Download PGN of November '11 Open Sicilian games
>> Previous Update >>
The Kan 5 Nc3 [B43]
After 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 a6 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 Bd3 Nf6 Ivanchuk opted for the aggressive sideline 7 f4!? in the aforementioned Ivanchuk - Nakamura. This is new to the site and should likely be met by 7...d6 or 7...b5!?, since 7...Bb4 8 Nb3!? Bxc3+ 9 bxc3 d6 10 Ba3 asked quite a lot of Black's position:
             |
Still, the American no.1 wasn't doing too badly until he allowed White to crash through on the kingside.
The Taimanov - 6 g3 [B47]
The variation 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 g3 will always have its adherents. White plays to maintain control and for a small positional edge (and perhaps an aggressive Nd5 blow if Black is careless!). After 6...a6 7 Bg2 I can't help but find myself drawn to the uncompromising attempt to cross White's plans with 7...h5!?, which Vallejo has employed, and 7...Nge7 8 Nb3 h5!? is a similar approach:
|
|
White refused to be intimidated, castling at this point in Antoniewski - Laznicka, but Black was doing fine until some overly-ambitious play left him a little lucky to escape with a draw.
The Taimanov - 6 Be3, 8 a3 [B49]
Instead after 6 Be3 a6 7 Be2 Nf6 play appears to be drifting into a Classical Taimanov or Scheveningen, but White can avoid the main lines of those with 8 a3!?, as John Emms extolled back in Dangerous Weapons: The Sicilian:
|
|
It's sufficiently dangerous to have caught Topalov's eye and in Topalov - Quinn we'll see that it's not such a comfortable version of the Scheveningen for Black after 8...d6 9 g4!.
The Anti-Perenyi 8...h5 [B81]
Talking of 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 it's time we took a look at the Perenyi line 6 Be3 a6 7 g4 e5 8 Nf5 h5!? which has been fairly topical of late and usually reaches a key tabiya after 9 g5 Nxe4 10 Nxg7+ Bxg7 11 Nxe4 d5 12 Ng3:
|
|
The advance of the e-pawn has been coming under some pressure here, but pushing the d-pawn leads to some very complex and intriguing positions. White came well prepared with a surprising and strong idea (17 0-0!) in Borisek - Barrett, but even there Black should be able to obtain sufficient counterplay.
The Scheveningen Mainline [B85]
Many grandmaster games have transposed from the Taimanov to the Classical Scheveningen of late, such as with 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be2 d6 7 0-0 Nf6 8 Be3 Be7 9 f4 0-0:
|
|
We'll consider recent developments after both 10 a4 Qc7 and 10 Qe1 in Fedorchuk - Navara, all of which seem to suggest that Black is in decent shape here in general, although Navara was a little caught out by quite an old line.
The Najdorf: 6 g3 e5 [B91]
It's not often that you see Anish Giri lost by move 20 and, perhaps surprisingly, 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 g3 e5 7 Nb3 was the line which did for him. Naiditsch - Giri is just further proof that after 7...Nbd7 8 Bg2 b5 9 0-0 Black must go 9...Be7, as 9...Bb7? 10 a4! b4 11 Nd5 a5 12 Bd2! prepares to open the queenside before he is ready:
|
|
6 Bg5 - Delayed Poisoned Pawn [B96]
A somewhat sharper and more topical line is the Delayed Poisoned Pawn, 6 Bg5 e6 7 f4 h6!? 8 Bh4 Qb6. We round up White's various 9th moves, including the surprisingly topical 9 a3 in Robson - Dominguez Perez, where one of the main lines is debated, namely 9 Qd2 Qxb2 10 Rb1 Qa3 11 f5 Be7 12 fxe6 fxe6 13 Bc4! Nxe4! 14 Nxe4 Bxh4 15 g3 Bg5 16 Nxg5 hxg5:
|
|
Exchanging on e6 leads to simplification and a likely draw, as we've seen before, but White is struggling to do any better and soon falls into a vicious trap after 17 c3 Qc5 in the game.
Poisoned Pawn Najdorf [B97]
We turn our attention to the other main line, 11 e5 dxe5 12 fxe5, in Brkic - Palac, transposing to the Poisoned Pawn proper. There's nothing wrong with 12...Nfd7 as far as I know, but that has fallen completely out of fashion, partly because 12...Nd5 is very solid for Black while 12...g5!? leads to quite creative play. Sutovsky's favourite knight move looks like a pretty reliable choice, but if he is playing for the win, Black might well have to prefer the even more uncompromising positions which arise after the advance of the g-pawn.
Until next month, Richard
>> Previous Update >>
e-mails
Please feel free to share any of your thoughts with me, whatever they are, suggestions, criticisms (just the polite ones, please), etc. Drop me a line at the Open Sicilians Forum, or subscribers can write directly to richard@chesspublishing.com