Chessville Reviews - A Complete Guide to the Grivas Sicilian - by GM Efstratios Grivas

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A Complete Guide to the Grivas Sicilian
Reviewed by GM Suat Atalik

by GM Efstratios Grivas

Gambit, 2005

ISBN: 1904600360

softcover, 144 pages

Figurine Algebraic Notation

A Passion for a Defence

There was a long time that I had stopped buying opening books. I was more for biographies and tournament books. I was always thinking like, why do I need the ones on openings? After all I have my computer, thus databases which allows me to get access to this part of the game in the way I wanted to. When you buy an opening book by a person, first of all I was always disgusted by the fact that bare information was piled up in a clumsy form, never ending brackets etc… nothing contributed by the author himself in the sake of not opening his secrets in this phase of the game. However Efstratios’ book changed my opinion on the subject.

First of all he designed the book in a user friendly fashion. When you read this book you do not have to lose your way in bracket c2221)ii type of ways. Everything is clearly organized so even you can lie down in your bed with this book in your hands and follow all his analysis and annotations in form of blindfold chess. I believe this is extremely important for the reader. This book is easily readable for the reader and the information in it is represented in a fashion of a nice resume. You really do not have to blow your brains out to follow or to understand what is written in it. Second and the most important of all Efstratios is sharing his beliefes and analysis with the reader. Many of these positions are personally analyzed by him, thus you can not find these anywhere else.

Before touching the importance or the content of this book I need to mention couple of words on Efstratios as a chessplayer, in other words a colleague of mine. In the beginning of the 1980s he was absolutely the best Greek Junior. Very talented and sharp as a player, also having a training system of his own. Basically chesswise he was always a step ahead of me and it is really a pity that he does not play professionally or indeed he never played as a full time pro.

Since he was methodical on his approach for openings and since he was not a gambler as a player he was in search for a system on 1.e4 for a long time. His flirt with 1.e4 e5 lasted rather long but after some time he really got fascinated with the System, which indeed should be called Grivas Sicilian. He himself provided a list of strong players who used this defence from time to time in the book, and he was obviously not the first one who employed this kind of Sicilian, however he stayed loyal to this system after mid 1990s and so far he almost never played anything else against king’s pawn opening. His unique and huge experience gives him full credit to name this system himself.

Why this system or the book is so important? In principal there always is an interrelation among opening systems. If the reader would really grasps the nuances which will guide him to deal with the problems of certain setups about which the book is written he may apply those also in other Sicilian lines like: 1)Sozin …Qb6; 2)Najdorf English attack …Qb6; 3)Sheveningen f4 where White goes Qf3 and later Nb3 by himself; 4)Paulsen 5.Bd3 Bc5 or 5…Qb6. Besides all these significantly correlated lines the defensive techniques combined with counter attacking chances especially when White’s pawns moves on with f4, g4-g5 is very beneficial in Scheveningen Classical line and also Keres attack.

Another important aspect of this book, since Efstratios almost created the whole system by himself he made a lot of mistakes which look pretty natural from the practical side. He always mentions those mistakes in the book which made at least me to have a full understanding of what not to play. Thus the reader will also easily understand how the best lines were evolved around some certain special problematic situations.

Coming to the technical part: for me the book really starts after the 8^th chapter. Of course Efstratios really wanted to cover all the patches in White’s choice after White’s 6.Nc3 e6. Albeit when we looked at them one by one for instance we can easily notice that fianchetto is not an appropriate system against this one. Also I personally have a choice against 7.Bg5 Bb4 rather than 7…Be7 which seems to be converting the game into the lines of Richter Rauzer with 7…Be7 and castling short for Black. 7.a3 is a cheapo trick after which Black has only one good move 7…Qc7!, which makes himself immune against this one. The most important point in this line - the pawn at a3 becomes a hook on which Black constructs a definite schema of counterplay with …b5-b4 followed with either …Rb8-b4 or …Nb4. Also I absolutely believe that White needs to post his bishop up on d3. After this one maybe White can keep a slightly better game by making his pawn walk up to a5 to use b6 square for a further Bb6 or Na4-b6. However this kind of slight nuisance appears in almost every line in Sicilian.

Also Efstratios in this case has shown us how to react connected around …Nb4 and a quick …e5 most likely the best plan for Black. After the main tabiya position reached with Bd3 and f4 I personally do not find Bd2 to be dangerous for Black. In this case basically when …b5-b4 and …a5 provides Black with serious hand. I personally believe that Efstratios kept a low profile to appreciate some of these positions as equal.

