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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4

I think this will be quite a common response among club players.  White simply opens the centre in the style of a normal Sicilian.  Play transposes into a position resembling the 2 c3 line, but not quite.

4...cxd4 5.Qxd4 e6 6.Bc4 Nc6 7.Qe4 f5 8.Qe2 Nde7!

This is a very good move which can be played in the analogous variation with 2 c3.  Quite nakedly Black targets the e-pawn.  The blocked centre means that White will take quite some time to build up any pressure on the d-file so this plan is quite viable.

9.g3 Ng6 10.Bd2 Qc7 11.Bc3

Not an ideal square for the Bishop.  Black expands further.

11...a6 12.h4

More or less forced.

12...b5 13.h5

What else?

13...Ngxe5

It looks to me as though Belozerov had this all worked out at home.  For the rest of us it is an instructive little combination serving to demonstrate the efficiency of the earlier Knight manouevre.

14.Nxe5 Nxe5 15.Bxe6!

White plays well, which makes this game valuable.

15...dxe6

Here Black misses a shot I think!  15...Qc6! 16.Bd5! Two Zwizchenzugs in a row but at the end of the affair it will be Black on top:  (16.Bxf5 Qxh1+ 17.Kd2 Qd5+ 18.Kc1 Bb7 (18...d6 19.Be4) 19.Qxe5+ Qxe5 20.Bxe5 Kf7) 16...Qxd5 17.Qxe5+ Qxe5+ 18.Bxe5 Bb7 19.0-0 Rc8.

16.Bxe5 Bd6 17.Bxd6 Qxd6 18.Nc3?!

So natural and so inaccurate.  It might have been worth flicking in 18.h6!? just to upset the Black King.  It's not so easy for Black to get his Bishop and Queen lined up on the diagonal: 18...g6 19.0-0! Bb7 20.Re1 Kf7 21.Nd2.

18...b4!

Now Black is getting on top.  In order to prevent some horrible accident on the long diagonal White is forced into unfavourable tactics.

19.Rd1

19.Nd1 Bb7 20.Rh4 0-0 21.c3 bxc3 22.Nxc3 Rad8 was relatively best.

19...Qc6!-+ 20.Nd5 Kf7 21.Rd4 exd5

If there is a piece there, why not take it?

22.Kd1 Re8 23.Qd2 a5 24.h6 g6 25.Rhh4 Re4 26.Rhxe4 dxe4 27.Rd6 Qc5 28.Rd8 Ra7 29.Kc1 Rc7 30.Rh8 Ke6 31.b3 Qc3  0-1

Easy technique at the end.

A small article like this one can only whet the appetite but I would say ' why not give the Nimzo-Sicilian a try?  Play seems to be messy, uncharted and you can go for the win.

The following book is out of print but it's the best work on the subject I know if you can get your hands on it:  Wie spielt man das Nimzowitsch System in der Sizilianischen Verteidigung? by V.Hort and J.Pribyl.  Walter Rau Verlag Dusseldorf 1986.

Quite a mouthful.
 

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