Most Popular Sicilian at Our Level

Originally posted by Kalhornov
Funny no one mentioned the Taimanov.

Well, I mentioned it, but I called it a French Sicilian.

Originally posted by Kalhornov
Funny no one mentioned the Taimanov.

maybe because nobody sees it?

I wouldn't know because I play 3. d3 after 2. ...e6

Originally posted by YUG0slav
I've been experimenting with the Hyper-Accelerated Dragon move order (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6) with 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 transposing back to the Accelerated Dragon, basically to avoid the Rossolimo

So far though, I've only tried it twice

I play 4. Qxd4 against that line, normally leads to interesting games.

It seems to me now that the top 5 Sicilians objectively are:

- Najdorf (with the normal e5 against Be2 and Be3)
- Svehsnikov
- Scheveningen (proper, not with Najdorf move order which is worse imo)
- Classical
- Kan (following Nf3 with e6 and the later a6)

Maybe there is a super strong Sicilian that deserves to be here instead of my choices. Anyone care to disagree with this list?

In any case, it seems that the occurrence of these Sicilians in my games definitely doesn't match the objective status I think they would hold. For example, the only one on the list I've actually faced is the Classical. Everyone else plays something weird or goes for one of the several types of Dragons.

I would put the Dragon above the Schevenigen, even if you don't believe it's more sound, it's certainly more popular. The Keres Attack is not too fun for the player of the black pieces.

Originally posted by exigentsky
It seems to me now that the top 5 Sicilians objectively are:

- Najdorf (with the normal e5 against Be2 and Be3)
- Svehsnikov
- Scheveningen (proper, not with Najdorf move order which is worse imo)
- Classical
- Kan (following Nf3 with e6 and the later a6)

Maybe there is a super strong Sicilian that deserves to be here instead of my choices. Anyo ...[text shortened]... lassical. Everyone else plays something weird or goes for one of the several types of Dragons.

In OTB games with white I`m playing 2.c3 and avoiding them all 🙂

Originally posted by exigentsky
Scheveningen (proper, not with Najdorf move order which is worse imo)

Kasparov used to use the Najdorf move order to get into the Scheveningen. The main advantage is that you avoid things like the Keres attack, and a6 is often played anyway. The Keres attack is something of a favorite of mine so I don't want to discourage people from using the traditional move order, but I disagree that there's anything wrong with the Najdorf move order - or do you have a reason for saying that?

Originally posted by YUG0slav
maybe because nobody sees it?

I wouldn't know because I play 3. d3 after 2. ...e6

Well, the Taimanov is being played. Watch this from yesterday

[Event "3rd M-Tel Masters Sofia"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2007.05.18"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Topalov, Veselin"]
[Black "Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "B46"]
[WhiteElo "2772"]
[BlackElo "2757"]
[Annotator "Robot 3"]
[PlyCount "129"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. Bd3 d5 8.
O-O Nf6 9. Re1 Be7 10. Qf3 O-O 11. Bg5 d4 12. Na4 e5 13. b3 Nd7 14. Bxe7 Qxe7
15. c3 c5 16. Rac1 Qd6 17. Qg3 Bb7 18. Rc2 Rac8 19. Rec1 Qh6 20. Nb2 f5 21.
exf5 e4 22. Bc4+ Kh8 23. cxd4 cxd4 24. Bf1 Qxc1 25. Rxc1 Rxc1 26. Qf4 Rc5 27.
g4 Ne5 28. Nc4 Nf3+ 29. Kg2 Nh4+ 30. Kh3 Nxf5 31. b4 Rc6 32. gxf5 Rxf5 33. Qb8+
Bc8 34. Kg2 Rf8 35. Qe5 Rg6+ 36. Kh1 e3 37. Qe7 Rgf6 38. Ne5 exf2 39. h4 Be6
40. Kh2 Bxa2 41. Nd7 R6f7 42. Qc5 Re8 43. Qxd4 Rd8 44. Qb2 Rfxd7 45. Qxa2 Rd4
46. Kg3 Rxb4 47. Qxf2 a5 48. h5 h6 49. Qf7 a4 50. Bc4 a3 51. Qe7 Rdb8 52. Qd6
a2 53. Bxa2 R4b6 54. Qd3 Rb2 55. Bc4 R2b4 56. Qd6 R4b6 57. Qd5 Rb4 58. Bd3 Rb3
59. Kf4 Rxd3 60. Qxd3 Rf8+ 61. Ke5 Rf6 62. Qd8+ Kh7 63. Qxf6 gxf6+ 64. Kxf6 Kh8
65. Ke5 {game drawn 1/2} 1/2-1/2

Originally posted by demonseed
I play 4. Qxd4 against that line, normally leads to interesting games.

Yea, that's the downside for the black player I suppose. But it's a choice between Qxd4 and the Rossolimo and which anti-mainline does black hate the least.

Originally posted by !~TONY~!
I would put the Dragon above the Schevenigen, even if you don't believe it's more sound, it's certainly more popular. The Keres Attack is not too fun for the player of the black pieces.

I certainly agree that the Dragon should be in the list, although where is a moot point. Of all the various Sicilians I think the Dragon requires the most skill from black as the weakened king side means that small slips can often be punished spectacularly - on the other hand if black gets it right I think it probably gives the best chance of winning as well. From white's point of view I think all of the lines extigency mentioned and the Dragon present their challenges.