OstapBender wrote on 08/03/06 at 10:20:41:


I second this idea too, for very much the same reasons. Id like to order all those related to Indians (chess openings), Sicilians & Marshalls, if ever there were any!!

Keano wrote on 08/03/06 at 07:50:31:

I like this!!

This could be part of a "Bashing Up" series arming Black to play aggressively against all of those limp, bland, unambitious, soulless, draw-seeking White openings.  A well-written "Bashing Up" series might be every bit as successful as the "Starting Out" series has already proven to be.

Put me down for an advanced order on the "Bashing the 2.c3 Sicilian" book!  

I answered depends on the author, a conditional yes, because this is true for any book I might consider purchasing.  Some authors consistently produce excellent work, while others... (well, the word "excrement" comes to mind).

I'd rather a well-written book on an opening line I'm mildly interested in than a mediocre book on an opening line that's critical to my repertoire.  On occassion this may even tempt me to change part of my repertoire.  For example, I once decided to take up the French Defense (switching from 1...e5) solely on the basis of outstanding opening books by Watson and by McDonald & Harley, and the absence of such a book (at that time) on playing the open games as Black.

Against 1.e4, I've been trying out Sicilian lines (Sveshnikov at the moment) as a potential alternative to 1...e5, which I usually play, and 1...e6, which I used to play at one time.  Gallagher's book is a good one, but it's a bit dated on some lines and the repertoire recommendations aren't necessarily what I wish to play on some other lines.  Rogozenko's book may be a book to get, but I won't be sure until I get a chance to look at it.  If a good Anti-Sicilian book comes out from the right author, I'm likely to buy it.

OK, we've gotten a few results in but only Scholar and I have told why we've voted the way we did.  Really like to here from the other "yes", "no", "maybe", "and depends on the author" voters.

I voted a solid maybe.  I currently play fairly conservatively against the various anti's, and haven't had too many problems with this approach, since most of the players favoring the mainstrem anti's (2.c3 or 3.c3, Smith-Morra, Grand Prix) who I've met tend to be looking for complications at any cost.  I should probably learn sharper stuff against these, but then I have to memorize a lot of lines which I won't see very often, slight deviations from which spell disaster.  (As Frendo reminds us, and I think there was also a Tim Taylor column with the same point, the most theoretical lines often require Black to remember non-intuitive solutions to a wide assortment of White's possible approaches.)

I think these books don't get written as much as the demand would seem to be because different flavors of the sicilian require different approaches to the anti-sicilians.  A dragon player and a Taimanov player are hard to please with one book, unless you do everything twice.

So if the title of the book was A Practical Guide to the Anti-Sicilians for the Dragon Player, I'd probably buy it, but no one is going to write that book.  Better to try and glean solutions one variation at a time from ChessPub...

Quote:

Forum Link (in Open Sicilians): http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1131715909

Table of Contents Link: http://www.chess-stars.com/graphics/eshop/books_special/The_Safest_Sicilian.pdf
(enough detail to get a feeling for Anti-Sicilian coverage, which is actually quite good for a book focusing on an Open Sicilian line - including what lines are recommended in some cases.)

The Delchev-Semkov 'Safest Sicilian' book recommends a Taimanov-based repertoire, and has received a lot of praise in this forum.  Probably not a book to get if you want to play the Classical Sicilian, but maybe with this book will you will want to learn the Taimanov as well?!

Frendo is correct. I certainly liked Timman's opening play (in the critiical 8...g5 line) against Tiviakov, and hope that Jonathan will analyse this game in some depth. Short covered it a little in his Grauniad column, but didn't really analyse beyond ...0-0-0 being a key improvement.
Gallagher's older (1994?) 'Beating the Anti-Sicilians' was a classic and is still good in several places, such as on the Closed, but is now a little dated in other areas.

The Rogozenko book is excellent and unless you play against Tiviakov with a prepared novelty I dont think it is outdated. He also often gives explanations and alternatives, the former of which is for me more useful than the actual variations.
Incidentally Tiviakov also got into trouble with his c3-sicilian in the dutch ch, despite his results.