Silicon Road: Engine Openings #04: Komodo's sacrificial sideline against the 2...e6 Sicilian!

This video is in our Engine Openings series!
This game features a significant novelty from Komodo Dragon in a sideline against the 2…e6 Sicilian popularised by the Russian grandmaster Rublevsky. Rublevsky scored a massive +16 =11 -1 for a 2749 performance in my database! White players have tended to meet Black’s very reasonable-looking plan in quiet fashion, but Komodo sacrifices first a pawn and then the exchange to achieve complete domination over the dark squares.
This sideline was already a dangerous White weapon… with Komodo’s help, it could be a killer! Black players certainly need to be aware of it!

I’m grandmaster Matthew Sadler, a 2-times British Champion, and ranked in the world’s top 50 for many years. I’m also a prolific author.
My latest book - The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement – which came out in October 2021 is, just like this channel, all about learning from and training with engines. My previous book, the award-winning Game Changer – written together with Natasha Regan – brought the amazing chess games of DeepMind’s AlphaZero to the world.

The Silicon Road to Chess Improvement is available from here:

"Game Changer" came out on 20th January 2019 and won the prestigious ECF Book of the Year and FIDE Book of the Year prizes for 2019! The Game Changer chess book is available in print and digital versions from these links:

Silicon Road: Engine Openings #04: Komodo's sacrificial sideline against the 2...e6 Sicilian!

[BramCohen]

"Komodo finds an opening trap which could beat a Super-GM"

[Jaylooker]

I think f4 tries to get a better version of the Nxc6 four knights Sicilian defense with king already castled. That exchange sacrifice leads to something like a good Semi-Slav: Marshall gambit with black being too passive.