I have now seen that these last fourteen years are still in force on this anti-Sicilian road and have been incorporated by some GM positional style GM Granda Zuñiga and GM Moskalenko, but the still strong tactical style of GM Nigel Short plays it Both through time. It is not preposterous to be able to discover in the database that of the ancient players and chess gold seekers became energetic in positions of high strategic content such as Smylov and Chigorin who passed through 6.Nh3!
Note: search 1-0 (59) Chigorin, M-Bird, H Vienna 1882
In correspondence chess where we must try to avoid positions in which the engines solve the complications easily, it is still an excellent alternative to explore this type of positions somewhat closed and almost without change of pieces in early phases.
For my part I have been playing both in OTB and in correspondence in more than 50 games and hundreds of online blitz game.
In 2014 I was able to tie in a first round tournament with a GM who had 600 points more than me in the ELO rating and was able to see the value of my home preparation as well as the immense space for future improvement.
Here I leave the link in case anyone wants to see the details of this game.



My best regards to all.

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.Nh3!? e6 7.0-0 Qd7 8.Be3 b6 9.Qd2 Bb7 10.Rae1 h6
11.f4 Nf6 12.Nf2 0-0 I found this variation of your analysis very interesting for both sides. Black has to be very precise and original (Qd7,b6, h6 !?) if he wants to avoid a very dangerous attack with f4,f5. we can go on by 13.f5!? Kh7 "unclear". But after 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.Nh3 e6 7.0-0 Nge7 8.Be3 0-0 9.Qd2 Nd4 the game seems equal and less exciting.

Ah, well, I recently played a game in this variation as black in an important league game, which went 
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 d6 6. Nh3 e6 7. O-O Nge7 8. Be3
O-O 9. Qd2 Rb8 10. Bh6 b5 11. Bxg7 Kxg7 12. Rae1 b4 13. Nd1 Qb6 14. Ne3 Nd4 15.
c3 bxc3 16. bxc3 Ndc6 17. Ng4 Ng8 18. Rb1 Qxb1 19. Rxb1 Rxb1+ 20. Bf1 e5 21. f3
Bxg4 22. fxg4 Rfb8 23. Qc2 R8b2 24. Qa4 Nge7 25. Qc4 Ra1 26. Ng5 Nd8 27. Nf3
Rbb1 28. Nd2 Rd1 0-1
Obviously 18.Rb1?? just looses the game (not that I objected at the time, but obviously white had better options). Out of interest I searched the archives of the forum I found just about nothing about this variation.

I guess there's bound to be some discussion of this in Palliser's book on the Closed Sicilian (which I don't have, although I will probably be looking into getting his book on playing black against the Anti-Sicilians).

Obviously I'd be interested to se what the various authors have to say (I do not own any book covering this variation) or what the forum members have to say.

Chessfriends:

I wish to show the following  analysis (indeed not own !) because I wish feedback about the effectiveness
of an interesting line of the closed sicilian:

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.Nh3!

Here the theory have a few forgotten this last move and all the effort are concentrated at 6.f4 , 6.Nge2 or 6.Be3 variations !!


Analysis of my correspondence chessfriend Bulgarini, Marco:

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6

[5...b6?! 6.Nh3! Bb7 7.0-0 d6 8.f4 h6 9.f5± Smylov - Portisch, Portoroz 1971; 5...h5!? 6.h3 e5 7.f4! Balashov - Murei , USRR 1970]

6.Nh3!? e6

[6...Nf6 7.f4!? A) 7...0-0 8.0-0 Bg4 (8...Rb8 9.Nf2 Bd7 10.g4² Graf -Friedman, Subotica 1967) 9.Qd2 Nd4 10.Kh1 Qd7 11.Nf2= Geller(11.Ng1!? Be6 12.Nd1 d5= Medina - Benko , Malaga 1970) ; B) 7...Bg4 8.Qd2 B1) 8...Qd7 9.Ng1 (9.Nf2!?) 9...h5!? 10.h3 Be6 11.Nf3 0-0-0!? 12.Nh4 Nd4 13.Nd1 Kb8 14.c3 Nc6 15.Qf2² Shiller - Espinosa, New York 1980(15.Ne3²) ; B2) 8...Nd4 9.Ng1²;
6...h5 7.f4! Bg4 8.Qd2 Nd4 9.Ng1! Qd7 (9...Qa5!?; 9...e5!?) 10.h3!² Smylov - Romanishin , USSR 1976;
6...e5 7.0-0 Nge7 8.f4! A) 8...Nd4 9.f5 gxf5 10.Qh5 h6 (10...Be6 11.Ng5 Qd7 12.Nxe6²; 10...Nxc2 11.Ng5 Rf8 12.Qxh7 Bf6 13.Rb1+-) 11.Rf2 Be6 12.Be3 Qd7 13.Raf1 0-0-0 14.Nd5 fxe4 15.Nxe7+ Qxe7 16.Bxd4 cxd4 17.Rxf7 Qe8 18.Bxe4 Rf8 19.Bf5²; B) 8...exf4! 9.Bxf4 0-0 10.Qd2÷; C) 8...0-0 9.f5 gxf5 10.exf5 Bxf5 (10...Nxf5 11.Qh5) 11.Rxf5 Nxf5 12.Be4 Nfd4 (12...Nfe7? 13.Bxh7+; 12...Ncd4 13.Nd5+-) 13.Qh5 Re8 14.Qxh7+ Kf8 15.Bg5 Qd7 16.Nd5 Re6 17.Rf1+-]

