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Novosibirsk Sicilian B33 Reviewed by Jens Madsen
Boris Schipkov, who runs the excellent website Chess Siberia, has authored an opening CD on the Novosibirsk Sicilian. The Novosibirsk is a topical sub-variation of the Sveshnikov Sicilian characterized by the moves: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5 Bg7. In recent years, the Novosibirsk has been endorsed over-the-board by top-level players such as Veselin Topalov and Teimour Radjabov.
I would give Novosibirsk Sicilian B33 mixed reviews. There are parts that are good, but it is easy to make suggestions on improving the format and contents. First of all, I found no technical problems with using this CD. It is a standalone product that requires only ubiquitous software such as a web browser for displaying the main text sections, which are in HTML-format, and a chess game viewer for the game databases that are provided in PGN and ChessBase formats. The material is well-organized with a thorough treatment of early deviations (the Novosibirsk is characterized by Blacks 10 Bg7). Sadly, I found Schipkovs treatment of the core lines of the Novosibirsk to be disappointingly scarce. Following ten chapters on early deviations, he only spends two chapters on these most crucial lines. I had expected more! I did not look deeply at the 275 annotated games, and so will defer from making any general statement on the qualitylity of these. My main grievance with this product is that it under-exploits the possibilities of the electronic media. The text sections would benefit from (more) hyper-links to assist in navigation between chapters and more importantly provide direct links to view referenced games. Quite often, a move option is simply 'explained' by referring to one or more games. I want to be able to access those games by clicking on the text, which should take me directly to a game viewer. Instead, the reader is forced to go through the annoying exercise of having to look games up in Scid, Winboard, ChessBase or whatever game viewer the Novosibirsk database has been loaded into. ChessBase consistently does a good job of this in their CDs. Having said this, there are also parts about the production that are well up to the standard you would expect from a commercial offering like this. For instance, Schipkov makes good use of color-coding and arrows to explain strategic plans. The English prose is acceptable, and certainly much better than most unedited Russian authors (although some slips and typos do occur). The photos and videos on the CD are irrelevant at best. For the most part these are touristic snapshots of the (I am sure very nice) city of Novosibirsk. It would have made more sense to include pictures of players who helped develop this system; according to the CD this includes local heroes Victor Kim, IGM Anatoly Vaisser, IM Vasilij Malyshev and Boris Schipkov himself. In conclusion, Novosibirsk Sicilian B33 is a fairly specialized product that deals with a very interesting line in the Sicilian, but unfortunately provides an insufficient coverage of main lines and does not make optimal use of the rich possibilities provided by the electronic format. - Jens Madsen From the Chess Siberia website: There are 14 chapters (Introduction, History, 2 chapters with Strategic Ideas, 7 chapters with all main variations of the Lasker-Pelikan System and Novosibirsk Sicilian B33, Conclusion, Bibliography, Novosibirsk City with 21 photos and 4 small videos), 275 games with my notes in the CD-ROM. The Lasker-Pelikan System (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5) is one of the most popular, aggressive and intelligible variations in the Sicilian Defence.
The Novosibirsk Sicilian 10...Bg7 (after 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 b5 9.Bxf6 gxf6 10.Nd5) is the original and cunning variation in the Lasker-Pelikan System.
This variation was created and developed in the early 1980s players from Novosibirsk: Victor Kim, Anatoly Vaisser, Vasilij Malyshev and Boris Schipkov. The Classical World Champion Vladimir Kramnik and the 13th World Champion Garry Kasparov have had beautiful victories in the Novosibirsk Sicilian and Lasker-Pelikan. The learning database includes 14 texts, 2647 games, of which 275 are annotated. Only in English and chess notation. The large database includes 31091 games. All games in the ChessBase and PGN formats. Dozens of games are unknown and are published in the first time. The texts has been duplicated in the HTML. Also this CD contains free PGN readers and chess playing programs. But I recommend to use ChessBase 8.0 or free ChessBase Light. I think my new CD is suited for club players and international league players who prefer 1.e4 for White or who prefer 1...c5, followed by 5...e5 for Black. Contact information: Website:
http://www.chessib.com/novosibsicb33cd.html
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