TopNotch wrote on 05/15/05 at 21:26:52:

About Dragon line I consider this line to be one of the most critical lines but there is at least one major improvemt for black (in of of the notes) at move 23 that changes the evalution to at least equal.

About accelerated Dragon, I made the same conclusions but Nh6 is not avalable if black wants to play d6 Nf6 Nxd4 system.

Hello Mr. Aagard: Next Round please!

An updated version would be on top of my chess wishing list. I still like the book, but think that some improvements are needed:

Najdorf:
I grumbled first, but learnt to like the 6.Bg5 suggestion against the Najdorf. Only Luthers treatment of the PP fell short of the standard, he gave only one game. But recently he played a theoretical importent game in the 10.e5 variation, so this might be a good way to go.

Shesnikov:
I play this from the black side and was anxious to know what Mr. Aagard recommended against the Svesh. Strangely his reference to my preferred line was something like "...so currently the ball seems to be in whites court". I don´t mind this from the black side of view, but I guess this may not be enough for white players looking for a convincing line.

Quote:


In EVTS2 Aagaard sticks with the main line he gave in EVTS1. He discusses how this Bxf6 main line has been developing since the publication of the first volume, and in particular he considers Anand-Leko Wijk aan Zee 2005. 

[Event "Corus A"]
[Site "Wijk aan Zee"]
[Date "2005.01.16"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Anand, V."]
[Black "Leko, Peter"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "B33"]
[WhiteElo "2786"]
[BlackElo "2749"]
[PlyCount "114"]
[EventDate "2005.??.??"]
[EventType "game"]
[EventCountry "NED"]

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 f5 11. c3 Bg7 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Nc2 O-O 14. Nce3
Be6 15. Bd3 f5 16. O-O Ra7 17. a4 Ne7 18. Nxe7+ Rxe7 19. axb5 axb5 20. Bxb5 d5
21. Ra6 f4 22. Nc2 Bc8 23. Ra8 Qd6 24. Nb4 Bb7 25. Ra7 d4 26. Ba6 Bxg2 27. Bc4+
Kh8 28. Ra6 Qc5 29. Kxg2 f3+ 30. Kh1 Qxc4 31. Rc6 Qb5 32. Rd6 e4 33. Rxd4 Bxd4
34. Qxd4+ Qe5 35. Qxe5+ Rxe5 36. Nc2 Rb8 37. Ne3 Rc5 38. h3 Rxb2 39. c4 Rg5 40.
Kh2 Kg8 41. h4 Rg6 42. Kh3 Kf7 43. Nf5 Rc2 44. Ne3 Rd2 45. c5 Ke6 46. c6 Rg8
47. c7 Rc8 48. Kg3 Rxc7 49. Kf4 Rd4 50. Ra1 Rf7+ 51. Kg3 Rd8 52. Ra6+ Ke5 53.
Ng4+ Kd5 54. Nf6+ Rxf6 55. Rxf6 Ke5 56. Rh6 Rg8+ 57. Kh3 e3 0-1

He agrees with Rogozenko's assessment that after 22 Rxe6 Rxe6 23 Qxd5 Qxd5 24 Nxd5 the game should probably be drawn but "only White can play for a win".   

Instead of Anand's 24 Nb4, Aagaard suggests 24 Re1 and concludes "of course Black has compensation here, but it seems to me that the danger for him of being a pawn down is greater than White's perils".

So, maybe a nibble for White, but nothing stunning I admit; White has these two possible impovements over Anand-Leko which apparently leave White not worse and Black still with something to prove.

At lower levels of over the board chess I guess White still has plenty of chances with 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. c3 Bg7 12. exf5 Bxf5 13. Nc2 O-O 14. Nce3 Be6 15. Bd3 f5 16. O-O, since one is unlikely to be facing anyone as strong and well prepared as Leko. 

But to get closer to the ultimate truth we might have to wait until the attention of the elite turns away from 9 Nd5 and back to 9 Bxf6.

MarinFan wrote on 10/09/06 at 14:07:04:


I wouldn't say that the changes are revolutionary but there has definitely been some further work put in, in some areas more than others (mainly in the "big" chapters such as the Sveshnikov, Dragon, Richter Rauser...). Personally I'm very pleased indeed to have the second edition.