Chapters 12 and 13 are the most important for us: the readers:

Grivas Bodily Harm
by Efstratios Grivas

In the fall of 2005 “Gambit Publications Ltd” published my monograph on the so called “Grivas Sicilian”. This was just the second serious publishing work worldwide, to present an interesting system which we can identify after the moves: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6

So, before we go on, I think we must understand some things about this system. A number of systems in the labyrinth of the Sicilian Defence involve the idea of increasing central pressure by playing …Qb6. The main object of this early queen move is to decentralize the strongly placed white knight on the d4 square. The most direct way to apply this idea is the “Grivas Sicilian”. In this way Black immediately achieves his goal – the decentralization of the white knight.

Of’ course, this is not achieved without paying a price. It will cost a tempo, because later the exposed black queen will have to retreat, in order to free the b7 pawn to advance, and to seek safety. On the other hand, when the black queen later retreats to c7, Black argues that the white knight was better placed on d4, so no damage has been done. In most of the games White, sooner or later, brings the knight back to d4, essentially giving Black an extra tempo!

As we all know, many things in chess theory, as in life, are relative and a matter of taste. Actually there are no “good” or “bad” openings. There are openings that you know and understand, and openings that you do not know and do not understand. The “Grivas Sicilian” offers a lot of possibilities, new ideas and practical benefits that cannot be underestimated in modern chess. Playing Black can either be fun or a disaster!

Playing the 4…Qb6 system is an invitation to a real fight. The main object is to achieve the symbol ∞, which means “unclear position”. Then it does not matter which color your pieces are.

I do not claim that the “Grivas Sicilian” is a super-strong weapon or that someone can score massively with the black pieces using it. But I do claim that by using this system you will achieve perfectly playable positions in which, thanks to your deep knowledge, you can achieve your goals. Of’ course, as I already mentioned, there will inevitably be a number of controversial assessments in a system like this, due to the many unclear positions it leads to. So, there is plenty of “food for thought”, double-checking and judgment. As complex theoretical systems never die, the reader can always discover new roads, new ideas and new moves. Above all, he can be creative.

In the late November, while checking my database, I discovered that in the first eleven months of 2005 there were about 160 games with the “Grivas Sicilian” worldwide. Black scored an unbelievable 60%, instead of the usual average 48% which is the normal one for the black pieces! What’s this? Is the system more strong than I thought? The answer is of course no, and the truth lies in the poor knowledge that White players show. A White 1.e4 player has many problems to solve in well known systems, and generally spends little or no time studying “side-lines” such as the “Grivas Sicilian”. Well, this is his problem and I must admit that I am too happy with that!

When White castles long Black has …Nd7-b6 or …Bb7, …Nd7, …Nb4 in his disposal. Black should be ready to meet White’s attack with patience and with the help of serious amount of calculation. However the positions coming from this type of play are not only very interesting but also double-sided. Efstratios tried to give us a clear map of play once again. However, the final positions in the lines he has thrown in are so far depending on one single tempo.

The line which was for all these times considered to be the best for White with castles short shows the strength of Efstratios’ analytical abilities. There you will find a fantastic piece of analyses on page 118 to 120 on which we spent some real time even together. Basically he has invented the guidelines I was sitting over the board and trying to refute it, which alas I did not even come close. This type of altruistic sharing of opening secrets is absolutely avant-garde for a grandmaster of his caliber. Also I should not forget to mention in case of the most primitive attack with g4-g5 and Qh5-h4 combined with Rf3-h3 his suggestion of a defence based on …Qd8 back and …h5 shows some real sang froid and understanding.

In summary, I recommend this book to all chess enthusiasts and even to my grandmaster colleagues. Efstratios is really very kind to share almost all the conceptions and guidelines in his brainchild and now what we have to do is to read this piece of art carefully and pay him back by picking it up in tournament play it at least from time to time.

From the Publisher's Website:

Download a pdf file with a sample from the book.

A Complete Guide to the Grivas Sicilian
Available now in the Chessville bookstore!

GM Efstratios Grivas lives in Athens, Greece, and is also a Senior FIDE Trainer, International Arbiter and Organizer. He has represented his country on a great many occasions, winning an individual gold medal at the 1989 European Team Championship and an individual silver medal at the 1998 Olympiad. He is a federal trainer and an experienced writer, though this is his first book in the English language.

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