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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:

1. Familiarize yourself with the basic patterns by playing through the games at speed. At this point you should ignore notes and sub-variations.

2. Play these lines in quick games at your local club or on the Internet (www.freechess.org or www.chessclub.com).

3. Look up the lines that occurred in your games and cross-check your play against the lines I recommend.

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for a month or two.

5. Study the book more carefully, working from cover to cover and making notes about points of interest. Analyze the points of interest.

6. Adopt your new weapon in competitive games and matches.

7. 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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