Download PGN of June '08 Open Sicilian games
The Taimanov: The English Attack
I may be taking some liberties by referring to the position after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 Be3 as the English Attack. However, it does seem that nowadays the term 'the English Attack' refers to the position after 6 Be3 in the Najdorf, irrespective of how either side follows up, and why should things be any different in the Taimanov? At any rate, it is hard to quibble that 6...a6 7 Qd2 Nf6 8 0-0-0 definitely isn't an English Attack:
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Black has three options here. We begin by considering his most common and theoretical approach, 8...Bb4, in Vachier Lagrave-Vitiugov. The current evidence is that 9 f3 Ne5 10 Nb3 promises White a reasonable chance of emerging from the opening with an edge. Thus some Taimanov players have been (re-)investigating 8...Be7 and 8...b5, both of which theory may have been too quick to condemn. That said, I must admit that here too I believe that White has a decent chance to gain a small plus, and we will investigate the former line in Gashimov - Morozevich and the latter in McDonald - Plaskett.
The 5...Qc7 Taimanov player doesn't have to meet 6 Be3 with 6...a6. Instead Boris Grachev's favourite 6...Nf6 is quite a provocative option, although I'm far from certain that Black has anything better than transposing to previously-discussed lines in the event of 7 Qd2. Instead both 7 Ndb5 and 7 f4 can be considered critical tests of Black's move order. The latter was chosen in Volokitin - Grachev, but after 7...Bb4 8 Ndb5 Qa5 9 e5 Nd5 10 Bd2 Nxc3 11 Nxc3 (Radjabov's 11 bxc3!? may be more critical) 11...d5 Black appeared to have obtained a reasonable game:
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The Scheveningen: Fianchetto Variation
Black's problems after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 g3 e5 help to explain why a number of Najdorf players have switched to either 6...e6 or 6...Nc6 and then ...e6. A good place to start here for anyone else considering changing is Georgiev's coverage in The Sharpest Sicilian. On the current evidence 6...Nc6 7 Bg2 Bd7 8 0-0 e6 offers Black sufficient and typically-Scheveningen counterplay, as we'll see in Baklan - Movsesian:
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Perenyi Attack
The English Attack is quite a wide umbrella, encompassing such lines as the positional 6 Be3 e5 7 Nf3 and the wild Perenyi Attack. We take a look at the latter in Leko - Anand. There the FIDE World Champion went straight down the main line with 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3 e6 7 g4 e5 8 Nf5 g6 (8...h5!? is a critical alternative, as we will also explore) 9 g5 gxf5 10 exf5 d5 11 Qf3 d4 (white players should be aware that 11...Ne4 is far from refuted, despite being virtually extinct in practice) 12 0-0-0 Nbd7, and now Leko went for the direct 13 Bc4!:
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On the current evidence, this aggressive idea looks rather dangerous for Black. Anand certainly couldn't cope with the defensive task in a rapid game, but there are a number of places in which Black can look to improve.
The Najdorf: The English Attack
Another uncompromising line of the English Attack is the Danner Variation: 6 Be3 e5 7 Nb3 Be7 8 f3 Be6 9 Qd2 0-0 10 0-0-0 a5!?:
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Bu Xiangzhi has been one of its leading supporters of late, but on the current evidence Black is in some need of an improvement against Anand's 11 Qe1. Certainly 11...Qc7 12 Bb5 Nbd7 13 Qf2 gave White control and the upper hand in Cheparinov - Bu Xiangzhi.
The Najdorf: 6 g3
The elite haven't hurried to take it up, but Black has suffered a little in recent years after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 g3:
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In Alekseev - Karjakin White meets 6...e5 with 7 Nde2 and after 7...b5 8 Nd5 Nbd7 9 Nec3 Bb7 Black found himself very close to full equality. More challenging appears to be 7 Nb3 when 7...Nbd7 8 a4 b6 9 Bg2 Bb7 10 0-0 Be7 11 Re1 is a long-established variation and one which we will consider in Rasmussen - Nielsen. It used to be thought that 11...Rc8 12 Nd2 Rc5 was the way to go, but against both that and Black's 11th-move alternatives White retains reasonable chances to emerge with an edge.
The Kalashnikov
In the last round at Sofia, Radjabov returned to an old favourite of his and with some success! After 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 e5 5 Nb5 d6 6 N1c3 a6 7 Na3 b5 8 Nd5 Nf6, Topalov chose not to discuss the topical 9 Nd5 variation of the Sveshnikov, which would have arisen after 9 Bg5, preferring the no-less critical 9 c4. Topalov - Radjabov continued 9...b4 10 Nxf6+ Qxf6 11 Nc2 Qg6 12 Ne3 Be7 13 g3 Nd4! 14 Bg2 Bb7 15 Nf5, which at first sight looks promising for White:
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However, Radjabov was ready with a sacrificial idea of Sveshnikov's: 15...Qxf5! 16 exf5 Bxg2 which appeared to give him sufficient compensation for the queen. I quite like this deep approach, although more tests are required before we can pass a full verdict on this variation which is very critical to the evaluation of 8...Nf6.
Next month we'll see more games in the Najdorf, as well as some Richter-Rauzer coverage.
Until then, Richard
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