Bishop sacrifice on g4 – part 2.

As mentioned it the last entry I played a tournament in Isle of Man at the beginning of October, that was sponsored by PokerStars. It was a well arranged and strong tournament where I had a bad start and struggled to get my game to an acceptable level. I had every intention of publishing a game while I was playing, but in the end I spent so much energy on trying to get myself in shape that there was simply no energy left for anything else. The upside is that I played a King’s Indian game where I got to sacrifice the bishop on g4:

Bishop sacrifice on g4 – part 1.

A few week ago I played an interesting game in Isle of Man that featured a bishop sacrifice on g4. This is obviously not a general theme in just any position, but I will give two examples of how this sacrifice can be an excellent idea for Black in situations where Black’s dark squared bishop is fianchettoed, as usually occurs in the King’s Indian and the Sicilian Dragon. I will start with an example from the Dragon and then give an example from the King’s Indian. I believe it is important to recognize this kind of theme at the board and to be constantly aware of the possibility in situations where it matters. Let’s start with how it can look in the Dragon:

My game from Isle of Man will be published on Thursday.