gewgaw wrote on 05/12/08 at 15:46:31:

I have also recently looked at this line and I thought that 19.Ba5 looked like a nice improved version of 19.Be1. Anyway, at the end of what I quote above, I think that 24.Rc1 looks pretty nice for white to me. White seems to simply have a nice space advantage with attacking chances on the kingside (and c2-c4 is in reserve). I'm not sure that black is really fine in this line.

When I play the taimanov, I have to play against the Be2/Be3- system in nearly every other game. At move 18 every player moves 18. ... Nd7, but what about ... Ne4!? I analysed it, of course with the help of Fritz, and it seems playable. Any opinions? Use strg + C and strg + V to copy and paste the lines.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 7. Be2 Nf6 8. O-O Bb4 9. Na4 Be7 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Nb6 Rb8 12. Nxc8 Qxc8 13. Bd4 c5 14. Be5 Rb6 15. Qd3 d6 16. Bc3 O-O 17. b3 d5 18. e5
Ne4 $5 19. Ba5 (19. Be1 Qb8 20. f4 (20. f3 c4 21. Qd1 Nc5 $13) 20... g5 21.Bf3 f5 22. Bxe4 fxe4 23. Qg3 (23. Qh3 Rxf4 24. Rxf4 gxf4 25. Qg4+ Kh8 26. Qxf4 Qf8 27. Qd2) 23... d4 24. h4 h6 25. Qg4 (25. Ba5 Rb7 26. Rae1 e3 27. hxg5 hxg5 28. fxg5 Rd7 29. c4 (29. Rf6 Bxf6 30. gxf6+ Kh8 31. Qh3+ Rh7 32. Qxe6 Re8 33.Qd5 Qxe5) 29... Ra7) 25... Rf5 26. Ba5 Rb7 27. Rae1 e3 28. Qh5 Kg7 29. fxg5 hxg5 30. Rxf5 exf5 31. hxg5 Qh8 32. Qf3 Qh4 33. Rf1 Rb8 34. Be1 Qxg5 35. Qxf5
Qxf5 36. Rxf5 Kg6 37. Rf3 c4) 19... Rb5 20. Be1 Qc7 (20... f5 21. c4 dxc4 22.Qxc4 Rd8 23. Qc2 Rb8 24. Bc4 Rd4 25. f3 $18) 21. f4 (21. c4 Qxe5 22. cxb5 Qxa1 23. f3 c4 24. Qc2 Bc5+ 25. Kh1 Qxe1 26. Rxe1 Nf2+ 27. Kg1 Ng4+ 28. Kh1 Nf2+) 21... c4 22. bxc4 Rc5 23. cxd5 exd5 24. c4 Rxc4 25. Qxd5 Rd4 26. Qa5 (26. Qb3 Rb8 27. Qf3 Rb2 28. Bd3 Nd2 29. Bxd2 Rxd2 30. Be2 a5 31. a4 Qc5 32. Kh1 Qd5 33.Qxd5 Rxd5 34. Bb5 g5 35. fxg5 Rxe5 36. Bc4 Rd4 37. Bxf7+ Kg7 38. g3 Bxg5)
26... Qc2 27. Qxa6 Qb2 28. Bg3 Nc5 29. Rfb1 Qxb1+ 30. Rxb1 Nxa6 31. Bxa6 Ra8 32. Bf1 Rxa2 

Hello MilenPetrov,

A few weeks ago my coach showed me line 2) above, and also something against 16Qe2 and 16h3, so think it is good.
             At the moment, don't think 11Qe1 and the usual direct king-side attack is very promising for white, because black can bring this to a halt with f5 at some stage. So 11Kb1, discussed in another tread, trying to use black's queen-side pawn weakness's looks more dangerous.

