|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
Chessville
Advertise to Single insert:
|
Anti-Sicilians: A Guide for Black
The first book by Moldavian grandmaster Dorian Rogozenko, entitled Anti-Sicilians: A Guide for Black, belongs to the eternally popular genre of Sicilian repertoire books. In spite of the large volume of books on this opening, surprisingly few have provided ammunition for Black when White chooses to avoid the Open Sicilian, so from that perspective this title is welcome. Nearly a decade has passed since Joe Gallagher wrote his repertoire book, Beating the Anti-Sicilians, and many important ideas have since surfaced in the various Anti-Sicilians. In particular the Bb5-variations (Moscow and Rossolimo) have become regular guests at top-notch tournaments. As an experienced grandmaster, who has played the Sicilian throughout his career, Rogozenko is ideally suited to give a well-considered and personal opinion on how to best confront these systems. Like any other repertoire book, individual taste will determine whether you like the suggestions made or not. If you play the Sicilian because you prefer an unbalanced dogfight, there is a chance you may find that parts of the rather risk-free repertoire outlined in Anti-Sicilians lack the necessary sharpness. Rogozenko’s approach seems rooted in a firm belief that Anti-Sicilians (with the possible exception of the Bb5-lines) do not offer White much potential for advantage, so that Black lacks an incentive for engaging in double-edged lines. However, in some drawish lines, Rogozenko does provide sharp alternatives for those who are not content with merely equalizing as Black. Anti-Sicilians spans 192 pages, divided into seven chapters. As far as the organization of material is concerned, Rogozenko gives the following explanation: ”I have my opinion about the objective strength of the various Anti-Sicilians and I arrange the material in accordance with it.“ In other words, coverage starts with the somewhat dubious and ends with the objectively better systems. It is interesting in itself to see an active grandmaster’s thoughts on the relative merit of these systems, as expressed in the following list of chapters:
In the short first chapter, ”Early Deviations”, Rogozenko takes on oddities such as 2.b3 and 2.c4, but also the Smith/Morra gambit that follows from 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3. While the latter hardly ever appears in grandmaster games, it does have some loyal practitioners at club level. Surprisingly, Rogozenko advocates immediately handing back the gambitted pawn in order to head for one of the main lines of the Alapin (c3-Sicilian) after 3…Nf6 4.e5 Nd5. Certainly, it is possible to argue that the suggested transposition may steer an opponent, armed-to-the-teeth with sharp Morra theory, into quieter waters (familiar to you after studying Anti-Sicilians). On the other hand, conventional wisdom suggests that this gambit is not entirely sound, so this - objectively speaking - cannot be the best approach. In other words, the ambitious player should look elsewhere for more satisfying ways of meeting this gambit. As Rogozenko correctly points out in the second chapter on “The Grand Prix Attack”, the original form of this system with an immediate 2.f4 is a rare bird these days, since Black gets a very comfortable game after 2…d5 3.exd5 Nf6! Not even the hilariously named Toilet variation, conceived by GM Mark Hebden and arising after 3.Nc3 instead of 3.exd5, has been able to change this picture. Thus, for at least a decade the Grand Prix has mostly been sighted in its delayed form with 2.Nc3 / 3.f4, so that it makes perfect sense for Anti-Sicilians to spend most of the second chapter covering these lines. As it appears, 2.Nc3 has become a very flexible move. White may opt to play either the Grand Prix attack, a Closed Sicilian, or even an Open Sicilian after a tricky move order. In order not to be tricked, Rogozenko suggests Black choose his reply to 2.Nc3 in accordance with his preferences in the Open Sicilian. For example, Najdorf specialists should continue 2…d6, even though this may lead to a slightly awkward version of the Grand Prix attack where the thematic d5-break is less attractive. Should White develop according to a classical Closed Sicilian setup (kingside fianchetto), all the common Black second moves (Nc6/d6/e6/g6) will typically transpose to the main line. The Closed Sicilian is the subject of the third chapter. The meager 14 pages allotted to this important system left me slightly disappointed. Of course as an avid practitioner I may not be entirely unbiased, but it does seem others have expressed a similar concern. At least it says in the book’s introduction that: “…one shouldn’t be discouraged by the little space allocated to the Closed Sicilian. I am convinced that the information provided here is sufficient to play against the Closed Sicilian at every level, from amateur to grandmaster.” Rogozenko manages to compress the Closed Sicilian coverage by following the main line up to the ninth move, i.e. 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.f4 e6 7.Nf3 Nge7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Be3.