7.0-0 Qd7

[7...Nge7 8.Be3 0-0 9.Qd2 (Here we have An interesting position:)
A) 9...Re8?! 10.Rab1 b6 (10...Rb8 11.a3 b6 12.Bh6 Bh8 13.f4² Schiller - Zaltsman, New York 1980) 11.Bh6 Bh8 12.f4 Bd7 13.g4!² Day - Spassky, Canadá 1971;
B) 9...f5 10.Bh6² Geller;
C) 9...Rb8 10.Bh6 b5 11.Rae1 Nd4 12.Bxg7 Kxg7 13.f4 f5 14.Nd1 Bd7 15.Qf2² Suttles - Padevsky , Lugano 1968;
D) 9...e5! 10.f4 (10.Bh6?!)
E) 9....Nd4!? 10.Rae1
(10.Nd1 b6 (10...e5 11.f4 f5) 11.c3 Ndc6 12.Bh6 d5 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.Ne3 dxe4 15.Ng4 Ng8 16.Qf4 f5 17.Ne5 Nxe5 18.Qxe5+ Qf6 19.Qxf6+ Nxf6 20.dxe4 Nxe4 21.Rfe1 h6 22.Rad1 Movsziszian K.,  - Damljanovic B. 1/2 en 43, Op. Mancha Real, España , 2000;
10.Bh6 Bxh6 (10...Nec6 11.Nd1 Qa5 12.Qxa5 Nxa5 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.Ne3 b5 15.c3 Ndc6 16.Rfd1 Bb7 17.Nf4 Sulskis, S. - Efimenko, Z. ; 1-0 en 50, Ohrid EU ch , 2001) 11.Qxh6 f6 12.Qd2 e5³ 13.f4 Qb6 14.Rab1 c4 15.Kh1 cxd3 16.cxd3 Bd7 Shchekachev - Goldin V, 0-1 en 81, Berlín 1993;
10.Kh1 Rb8 (10...Qb6 11.Nd1=) 11.Bh6 (11.Rab1 b5 12.Ne2 b4 13.Nxd4 cxd4 14.Bh6 Bxh6 15.Qxh6 f6) 11...b5 12.Bxg7 Kxg7 13.f4 b4 14.Nd1 d5 15.e5 Bb7 16.Qf2 Rc8 17.c3 bxc3 18.bxc3 Ndc6 19.g4 Tkachiev, V. - Gelfand B. ; 1-0 en  42, FIDE Wch K.O., Groningen 1997(19.Qxc5±)]


8.Be3 b6 9.Qd2 Bb7 10.Rae1

[10.a3 h6 (10...Nd4 11.Rae1 Ne7 12.Nd1 a5 13.f4 0-0 14.Kh1 Kh8 15.g4 f5 16.gxf5 exf5 17.Bf2 Rae8 18.Bg3 Ng8 19.Nc3 Modr, B -Pokojowczyk, J 1978 , 1/2 en 29) 11.f4 Nge7 12.Rae1 0-0-0 13.Nd1 Kb8 14.b4 cxb4 15.axb4 d5 Frick Christoph (GER) - Westermeier Arnulf (GER) , 0-1 en 61 Bundesliga 1989/90 (2nd), Germany 1990]

10...h6

[10...Nd4 11.Nd1 Ne7 12.c3 Ndc6 13.a3 0-0-0 14.Nf4 Ne5 15.d4 Nc4 16.Qc2 e5 Modr, B -Pokojowczyk, J 1978 , 0-1 en 39; 10...Nge7 11.Bh6 0-0 12.Bxg7 Kxg7 13.f4 (13.Nd1 e5 14.f4 f6 15.Ne3 Nd8 16.Nf2 exf4 17.gxf4 d5 18.Bh3 Qc7 19.Ng2 Nf7 20.Qc3 Modr, B -Pokojowczyk, J 1978 , 0-1 en 46) 13...f5 14.Ng5 Rae8 15.Ne2 d5 16.exd5 Nxd5 17.d4 h6 18.Nf3 c4 19.Nc3 Nf6 20.Rf2 Rd8 21.Rfe2 Rfe8 22.h3 a6 23.Qe3 b5 24.a3 Ba8 25.Ne5 Qc7 26.Rd2 Ne7 27.g4 Modr, B -Pokojowczyk, J 1978, 1-0 en 39]

11.f4

[11.Nf4 Nge7 12.a3 Nd4 13.Nb1 d5 14.c3 dxe4 15.dxe4 Ba6³]

11...Nf6 12.Nf2!?

[12.f5 Ng4 13.fxe6 fxe6 14.Kh1 Nxe3 15.Rxe3 Ne5 16.Nf4 (16.Re2 g5; 16.Ne2 0-0-0 17.c3 Rhf8³) ;
12.Kh1 Ng4 13.Bg1 0-0=;
12.Nd1 Ng4 13.c3 Nxe3 (13...0-0 14.f5) 14.Nxe3 0-0-0]

12...0-0-0

[12...0-0 13.Ne2 d5 14.e5 d4 15.exf6 dxe3 16.Qxe3 Bxf6 17.c3]

13.Qc1 h5 14.h3 Ne8 15.Ne2 f5 16.c3 h4 17.g4 Nc7

[17...Nf6 18.g5 Nh5 19.b4 cxb4 (19...Ng3 20.Nxg3 hxg3 21.Nh1²) 20.cxb4]

18.d4

[18.b4 cxb4 19.cxb4 Nxb4]


Here I stop the analysis because this is the main line of a correspondence game that is being in progress:

(Bulgarini, Marco-LUBKOV, Vladimir /ICCF Jubilee: EM/J50/P077 2001/[Bulgarini, Marco)


Best Regards,

Sergev