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Taming the Sicilian
By Nigel Davies
Everyman Chess, 144 pages
December 2002
Reviewed by Jens I. Madsen
The open Sicilian has many
loyal proponents ranging from the humblest of amateurs to the sharpest of
grandmasters, so that every e4-player must find a suitable weapon against
it. In his latest book, Taming the Sicilian, British grandmaster
Nigel Davies offers an original approach to fighting the Sicilian from the
white side. He outlines a repertoire for white that is based on a kingside
fianchetto (g3/Bg2) against most black Sicilian setups. This is an
interesting approach that has gone largely unnoticed, although (as you will
find in the book) it has been occasionally played as a surprise weapon by
the likes of Adams, Kamsky, Short, and Geller.
It was not without some
anxiety that I received a copy of this book for review. After all, there
exists a staggering volume of theory on the Sicilian, which is not matched
by any other opening system. Even in an opening encyclopedia like Nunn’s
Chess Openings (NCO), where you will find theory in its most compact form,
there is an impressive 104 pages devoted to the Sicilian (approximately 20%
of the book). In comparison, the same tome spend significantly less pages
covering other respectable openings. For example, the King’s Indian defense
uses almost 50 pages, the French defense only 25 pages, and the Ruy Lopez 40
pages. There is absolutely no reason to over-interpret these numbers, but it
seems clear that keeping abreast with the latest wrinkles of Sicilian theory
is an overwhelming task. This is particularly true from the perspective of
average tournament and club players, but even grandmasters sometimes feel
baffled by the open Sicilian. For instance, listen to what GM Daniel King’s
words from the preface of his excellent 1997 book on the Closed Sicilian: “Having
spent alarmingly large chunks of my life studying the white side of the Open
Sicilian, I find myself asking why did I bother? Was I really so vain as to
think I could refute the Dragon, or the Najdorf, or that funny line with
…e7-e6 that I can never remember the name of? ”
So, even though much speaks in
favor of tackling the Sicilian head-on by playing the main lines - after all
these have withstood the scrutiny of many top-notch grandmaster games and
are not likely to be easily refuted - there is a persistent cry from the
masses for feasible ways to bypass the (open) ‘Sicilian labyrinth‘. This has
lead to the elaborate development of various Anti-Sicilian systems, most
prominently the c3-Sicilian (Alapin variation) and the Bb5-Sicilian (Moscow
or Rossolimo variations) have become very popular. In his introduction to
Taming the Sicilian, GM Davies even goes as far as suggesting that a
possible explanation for the surge in popularity of the Trompowsky (1.d4 Nf6
2.Bg5) is a large group of 1.e4 players looking for sharp opening
alternatives without having to worry about facing the Sicilian. An
intriguing speculation, but it is also possible to argue that the popularity
of the Trompowky arises from Sicilian experts looking for a sharp system
with the white pieces. At closer thought this is a silly argument, so I will
let it be and proceed with a closer look at Taming the Sicilian.
First of all let me say that I
like this little book and warmly recommend it for those looking for a fresh
angle. Trying to cover repertoire choices for the entire spectrum of
Sicilian variations in just 144 pages is a daunting task, but in my opinion
Nigel Davies gets away with it by making some clever choices. Taming the
Sicilian is of course not the first book of its kind. Probably the most
well-known representatives of this genre are the three Beating the
Sicilian volumes that were penned by prolific opening theoretician Dr.
John Nunn. These books became immensely popular and since the readership
apparently included many grandmasters, several of Nunn’s ideas underwent
severe testing in the years following. Of course some ideas buckled under
the pressure, and Nunn felt it was necessary to radically update his
suggestions leading to three books appearing within a relatively short
time-span of 11 years (1984, 1990, and 1995). In comparison, Davies’
repertoire, largely based on g3 and a kingside fianchetto, is clearly less
cutting-edge and should promise more longevity.
Taming the Sicilian
follows the standard paradigm of Everyman’s other opening guides, which is
based on a selection of illustrative games. This may not yield the most
complete coverage, but it is a convenient format for studying new openings.
Since GM Davies is also an accomplished chess coach, it is very interesting
to see him use the Introduction to give his view of how to best use the
book. Here is what he says:
"The way I suggest you study this book is
as follows:
-
Familiarize yourself with the
basic patterns by playing through the games at speed. At this point you
should ignore notes and sub-variations.
-
Play these lines in quick games
at your local club or on the Internet (www.freechess.org or
www.chessclub.com).
-
Look up the lines that occurred
in your games and cross-check your play against the lines I recommend.
-
Repeat steps 2 and 3 for a month
or two.
-
Study the book more carefully,
working from cover to cover and making notes about points of interest.
Analyze the points of interest.
-
Adopt your new weapon in
competitive games and matches.
