Hello,

Was too quick to trust the computer in Short v Polgar game. Now doubt that Nxe6 or Nd-b5, better than 8h4 that Short played in the game. Agree that black is not equalising in this line though.
                    Don't have much knowledge of the 2 ... Nc6, because prefer 2 ...e6 to avoid certain anti-sicillians. Thought line with Nb3, Qf3 and 0.0.0 was supposed to be the most dangerous line, when black's idea of forcing Nb3-d4, as autually made it easier for white to play g4. The recent Experts book recommends a line with an early Qe2. Apparantly the Grivas book has got ideas against both of these lines, but not very sure of the details.

Bye John S

John,

I forgot a little about that line, since I only once had it on the board, during rapid: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5.Nc3 a6!? 6.a3!. Indeed 6 a3! is poisening, after 6...Bc5!? a resonable line would be: 7.Be3! Nc6 8.Na4 Qa5+ 9.c3 Bxd4 10.Bxd4 Nxd4 11.Qxd4 e5 12.Qb4 Qxb4 13.axb4 Nf6 14.Nb6 with advantage for white. 

If 5 .. a6 is not working, then 5 .. Nc6 transposes to the Grivas sicilian, but ofcourse that could not be the purpose of that move order. 6 .. Ne7 how Judit played it, does not look equalising. 

Mvg, Leo

GM Golubev mentioned, regarding the position after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cd 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bc4 Qb6 7. Nb3 e6 8. Be3 Qc7 9. Bd3 a6 10. f4 (I think this is now B82, as per GM Tony's comment), that there were a couple of hundred games that reached this position via 4...Qb6, so that it was now White's move (White played Bd3 directly instead of Bc4-d3).  Golubev:  "In many such instances Black, whose statistics are far from being catastrophic, was a famous grandmaster."  I wonder what "far from catastrophic" amounts to in numerical terms.  Someone could search e.g. Megabase and find out just how many winning percentage points a tempo is worth in the Sicilian   

One thing that struck me doing the B82 ChessPub Guide was that the same positon was often reached from ...Qb6 move orders, the only diference being that White had an extra move! Can Black really justify giving away moves in such a sharp opening?!

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6:
* If you want to play this the book of Grivas is extremely good, with lots of original analyses, which you cn not find in any other source. Grivas plays this line himself already for a long time, and he is sharing his personal knowledge. Ilic has also written earlier a book about this line. The Grivas book contains also all of that information, and lots more. Ilic has also written about the line 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6, but his analysis is just scratching the surface, and in several cases I do not agree with his evaluation of lines.
* However I think there is a good reason why it is not extremely popular variation for black. The attacking lines for white play easy, and black needs to defend accurately. So if you want to play it with white, stick to the main line with Qf3. If you want to play it with black, study it well.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6, this line I play myself regular. The attacking lines for white play easy, and black needs to defend accurately as well in this line. Most lines just result in a Kan by transposition. White can also play a hegdehog, if he wants. I do not think I would recommend this line for black to play. If you want to play this line, some information about early deviations can be found in Broznik's book on the Basman Sale variation

The family has a third member:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5 Nb3 Be7, which is also interesting. 

@ Marinfan:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 5 c3:
* I did not analyse lines with 5 .. a6 here deeply, since I always try to avoid to play a6 before Nc3 is played. So in this line I would play 5 .. Bc5. The resulting position I find playable, although unclear.

* Which variations do you find give white some advantage? I am courious for this.

If it was any good I might consider getting it, but in my opinion 95% of chess books are utterly useless, especially the opening books.

I think this is perfectly playable for black.

The main reply for white should be 5. Nb3. Black will probably loose a tempo with Qb6-c7, but white has been forced to decentralize the knight.
This line is not very popular but, in my opinion, not a bad choice if black wants to stay away from heavily explored sicilian lines.

The cousin 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qb6 is also interesting...