Grandmaster Repertoire 6 - The Sicilian Defence

Store forventninger til denne seriøse, hotte seriens Siciliansk-bok for svartspillere, med Scheveningen og Najdorf samt alle tidlige avvik som motstanderne hvit finner på.

I åpen siciliansk bygger boka på at svart starter med Najdorf-trekkene 1.e4 c5 2.Sf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Sxd4 Sf6 5.Sc3 a6 og så etter både 6.Le2 og 6.f4 går over til Scheveningen med 6...e6, en trekkrekkefølge kjent ikke minst fra Kasparovs partier. Etter 6.Lg5 gir Ftacnik svart begge de to mulighetene 6... Sbd7 og 6... e6, men sistnevnte med 7.f4 h6 og ingen "Poisoned pawn" med Db6.

Den slovakiske stormesteren Lubomir Ftacnik er en fremragende teoretiker og en mangeårig siciliansk-kjenner, særlig av Scheveningen-systemene.

Denne serien er bøker mest for spillere med ratingnivå fra omlag 1400 og til topps.

Innhold

• From Russia Sicily with Love - Introduction 7
• Minor Systems
  • 1 Pandora’s (Chess) Box - Miscellaneous 2nd moves 9
  • 2 Some Like It Hot - The Morra Gambit 29
  • 3 Forrest Gump - The c3-Variation 37
• Closed Systems
  • 4 Up Close(d) and Personal - Without g3 67
  • 5 A Bridge Too Far - 3.g3 85
• Anti-Open Systems
  • 6 Fight Club - Various 101
  • 7 Blade Runner - 3.Bb5† 119
  • 8 The Last Samurai - 4.Qxd4 133
• Minor Open Lines
  • 9 The Misfits - 6th Move Sidelines 149
  • 10 Sideways - 6.g3 161
  • 11 The Karate Kid - 6.h3 175
  • 12 Pulp Fiction - 6.f4 183
  • 13 The Rock - 6.Be2 207
  • 14 Midnight Express - 6.Bc4 251
• English Attack
  • 15 The English Patient - 6.Be3 e5 285
  • 16 Predator - Perenyi Attack: 6.Be3 e6 7.g4 323
  • 17 Four Weddings and a Funeral - 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 333
• Classic Main Line
  • 21 License to Kill - 6.Bg5 e6 379
  • 22 Blood Diamond - 6.Bg5 Nbd7 405
• Variation index 420

Forfatterens intro

From Russia Sicily with Love

First I would like to express my gratitude to the reader for opening this book on the Sicilian Defence. Credit must go to the Quality Chess team and their excellent authors whose efforts resulted in the creation of a real buzz about the Grandmaster Repertoire series. To follow in the footsteps of the previous titles made for a daunting challenge and I hope that the present book, the sixth volume in the series, will live up to the readers’ high expectations.

The unparalleled popularity of the Sicilian has led to the creation of an entire chess galaxy that is too vast for even the best and brightest minds to comprehend fully. Each player chooses his Kan, Sveshnikov, Dragon or other pet variation, around which he creates his own Sicilian world. My own modest expertise lies in the domains of the Najdorf and Scheveningen systems, which I have been playing and studying over the past two decades. The Scheveningen system represents a kind of foundational core, from which virtually all knowledge about thematic Sicilian structures and plans can be traced. Although the official subject of this book is the Najdorf variation, the two systems share many common themes and can often transpose to one another. In certain places, such as Chapters 12 and 13 (which deal with the variations 6.f4 and 6.¥e2 respectively), the decision to recommend the response 6...e6, instead of equally valid alternatives such as 6...e5, was influenced by my fondness for the Scheveningen set-up. I make no apologies for this, as I believe that an author can make the most useful contribution when writing about his own areas of expertise.

At the end of the day this repertoire book is about cherry-picking the best and brightest ideas from the enormous jungle of variations available. In some sense the repertoire is notable not only for the recommendations that were included, but also for the attractive ones that (sometimes after agonizing deliberations) did not make the final cut. The whole Sicilian Defence creates something of a ‘win-win’ situation, in the sense that the unbalanced positions often result in bloodshed for one side or the other. In some variations Black may have to defend for a while, but it rarely kills his chances for a subsequent counterattack and ultimate success.

I have tried to address all the most important ideas in every chapter, but practice will inevitably bring some new challenges, so please be prepared for some surprises. Nobody can foresee the future – it is often difficult enough to ‘predict’ the past (just ask any decent historian).

I have often hankered for a bit of colour in our seemingly dry, black and white world of technical annotations, symbols and diagrams. As a young man I came across a game that is played in social situations, involving association with the names of films. Movies can often be symbolic, full of cultural references and associative bridges – evoking colours and emotions unlike any other form 8 Introduction of media. I hope for some readers the chapter titles will evoke some positive feelings and help to place the struggle to master chess into a broader perspective.

This entire project has at times threatened to pull me down and drag me under the deep waters of endless lines and multiplying ideas. I am greatly indebted for the help and encouragement of John Shaw, Jacob Aagaard and Andrew Greet of Quality Chess. The love, care and understanding of my wife Katarina went so far that she is happy to be woven between the lines.

I appreciate the attention of any reader who glances beyond this preface. The main rule of the survival guide in Black’s Sicilian galaxy is to Die Another Day – be prepared to go under at any moment, but try to resist and strike back. The final (or should that be Fatal?) attraction of the Sicilian is the fact that it is truly dangerous – for both sides!

Lubomir Ftacnik, Bratislava June 2010