Download PGN of February ’16 Anti-Sicilian games
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Queenside Fianchetto 2.b3 [B20]
First, we take a look at a game with the current World Champion facing the obscure 2.b3 variation.
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In Aravindh - Carlsen, Magnus chooses the popular 2...g6 defence but although he wins, the victory wasn't entirely convincing. It's an exciting game but in the notes I've shown a few tempting options for White from an early stage that seems to make this line quite playable.
These sidelines for White might be a reason why Kotronias recommends 2...Nc6 3.Bb2 e5!? against 2.b3. This is featured in Guerra Rivera-Santos Latasa:
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While this defence is still not that popular, it's worth paying attention to these notes as I'm sure 2.b3 players will face it more regularly in the future thanks to the new book.
Morra Gambit ...e6 and ...a6 [B21]
For a change, I've also featured a Morra. Georgescu - Bogner is a good old fashioned gambit with Black employing perhaps the best regarded 'refutation'. It's telling that Kotronias doesn't recommend that Black play this way, and perhaps this game is why - especially this spectacular shot:
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In fact, the sacrifice is probably a move too early, but in any case, White got a great position but couldn't quite keep up with his opponent who out-rated him by over 500 points.
2.c3 Sicilian 2...d5, 5...Bf5 [B22]
We have four 2.c3 (say that three times fast!) games this month. Hovhannisyan - Kovchan is a 5...Bf5 variation that we should all be well familiar with by now... although it seems that neither GM in this game is a subscriber!
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Of course, 8.Qa4 and not 8.Bc4 is the way to go, as we saw most recently last month.
2.c3 Sicilian 2...d5 and ...g6 [B22]
Chigaev - Nguyen then moves us into ...g6 territory, a line regular readers will know that I myself have great trouble against.
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Chigaev takes a no-nonsense approach to things by capturing on c5, which objectively shouldn't give White anything special. However, he soon lives up to his billing as ELO favourite with a tricky endgame combination.
2.c3 Sicilian 2...Nf6, ...e6/...d6 system [B22]
Next, Pham - Bromberger takes us right back into one of Kotronias' central recommendations in his new book:
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He suggests the popular ...e6/d6 variation of 2...Nf6, and his analysis is incredibly deep and thorough. I couldn't find any substantial holes but in the notes to this game, I give some interesting, although small, improvements over his analysis. Pay close attention to the notes to moves 11 and 13 to try and earn yourself cheap points in practical play.
Howell - So extends this analysis of Kotronias by looking at 9.Re1:
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You should really spend some time on my notes to Black's 10th move, as this is where I go deep into the new book's recommendation and suggest some tricky improvements for White.
Tiviakov's Grand Prix [B23]
Finally, Cornette - Perry is something a little different, including a new variation name (at least for me!).
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Kotronias names this Tiviakov's Grand Prix after the Dutch GM who has scored many fine victories with it. Black was almost 600 points lower rated than his opponent in this game, so the result shouldn't surprise us. However, I imagine that Black's play in this game would be quite likely to be repeated by many club players in the 1600-2200 range, so no matter what your strength, playing attention to White's play here could win you some nice free points!
Cheers, Dave
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