Download PGN of September '11 Anti-Sicilian games
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2 b3 g6!? [B20]
Black has a wide range of options after 1 e4 c5 2 b3, but don't be surprised if the provocative 2...g6!? becomes more popular after being recommended by no lesser theoretician than Peter Heine Nielsen in Experts on the Anti-Sicilian. After 3 Bb2 Nf6 4 e5 Nd5 an original position is reached in which it seems that Black should be able to obtain decent counterplay:
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White tries 5 Qf3 in Kabanov - Navara, but this fails to entirely convince after 5...Nb4! 6 Bc4 e6 7 Na3 Bg7.
The c3 Sicilian 2...d5 [B22]
Every week plenty of games are played with 1 e4 c5 2 c3, but White is currently struggling to prove anything in some of the main lines. One of those is 2...d5 3 exd5 Qxd5 4 d4 Nf6 5 Nf3 e6 where I should remind you that John drew attention to the prophylactic 6 a3!?. That avoids the possibility of 6 Be3 cxd4 7 cxd4 Bb4+ which gives Black an easy game in my view. After 8 Nc3 0-0 (we also give a fair bit of coverage to 8...Bd7!?) 9 Bd3 b6 10 0-0 Bxc3 11 bxc3 Ba6 Black exchanges the light-squared bishops:
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This results in a hanging-pawn position of the type often seen in the Nimzo or Panov, and is quite a comfortable version for Black, as Stevic - Grachev confirms.
2...Nf6 [B22]
Another important line is 2...Nf6 3 e5 Nd5 4 d4 cxd4 5 Nf3 e6 6 cxd4 d6 7 Bc4 and now the solid 7...Nb6 is a decent alternative to the popular 7...Nc6 8 0-0 Be7. White should probably retreat to b3 here, as Short's 8 Bd3 dxe5 9 dxe5 Na6! continues to hold up quite well for Black:
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Certainly the new idea 10 0-0 Nc5 11 Bc2 Qxd1 12 Rxd1 Nd5 13 Rd4!? fails to bring White any advantage in a battle between two young American stars, Hess - Arnold.
Better viewing for White is Vajda - Rodriguez, although it seems that the rare 6...Bb4+!? deserves further attention. After the natural sequence 7 Bd2 Bxd2+ 8 Qxd2 b6 9 Nc3 Nxc3 10 bxc3 amazingly 10...Bb7 was a novelty:
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This would have led to a rather unbalanced middlegame had Rodriguez exchanged on f3, rather than allowed White's knight to cause chaos on the kingside.
The Chameleon Sicilian [B23]
White can head into this via 1 e4 c5 2 Ne2, as well as with 2 Nc3 followed by 3 Nge2. After 2...Nf6 3 Nbc3 d6 4 g3 Black has a number of options:
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He should really just counter-fianchetto on the kingside, offering White a choice between a sideline of the Dragon and a Closed Sicilian, whereas the overly-creative 4...b6?! was quickly butchered in Jobava - Guliyev.
A solid choice for Black is 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 Nge2 e5, which may appeal to Sveshnikov and Kalashnikov players, and has been the choice of Evgeny Sveshnikov himself! After 4 Nd5 Nf6 5 Nxf6+ Qxf6 6 Nc3 d6 7 Nd5 Qd8 8 Bc4 White's position looks quite ideal:
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However, 8...Rb8! begins timely counterplay and by playing around the knight on d5 Black was never more than a touch worse in Fedorchuk - Sveshnikov.
The Grand Prix Attack [B23]
Even in 2011 some quite strong players seem to stumble into the line 1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 d6 3 f4 Nc6 4 Nf3 g6 5 Bb5 Bd7 6 0-0 Bg7 7 d3 a6 8 Bxc6 Bxc6 9 Qe1 Qd7 without really knowing what they're doing:
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Carlsen crushed Topalov earlier this year after 10 a4 when the Bulgarian no.1 chose the optimistic 10...f5?!. Neither does 10...b5?! turn out well in Polgar - Dominguez, but I can't see too much wrong with Kasparov's calmer 10...b6.
A good mix overall this month between solid defence and attacking chess! Richard
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