|
|||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
|
Chessville
Advertise to Single insert:
|
Then I noticed that a good friend of mine, devout double king pawn player as Black, had ventured out the Sicilian instead of the 5...a6 of the Najdorf, though he had played 5...Nc6. I asked him if he had forgotten to play ...a6 and he explained that he thought the variation with both Black knights coming out made more sense! Sense? What did sense have to do with it? He explained that playing the Najdorf involved Black in too many crazy lines after 6.Bg5, Bc4, Be2, f4, g3, h3, a4 or even the silly 6.Be3, whereas after 5...Nc6 Black has to only worry about 6.Bg5, Bc4, Be2 which meant less than half the number of lines to be concerned with! Well, the logic of this argument startled me into questioning my chess attitudes instead of just accepting what was delivered in books or magazines as the total story. I did not switch from the Najdorf to the Classical Sicilian though! As I opened Starting Out: the Classical Sicilian, I recollected my experiences in the Classical Sicilian and this little anecdote came back to me. Otherwise, all my experience had been playing the lines from the White side which led me to be a bit skeptical at the outset. Thumbing to the table of contents, the anecdote seemed more prophetic than I had imagined: three chapters on the Sozin 6.Bc4, three more on the Richter Rauzer 6.Bg5, the more quiet 6.Be2 gets a chapter devoted to Boleslavsky's 6...e5, and there is one chapter devoted to other 6th move alternatives! Just as my friend had indicated, a less complicated line than I had thought. Immediately I moved to chapter 3 - "The Sharp 6.Bc4," as it had been my choice for many years. The usual explanation that Bobby Fischer had popularized 6.Bc4 was there, a quick point that 6...e6 and Qb6 were usual, how playing the Dragon like 6...g6 fails to the age old trap with 6...g6 7.Nxc6 bxc6 8.e5 whereas 6...Bd7 is likely to see Black through. Then to my astonishment 6... Na5 and 6... e5 were given space. Astonished because one of the moves is decentralizing and the other forfeits the "golden apple" of d5 to White. These were only minor suggestions of course, but to include them in a book obviously intended for players new to the line made me question immediately the value of the book. Looking through the little bit of analysis on these two lines, my attitude of suspicion changed to a kind of intrigue. Neither 6...e5 or 6...Na5 was suggested as a leading alternative, but instead places where a pragmatic player might find some room to work out his own direction. I was hooked! The rest of this chapter looked at 6...Qb6, which seems to have a semi-cult following extending back to the 60's when it was the "Benko" variation. Much of this material has been "worked out" since I last played the Sozin, but I would suggest that any player working through to page 62 after the suggested 12.Qf3 Bb7 check a database for the move 13.a4 which I have used to gain several points. Chapters 4 and 5 look at the more common lines in the Sozin and Velimirovic attacks. The authors have done an excellent job of condensing the material here to the relevant analysis for a player just beginning this line, quite a feat considering that there are entire volumes with hundreds of pages devoted to just these lines. The Richter Rauzer attack is another beast that has a large body of literature devoted to it. Again the authors do a stellar job of producing a solid level of explanation to the three main defenses for Black. The line 6.Bg5 Bd7 appears in the introductory chapter and appears to have been rehabilitated by Dreev. This line seems a bit adventurous as noted in the analysis: 6.Bg5 Bd7 7.Bxf6 gxf6 8.Be2 Qa5 9.0-0 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Rc8 11.a4 offers White a lot of opportunities. The older line 6...e6 7.Qd2 Be7 has seen a renaissance in the past 20 years and still appears to be going strong. A choice between 6...Bd7 and the more modern 6...e6 7.Qd2 a6 would seem to me more a matter of temperament than actual strength of one line over the other. Chapter Two deals with the Boleslavsky variation 6.Be2 e5. This chapter was worth a great deal as the Boleslavsky has never gotten the attention it deserves, probably because 6.Be2 is by far the least popular of White's three main choices. Where most players would either transpose to the Scheveningen 6...e6 or the Dragon 6...g6, the player working with the book will shoot the e-pawn up to the 5th rank, seeking dynamic chances. The analysis given has an exciting tinge to it and makes the line much more fun than one would initially expect. That leaves only the odd 6th moves lines for White which get their coverage in Chapter One. Of course these lines aren't harmless and do require more attention today than they once did, but it is the strength and flexibility of the Classical Sicilian that the Black player can draw from to gain chances. Everyman is producing good quality books, nice colorful covers, clean pages with clear fonts and diagrams. At 9 inches by 6 inches, this is perfect to carry in a bag and easy to handle in crowded conditions (I read about half on the bus). Raetsky and Chetverik have been the authors of several books recently. They seem to have a very good formula, if Starting Out: the Classical Sicilian is any indication. Comments are concise with brief outlines of either sides motives, followed by good quality games to reflect how the middlegame or endgame will unfold.
Anyone who already plays this
line will find little in here that is new, but a player who is just taking
up the Classical Sicilian will find this book greatly valuable. Maybe
after 30 years I can play it too! From the Publisher's Website:
|
The
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||||