This is a main tabyia that can be reached after many different move sequences. Closed Sicilian games tend to be somewhat stereotype in the sense that both players typically aim for the abovementioned setup and then most often pursue standard plans. These circumstances make this defense attractive for lazy players such as yours truly! It also explains why Anti-Sicilians gets away with proposing a sensible repertoire choice in just 14 pages, simply by deviating from the main lines exactly at this key juncture. The main continuation (after 9.Be3) is 9…Nd4, after which the pseudo pawn sacrifice 10.e5! gives White fine prospects. Among others, former world champion Boris Spassky used to excel in this line, which when first introduced provided Black with many a headache. Not surprisingly, Anti-Sicilians avoids these complications and instead promotes 9…b6 with the plan of completing development by Ba6. This is a very sensible plan, quite possibly stronger than the more conventional 9…Nd4. It is clear from some of the wording in this chapter that Rogozenko had access to Daniel King’s 1997 book on The Closed Sicilian, and I would like to use this as a cue to talk about the use of reference material. In response to insistent complaints from many chess book reviewers, more and more chess books come equipped with a bibliography. This is also the case for Anti-Sicilians, but unfortunately the bibliography is short and raises more questions than it answers! True enough, the abovementioned title by King is listed, but a number of important theoretical works from recent years are conspicuously absent. I am thinking of titles such as Easy Guide to the Bb5 Sicilian by Steffen Pedersen (1999) and Play the 2.c3 Sicilian by Rozentalis and Harley (2002). Either the absence of these titles is a sign of poor research or leaving them off the bibliography list is a simple mistake. The Alapin, or c3-Sicilian, is the topic of Chapter 4. Here the repertoire recommendations are based on 2…Nf6 rather than 2…d5. I commend this choice, having always found that the Nf6-systems lead to more interesting games. In contrast 2..d5 can be slightly boring. One of the strengths of Anti-Sicilians is that it includes longed-for coverage of lines that are only borderline anti-Sicilians. This happens in the excellent fifth chapter on “Miscellaneous Lines after 2.Nf3”, and also in chapter seven that is occupied with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nxd4 4.Qxd4 (rather than 4.Nxd4). There is a whole host of different systems crammed into the fifth chapter, with mostly one or two pages allocated to each of them. The coverage has been organized into lines occurring after 2…d6, 2…Nc6, and 2…e6 respectively. Considering the likelihood that one will face slightly absurd lines like for example: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.b3 b6 4.Bd3, there is generally sufficient ideas here. Finally, the sixth chapter is devoted to the Bb5-sicilian, where the repertoire choices are 3… g6 in the Rossolimo variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5) and 3…Bd7 in response to the Moscow variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+). In the latter variation, Joe Gallagher (in Beating the Anti-Sicilians) endorsed 3...Nd7, which is probably a more ambitious continuation. However, 3…Bd7 is less challenging to make work and so remains by far the most popular choice. Anti-Sicilians is a very thorough and independent piece of work, which should serve the tournament player well. In particular the author shows good judgment in identifying lines of importance, which has lead to a very balanced repertoire book that spends its pages well. Although Anti-Sicilians is clearly written from Black’s perspective, Rogozenko remains objective in his assessments. After this very solid debut, the chess world should be looking forward to his next book. Recommended for players rated 1600 and up!
|
The
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