-
Analyze your competitive games to
establish what happened and whether either side could improve."
In fact, this is sound advice
that applies equally to the study of any opening. It is good to see how
Davies points out that just flipping through this book will not provide the
easy fix to the Sicilian that many may be looking for. Usually, the
introduction to opening guides contains an overview of typical strategic
themes. Rightfully, Davies must have decided that the Sicilian is too
complex to fit a useful description into a three-page introduction. You
should look elsewhere for an introduction to the general principles; the
recently published Starting Out: The Sicilian by John Emms comes to
mind.
There are 52 games in
Taming the Sicilian, and these are divided into the following nine
chapters:
- Chapter
1 The Najdorf variation
- Chapter
2 The Classical variation
- Chapter
3 The Scheveningen variation
- Chapter
4 The Paulsen and Taimanov variations
- Chapter
5 The Kan variation
- Chapter
6 The Pelikan-Sveshnikov variation
- Chapter
7 The Löwenthal, Kalashnikov, other e7-e5 lines
- Chapter
8 The Dragon and other …g6 Lines
- Chapter 9
Other Lines
Each chapter runs from ten to
twenty pages and starts with a one-page introduction followed by the
illustrative games and an ultra-short summary. In comparison with other
Everyman opening titles, Taming the Sicilian spends less space on
these summaries, but this is amply compensated by the very well written
chapter introductions. These chapter introductions summarize the author’s
thoughts on the particular line and also deals with transpositions and move
orders. The Sicilian is an opening rich on transpositions, but Davies
handles these convincingly without making a big fuss of it. To illustrate
this, a small excerpt from the introduction to the Najdorf variation (1.e4
c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6): “After 6.g3 Black has three
main choices, the first of which is to transpose into the Classical
Variation with 6…Nc6 (see Game 11 in Chapter 2). As 6…e6 leads into a
Scheveningen Variation (Chapter 3), the only independent Najdorf line is
with 6…e5. White in turn should answer this with 7.Nde2 and not waste time
making 7.Nb3 work.” Crystal clear if you ask me. Like here, many
of the transpositions wind up in the Scheveningen variation, so that the
chapter on that line should be studied very carefully. The book also
contains a complete index of variations at the end, which is very useful.
As already mentioned, Davies
is suggesting a repertoire based on g3 and Bg2 against most Black setups.
Typically, short castling and in many variations a kingside expansion follow
the bishop fianchetto, but there are a few exceptions that I will return to
later. To better understand a fairly typical plan, consider for a moment the
Scheveningen that may for example be reached after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4
cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6). Now, true to his paradigm Davies suggests 6.g3
followed by 7.Bg2 and 8.0-0. The standard plan here is a pawn-storm with
f2-f4 and g3-g4-g5, which is neatly illustrated by one of the illustrative
games (Popovic-Dizdarevic) of the book: 6.g3 a6 7.Bg2 Qc7 8.0-0 Be7 9.f4 0-0
10.g4 Nc6 11.Nxc6 bxc6 12.g5 Ne8 13.Be3. Making the exchange of knight on c6
and targeting the Black weakness on b6. While this may not be quite as
cut-throat as the Keres attack (6.g4!), which Nunn promoted so successfully
in his Beating the Sicilian books, it certainly shows that Davies’
repertoire suggestions are not necessarily boring.
There are a few lines, where
white must deviate from the standard kingside fianchetto setup. For example,
in the Classical variation that begins 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6
5.Nc3 Nc6, the white bishop clearly does not belong on g2 when Black forces
7.f3 by responding to 6.g3 with 6…Bg4. There are other exceptions when
facing the Löwenthal variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5)
with 5…a6, and the O’Kelly variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6). These are however
relatively rare birds in tournament practice and not that difficult to face,
so they should not cause too many sleepless nights. There are other lines,
notably the very topical Sveshnikov variation, where the kingside fianchetto
is postponed as it is unfeasible earlier on. Of course when your repertoire
choice only sets in after 14 or 15 moves, there is always a risk that your
opponent will deviate and render your preparations useless. For this reason,
Davies calls the Sveshnikov a tough nut to crack, and I think White will do
wisely in studying the Sveshnikov from other sources as well.
In conclusion, the suggestions
of GM Davies in Taming the Sicilian are solid and steer clear of main
line theory. Furthermore, the repertoire choices appear very coherent, which
should make it easier to memorize and learn. However, the Sicilian beast
takes on many forms and there are lots of nuances that must be studied
before you master the fianchetto system in all its permutations. For that
reason, Taming the Sicilian cannot be recommended for beginners, as a
certain familiarity with common themes in the open Sicilian is required to
make the most of the book. The book is highly recommended for intermediate
to advanced players (I would say with rating 1600+).
Check it out at Amazon.com
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