Download PGN of September '05 Open Sicilian games
Sveshnikov/Kalashnikov Variation [B32-B33]
By a stroke of good fortune The Sveshnikov Reloaded by Dorian Rogozenko (Quality Chess) dropped into my letter box a few days ago, and permitted me to examine his analysis in several key lines.
I haven't had time to read it properly yet (I will do a proper review when I do) but my first impressions are very favourable - indeed, I think this book may well prove to be my Sveshnikov reference work for some years to come.
Anyway, whilst looking at this month's games, I noticed that rather than play 17...g6 after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e5 6 Ndb5 d6 7 Bg5 a6 8Na3 b5 9 Nd5 Be7 10 Bxf6 Bxf6 11 c3 O-O 12 Nc2 Bg5 13 a4 bxa4 14 Rxa4 a5 15 Bc4 Rb8 16 Ra2 Kh8 17 Nce3, which allows 18 h4, some players have been experimenting with 17...Be6:
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White's simplest is to castle, but instead tried 18 b3!? in Ganguly - Al Sayed and won quite easily, but Black had several opportunities to equalise.
Alternatively, in Nepomniachtchi - Zhigalko, White preferred 18 Qa4!? and after 18...Bd7 replied 19 Bb5?!, much as in a Anand - Kasparov game we looked at a short while ago, but here he only succeeded in provoking a firework display from his opponent!
Volokitin - Van Wely comes, once again, from the Positional Variation (it is so popular nowadays!), but this time Black tried the line with 11...Bg5, and 12...Rb8:
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Rather than play a move which has a fairly good reputation for Black he innovated (on move 23) and quickly found himself in trouble.
Scheveningen [B80 to B89]
In Naiditsch - Movsesian White played the 'slow line' in the Keres Attack:
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the game is not of any great theoretical value, but I included it as I really liked the neat combination Black played in the early middlegame.
I have noticed that the Velimirovic Attack is not too well covered on this site, possibly because Black prefers the Benko lines with 6...Qb6 nowadays?!
Fortunately, Efimenko - Areshchenko allows us to look at some sharp theory, and as a bonus there is a very, very neat tactic in the note to Black's move 21!
Najdorf [B90 to B99]
Good news: I haven't played any chess since the last update, so you won't have to suffer any of my games this month!
In my Najdorf book I considered 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 Be3 e5 7 Nb3 Be6 8 f3 Nbd7 9 Qd2 b5 10 O-O-O to be a bit dodgy because of 10...Nb6 11 Qf2 Nc4 12 Bxc4 bxc4 when "Black has a ready-made attack along the b-file":
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However, in Bologan - Gelfand instead of playing the 'only move' 13 Nc5, White sprang the surprising 13 Na5!?. We will be seeing more of this!
Over to the solid, but not insipid, 6 Be2:
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Areshchenko - Efimenko features a major improvement for White on the game Svidler, P - Polgar, J/Dos Hermanas 1999, plus a very nice opposite-colour bishop attack in 'slow motion'!
If I haven't examined your favourite variation for a while, don't hesitate to tell me! Tony Kosten
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 tonykosten@chesspublishing.com