white shouldn't allow it to establish on d4. Seems that Black has a strong center and an advantage.

This is the wrong plan for white, as the N on e6 keeps all the dark squares under control. Maybe Qe4, stopping d5 with tempo (the e5 pawn is now threatened), then Bc4 to get rid of the Ne6.

I'm not so sure about this move. With the queen on the kingside and the c3 bishop, this move looks very risky. However, Black's pieces are placed so that White will have to try hard to get through the strong defense of black. But I don't play moves that could be very dangerous for myself, so if I was Black in this situation, I'd maybe go for a different move. Would F5 be a good move?

f5 should be fine I think yeah but after Qg3 I think I have oto play g6 anyway. The reason i didn't was for fear of g4 getting in when White's attack may be a genuine threat. I always sort of have the bail option if things get dangerous with Qg5+ though so I felt that the position probably looks more hazardous than it actually is

hytyerlock, I cannot understand: how Bc5 doesn't stop black's d5? Anyway, white's pawn in h6 is a plan, after all. White can play 14. Rh5, threating the e5 pawn (d4 is not a threat until black doesn't move the queen from the d column) and preventing both a possible f5 by black, and the Qg5 emergency door for black. Next Qf3 by white is weak, in my opinion.

Simply a result of the impressive center black has. Qhite moves now to Qg3, but too late. It follows a nice dance of pins and unpins, very enjoyable.

Call it natural instinct or something along those lines - Black threatens discovered attack on c2, White protects c2

18.Nxd4 exd4 and black wins (the Qc7 is defended by the octopus on e6). I think white is simply lost here. Improvements had to come earlier.

Kb1 wouldn't be very useful after Be4 white still isn't protected. The half-open c-file and pawn beach head on d4 are quite menacing. Note my previous comment on not allowing black to establish that pawn on that particular square. 18. Bb4?? white misses the tactical shot Nxd4!! at once bringing his threats to life. Instead white gives black the chance to use his excellent d4 pawn. [Edit] ops overlooked that knight heh.

I haft to agree with you here as white has missed several chances to take back the initiative.

f3 closes off whites queen from the defense of the king White may have had better chances with Qb3. Giving white a very real chance to trade queens.

Qb3! Most definitely a better choice than what was played!

Yeah that was something I was a bit concerned about truthfully, I only really looked at it once I played f5. I was actually considering playing really provocatively with Kf7 and then my attack should be quicker but Qb3 was definitely the best move

Interesting game. It shows how easily we can miss so many chances of getting back in the game. I wonder if X just had a Psychological reaction to how bad things looked after the first few moves.

The problem was I was chasing after the entirely wrong plan from the moment I lost the pawn... there was no chance for a mate on g7, but I'd convinced myself that there was

It turns out that there was no mate on g7! An interesting game

Very interesting game, annotation and comments.

properson123 the queen black controle g7(that's imprese)