Here's my review of the 2nd edition. Inevitably it's briefer than I would have liked - every chapter deserves a detailed review!

Experts vs. the Sicilian (2nd Edition) by Jacob Aagaard & John Shaw (editors), Quality Chess, (http://www.qualitychessbooks.com), 228 large pages £16.99
The first edition of this book was a great success. Quality Chess have taken the opportunity of a second edition not only to provide some updating, correcting and expansion of the contents but also to re-format it to comply with what has evolved quite rapidly into their house style – handsome, large format books, well designed and on good paper. The result is a book that is both pleasant to handle and easy to work with. 

For anyone who missed the first edition, here is what the fuss is all about: the aim is to provide an aggressive repertoire for White using the Open Sicilian against all Black’s options (except 2…Nf6 and 2…a6 which require special treatment). The publishers have engaged a number of experts each to write a chapter, so for instance we have Mikhail Golubev on the Dragon and Peter Wells on the Richter-Rauser. Whilst one could argue with some of the repertoire choices, the overall impression is very favourable indeed. There is some terrific stuff here and a keen player with a good memory will find some formidable weapons. 

I did notice some problem areas though: 
a ) I found Pinski’s treatment of the so-called Kalashnikov rather superficial and dismissive; the main games are well chosen and instructively annotated, but this line is still being actively developed by Sveshnikov and others and Pinski fails to mention for instance the interesting 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 Be6 8. Nc4 Rc8!? – I have over forty examples of this in my database played in the period 2004-2006 (including two wins by Sveshnikov himself) and Black has been scoring about 50%, so whatever the objective merits of 8…Rc8, I think it deserved some attention by Pinski.

b) in Thomas Luther’s chapter dealing with 6 Bg5 against the Najdorf (possibly the most controversial repertoire choice in the whole book), against 6…e6 7 f4 Be7 8 Qf3 Qc7 9 0-0-0 Nbd7 he recommends 10 g4 (50 years old and still going strong!) 10…b5 11 Bxf6 Nxf6 12 g5 Nd7 13 f5 and now his main line game goes 13…Nc5, whereas I know from my own experience and study that 13…Bxg5+ can be a very tough nut to crack if Black knows his stuff; even Luther admits that this move is “the principled reaction”, but there is a lack of detail here that could prove fatal to the unwary.

c) Luther’s treatment of the Poisoned Pawn variation seems over-optimistic, if my own experience is anything to go by; I followed Guseinov-Villaviciencio 2002 (page 33-4) in an email game and ran into a major improvement: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 9. Nb3 Qa3 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. Be2 h5 12. O-O Nd7 13. f5 Be7 14. Qd4 b5 15.Rf3 Bb7 16. fxe6 fxe6 17. Rh3 Bd8! N 18. Kh1 Bb6 19. Qd2 O-O-O 20. Rf1 Kb8 21.Rxh5 Bc7 22. Rh6 Rxh6 23. Qxh6 b4 24. Nb1 Qxa2 25. N1d2 Qb2 26. Bc4 Qe5 27. Bd3 d5 28. Nf3 Qd6 29. exd5 Bxd5 30. Nbd2 f5 31. Bc4 Bxc4 32. Nxc4 Qd5 33. Qh4 a5 34. Re1 Nb6 35. Nxb6 Bxb6 0-1 (- my own fault of course – I should have checked the line far more thoroughly before firing it out against a strong correspondence player). 

Nevertheless, my overall impression of this book remains very favourable – no opening book is perfect and you should always supplement it with personal research using a database, a chess engine…oh, and your human brain!

Verdict: A seriously good repertoire book. Highly recommended. **** (4 out of 5 stars)

Regarding Experts - can anybody comment if the 2nd Edition has many changes in the recommended lines - or have some errors been caught?

Presumably the publishing company will make the corrections available to us guys who bought the first edition 

New and revised edition is out 23 August 2006.

"This edition is a re-typeset version of the 2004 title into a bigger format. In the process about 75-100 changes, additions and updates of the theory has been added"