Bye John S

Hello,
first of all thanks to all for your efforts in this forum. A lot of interesting ideas appear here.
Now I want to share a small addiion to the Safest Sicilian book. Recently I am playing a corrspondence game in the following line in English Attack:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 a6 7.Qd2 Nf6 8.0-0-0 Bb4 9.f3 Ne5 10.Nb3 b5 11.Qe1 Be7 12.f4 Ng6 13.e5 Ng4 14.Bd2 Bd7 15.Bd3 Rc8!
Here Semkov and Delchev mention 16.Ne4?!, 16.Qe2 and 16.h3.
After 16.Ne4 0-0 17.Kb1 f5! 18.ef6 Nf6 19.Rf1 in the corrections of the book only 19...Bd5 is mentioned. Here are my findings:
1) 19....Nd5 20.g3 b4 21.h4 a5 22.h5 Nh8 23.Ng5 (23.Nd4 Qb6 24.Nf3Nf7=+) 23...Bg5 24.fg5 Rf1 25.Qf1 a4 26.Nd4 a3 unclear;
2) 19....Ne4!N 20.Be4 21.Qe4 Qc4 22.Qc4 bc4 23.Nd4 Bc5 24.Ne2 (24.Nf3) 24...d5 and Black is fine (even slightly beter).
I am interested to hear your opinion about these lines.
In fact in the game I choose 16.Qe2 and the game is still in progress. When we pass the opening phase I will share the game with you.
Best Regards
Milen Petrov

Hi all,

during my holiday I reread the semkov/delchev book again and hopefully I found an interesting (and strong ) novelty:
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3
Qc7 6. Be2 Nf6 7. O-O a6 8. Be3 Bb4 9. Na4 Be7 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Nb6 Rb8 12.Nxc8 Qxc8 13. Bd4 c5 14. Be5 Rb6 15. b3 Nxe4 16. Bxg7 Rg8 17. Bb2 c4!
instead of Bf6 and Rd6; I can`t help but Rd6 looks strange to me;
17...Rd6 18. Bd3 c4 19. bxc4 Qc6 = according to S/D 20. g3 Ng5 21. f3 h5 22. Kh1!? [instead of Kg2] h4 23. gxh4 Nh3 24.Qe1 and it seems white can defend successfully and win the game.) With 17. ...c4 black sacrifies a pawn to activate his pieces for example:
18. Bxc4 Qc6 19. Qf3 Nd2 20. Qxc6 Rxc6 21. Bd3 Nxf1 22. Kxf1 f5 and black is slightly better.

Any opinions?

Quote:


8.Nd4 is playable – but apart from the aesthetic problem of moving the knight right back to where it came from – it is unlikely to yield white any advantage. White has wasted two tempi to make black play a potentially useful ...d6 and ...a6. 
After 8.Na3 (though this move is also not without drawbacks) white maintains some control over d5, making black's freeing ...d5 thrust more difficult to achieve. 
After 8.Nd4, In contrast, black can simply play ...Be7, ...0-0 and ...d5 fully equalizing, or if black is reluctant to simplify he can play ...Bd7, ...Nxd4 and ...Bc6 with reasonable prospects.

Hello, I'm new here and I've just bought this book. I'd like to ask after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Nf6 7. N1c3 a6 why can't White simply reply 8. Nd4? it seems that any attempts to take advantage of its position is hopeless e.g. 8... Qb6 9. Be3 Qxb2 10. Na4 Qa3 11. Bc1 Qb4+ 12. Bd2 Qa3 with repetition. So it seems that 8. Nd4 is a decent reply instead of Na3 as mentioned in the book.

I've run into 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. Bf4 e5 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Bg5
a6 9. N5c3 Be7 10. Nd2 Bg4 11. f3 a couple of times. I assume there is a reason why into doesn't even merit a footnote in the book.
http://www.france-echecs.com/diagramme/imgboard.phpfen=rxxqkxxr%2Fxpxxbppp%2Fpxn...
Presumably it weakens the dark squares too much, particularly since Bxf6 is almost a given? Am I correct about that? Tactically the move is not immediately wrong, after all and white could really just play 11...Be6 12. Bxf6 Bxf6 13. Nc4...