The Chameleon

Back in the 1970s GM Soltis popularized the opening moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nge2. He called it the Chameleon Sicilian as White has option of going into the Closed Sicilian with d3 and g3, or of transposing into the main line of the open Sicilian after .d4 cxd4 .Nxd4.

The opening can quickly transpose into one of the many lines of the Open Sicilian.

IM Soltis-Williams
Marshall Futurity
New York, Dec. 1979
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nge2!? (The game soon transposes into a version of the Dragon.) 3…e6 4.g3 g6 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 a6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 Qc7 9.f4 f6 10.Ne4 fxe5 11.fxe5 Qxe5 12.Bg2 Bh6 13.O-O d5 14.Qf3 Qd4+ 15.Kh1 dxe4 16.Qf7+ Kd8 17.c3 Qd7 18.Bg5+ Bxg5 19.Rad1 Bd2 20.Qf8+ Qe8 21.Qd6+ Bd7 22.Rf8 e3 23.Bxc6 Qxf8 24.Qxd7+ 1-0

GM Soltis-DEEP BLUE JR.
Exhibition Match, 1997
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nge2 Nf6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 d6 6.Bc4 e6 7.Bb3 Be7 8.Be3 O-O 9.Qe2 (Transposing into the Velimirović Attack.) 9…e5 10.Nf3 Na5 11.O-O-O Nxb3+ 12.axb3 Bd7 13.Bg5 Ne8 14.h4 Rc8 15.Nd5 f6 16.Bd2 f5 17.Ng5 h6 18.Qh5 Rc6 19.Qg6 hxg5 20.hxg5 Ra6 21.Kb1 Nf6 22.gxf6 Rxf6 23.Nxf6+ Bxf6 24.exf5 Bc6 25.Rh6 Be8 26.Qg4 g6 27.Rdh1 Qc8 28.Qh3 Kf8 29.Rh8+ Ke7 30.Rh7+ Bf7 31.fxg6 Qxh3 32.Rxf7+ Ke6 33.Rxh3 1-0

Gi Su I-Valentin Lyaskovsky
Russian Cup
Vladivostok, Sept. 18 2012
1.e4 c5 2.Ne2 Nc6 3.Nbc3 Nd4 4.f4 g6 5.g3!? Nf3+ 6.Kf2 (White’s move is forced and his king is safe for the moment. But he gets in the way of his kingside pieces; the ones that are supposed to protect him.) 6…Nd4 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.d3 h5 9.Be3 h4 10.e5 Nh6 11.Nxd4 cxd4 12.Bxd4 d6 13.Nd5 dxe5 14.Bc3 Be6 15.Ne3 Qb6 16.Qf3? (This loses in a hurry. Better is 16.Ke2.) 16…h3! 17.Bf1 Bd5 18.Qxd5 Ng4+ 19.Kf3 Qxe3+ 20.Kxg4 Rh5 21.fxe5 f5+ 22.exf6 Rxd5 23.fxg7 O-O-O 24.Re1 Rg5+ 25.Kxh3 Qf3 26.Re4 Rh5+ 0-1

One independent line, which may look weak at first, is 3.Nge2 e5!? White certainly can occupy the center with Nd5, but Black isn’t going away – his position is solid.

GM Fischer-Renato Naranja
Meralco, Philippines, 1967
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nge2 e5 4.Nd5 Nf6 5.Nec3 Be7 6.Bc4 O-O 7.d3 h6 8.f4 d6 9.f5 b6 10.h4 Bb7 11.a3 Rc8 12.Nxf6+ Bxf6 13.Qh5 Ne7 14.Bg5 d5 15.Bxf6 dxc4 16.Qg4 g6 17.dxc4 Qd6 18.Bxe7 Qxe7 19.fxg6 fxg6 20.Qxg6+ Qg7 21.Qxg7+ Kxg7 22.Rd1 Rcd8 23.Rxd8 Rxd8 24.Nd5 b5 25.cxb5 Bxd5 26.exd5 c4 27.a4 Rxd5 28.Ke2 Rd4 29.Rd1 Re4+ 30.Kf3 Rf4+ 31.Ke3 c3 32.b3 1-0

