Dmitrya wrote on 11/09/06 at 01:18:50:


I will side with Willempie and say that if you are interested in playing the black side of the Taimanov your MUST HAVE is Delchev and Semkov's "The Safest Sicilian". Just think: super GM Delchev, who has played the Taimanov countless times from both sides, together with IM Semkov (who is a frequent visitor in this forum and was very helpful in discussing the book's material), share with you invaluable in-depth knowledge of how to play this variation with concrete explanations, objective evaluations and accurate analysis. There is nothing quite like it in recent chess theory literature.
The Rizzitano book is IMHO a decent effort and a "nice to have", but A) it gives just a partial coverage of ideas (as in all the "Chess explained" series) for both sides, and B) it is not realy in the same league as "The Safest Sicilian".
I will add that Rizzitano provides some coverage of the 5...a6 variation (Delchev and Semkov give only 5...Qc7.  Personally I never trusted 5...a6, but it was played by Anand, Svidler and Rublevsky - so who am I to judge?), but the concrete 12.Na4! is given only as a brief side note.
Finally, at my level (Fide 2141) I mainly encounter (and I play the Taimanov a lot) the variation with bishops on e2 and e3 and with short castling.  English attack is rather rare and <2200 players usually have no clue how to play it against the Taimanov  

Wow this forum is fantastic! Really useful stuff here! I noticed an interesting game today:
2006 Tal Memorial, Moscow 2006. Round 3 Taimanov Sicilian B46.
Magnus Carlsen 2698 - Shakhhriyar Mamedyarov 2728
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5 8.0-0 Nf6 9.Re1 Be7 10.e5 Nd7 11.Qg4 g6 12.Na4 Qa5 13.Bh6 c5 (this appears to be a new move to me - 13...Qb4 was played in Magnus Carlsen - Giovanni Vescovi, Wijk aan Zee 2006) 14.b3 c4 15.Bf1 Bb7 16.Re3 Bc6 17.Qf4 Bxa4 18.Rf3 0-0-0 19.Qxf7 Rhe8 20.bxa4 Bc5 with interesting complications.
Just curious if Rizzitano covers this line in "Chess Explained: The Taimanov Sicilian". I am going to order his book anyway because I really like Rizzitano's QGA book "How to Beat 1 d4" in particular his lines against the Veresov Opening and the Hodgson Attack have been helpful to me at my club.
I am curious about the Taimanov Sicilian because this variation seems to be gaining in popularity and many of the strong young Russian and former Soviet Republic players among others have taken it up recently. Maybe this is a backlash against some of the over-analyzed Sicilian Defence variations and we are seeing the start of a new trend.
I currently play the Najdorf Sicilian but I am finding it difficult to keep up with the English Attack theory so I am looking to switch to something a little calmer. I like the Sicilian Defence positions so I do not want to switch to another opening, just to another Sicilian Defence variation. Thanks in advance everyone! Oh one more thing I am a Candidate Master (also known as an "Expert" here in U.S.A.)!

Rizzitano has made a very thorough overview and he is very clear in what he has and what he has not covered. So a novice would get a complete feel about the complete taimanov, which is an achievement in itself. What is however very remarkable, that there is little overlap between "The Safest Sicilian" and this book. It almost looks on purpose. Where he does overlap, he often gives additional analysis and / or improvements.

It is clear that Rizzitano studied all sources mentioned in his bibiography well. He gives the important analysis out of those sources, and as a rule he is giving (a lot of) additional analysis. So if you are a Taimanov fan, this book is a must. However it is not a reportoire book. The variations covered are the Paulsen Taimanov (early Qc7). All the analysed games are very recent (1998 or younger).

If you want to play the Taimanov well, I think you need next to this book for instance also Safest Sicilian. Because some important variations receive little coverage. This is due to the Chess Explained coverage concept, which I like very much, but I find 25 games or 100+ pages to limited for a complex opening.

2 questions:

1) The g3 system for White doesnt seem to have a chapter - is this lumped in with 6th move alternatives?

2) The "Sharp Variation" is presumably the modern English attack - what system does he recommend against this - at the critical juncture there is a choice between 3 different Knight moves: ...Na5, or ....Ne5 (Delchev/Semkov recomm I think), or ...Ne7 (recently resurrected by Nisipeaneau)

PS - I doubt very much Delchev/Semkov even looked at the Burgess book!

One question: Is the Delchev/Semkov book included in the bibliography?

Nothing surprising in the content list:

004 Symbols

004 Dedication

004 Acknowledgements

004 Bibliography

005 Introduction


008 1 Probing Bishop and Maroczy Bind Variations: 5 Nb5

024 2 Taimanov Introduction: 5 Nc3 a6

040 3 White's Sixth-Move Alternatives: 5 Nc3 Qc7

055 4 Flexible Variation: 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 Be2

066 5 Sharp Variation: 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 Be3

087 6 Paulsen Main Line: 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 Be3 a6 7 Be2


109 List of Games

110 Index of Variations

Yes, I have both books, but I'm afraid I haven't had time to get stuck into either of them properly yet - still on first chapter of the Delchev..... 

I'll try to report back when I have more to offer, but I reckon the book is worthwhile from the first impressions I have.  I'll probably tackle it before continuing with Delchev, actually, but it would be hard for me to point out coverage overlaps just yet.  I also have Rizzitano's book on the QGA which you refer to, and don't think it simply apes the Chess Stars book - from the lines I've been through in that one Rizzitano seems to extend (and occasionally improve upon) the theory of the earlier work.  I'll come back when I know more....!