Christina Domsgen (2125)-Brigitte Burchardt (2262)
East Germany Women’s Ch.
Erfurt, 1973
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nge2 e5 4.Ng3 g6 5.Bc4 d6 6.O-O Bg7 7.f4 exf4 8.Rxf4 Nf6 9.d3 O-O 10.Rf1 Ng4 11.Nge2 Qh4 12.Bf4 Be5 13.Qd2 Nxh2 14.Rf2 Ng4 15.Rf3 Nd4 16.Rff1 g5 17.Bxe5 dxe5 0-1

GM Viswanathan Anand-N.N.
Simul
Bad Mergentheim
Germany, n.d.
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nge2 e5 4.Nd5 Nge7 5.Nec3 a6? (Better is 5…Nxd5 6.Nxd5 Be7 – see below.) 6.a4 g6?? 7.Nf6# 1-0

GM Fischer-GM Spassky
Match, Game #19
Belgrade, 1992
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nge2 e5 4.Nd5 Nge7 5.Nec3 Nxd5 6.Nxd5 Be7 7.g3 d6 8.Bg2 h5 9.h4 Be6 10.d3 Bxd5 11.exd5 Nb8 12.f4 Nd7 13.O-O g6 14.Rb1 f5 15.b4 b6 16.bxc5 bxc5 17.c4 O-O 18.Qa4 Bf6 19.Rb7 Nb6 20.Qb5 Rf7 21.Rxf7 Kxf7 22.Bd2 Rb8 23.Qc6 Nc8 24.Re1 Ne7 25.Qa4 Qc7 26.Kh2 exf4 27.Bxf4 Be5 28.Re2 Rb6 29.Kh3 Ng8 30.Rxe5 dxe5 31.Bxe5 Qe7 32.d6 Rxd6 33.Bxd6 Qxd6 34.Bd5+ Kf8 35.Qxa7 Ne7 36.Qa8+ Kg7 37.Qb7 Kf8 38.a4 f4 39.a5 fxg3 40.a6 Qf4 41.Bf3 Nf5 42.Qe4 g2 43.Qxf4 g1=Q 44.Be4 Qa1 45.a7 Qxa7 46.Bxf5 gxf5 47.Qxf5+ Kg7 48.Qg5+ Kf8 49.Qh6+ Kg8 50.Qxh5

50…Qc7 51.Qg6+ Kh8 52.Qf6+ Kg8 53.Qe6+ Kh8 54.Qd5 Qf7 55.Kg2 Qg6+ 56.Kh3 Qf7 57.Qe5+ Kh7 58.Kg4 Qg6+ 59.Kf4 Qh6+ 60.Kf3 Qg6 61.Qe4 Kh8 62.Ke2 Qd6 63.Qe3 Qh2+ 64.Kd1 Qh1+ 65.Kd2 Qh2+ 66.Kc3 Qxh4 67.d4 Kh7 68.d5 Qf6+ 69.Kc2 Qd6 70.Qg5 Kh8 71.Kd2 Qb6 72.Qe5+ Kg8 73.Qe8+ Kg7 74.Qb5 Qc7 75.Kc2 Kf8 76.Qa6 Qh2+ 77.Kb3 Qb8+ 78.Qb5 Qc7 79.Ka3 Qa7+ 80.Kb3 Ke7 81.Kc2 Kd8 82.Kd2 Qc7 83.Qa6 Qf4+ 84.Kc2 Qe4+ 1/2-1/2

GM Benjamin-Julio Granda Zuniga
Buenos Aires, 1992
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Nge2 e5 4.Nd5 Nge7 5.Nec3 Nxd5 6.Nxd5 Be7 7.Bc4 O-O 8.d3 Na5 9.O-O d6 10.f4 exf4 11.Bxf4 Be6 12.Qd2 Nxc4 13.dxc4 Re8 14.Rad1 Bf8 15.Ne3 Qf6 16.b3 Qg6 17.Qd3 Bh3 18.Rf3 Rxe4 19.Rg3 1-0