I must admit that I wondered if this game might all have been prep...
Afraid I didn't credit Kolev in my annotations for ChessPub, as I guess I should have done, due to still not having got around to purchasing a copy of the Easiest! Must try to pick one up soon...

Indeed, it was a helpful review TonyRo. It's a little scary to consider Sveshnikov Reloaded "no longer recent" since even though the Sveshnikov is ultra-theoretical, it's hard to think that a beautifully researched, detailed book from 2005 would already be outdated. 

Meanwhile, I'm reading John Cox's Starting Out: Sicilian Sveshnikov, which is a wonderful introduction to the opening. I'll follow up with some combination of study in "Reloaded" and "Easiest".

There's a very positive review at http://jeremysilman.com/chess_gst_wrtrs/The_Easiest_Sicilian.html

I used to play the Sveshnikov, about 10 years ago, and have been considering taking it up again, which will require shaking off a lot of rust and becoming up-to-date.

I got a copy of The Sveshnikov Reloaded shortly before hearing about The Easiest Sicilian but haven't had time to read most of it yet. Both Reloaded and Easiest Sicilian seem to be fantastic books. Obviously the latter has the advantage of being completely up-to-date, but can anyone compare the two books otherwise? Would it be worthwhile to study both in combination, or more efficient to just use the newer book?

Thanks for the info A-Tong.

Interesting suggestion, 21...Qg7 - I guess it makes reasonable sense to put the queen on the kingside if Black is looking to attack there. It looks very unclear indeed, and having played through the sample continuation it is clear that there could be any number of possible deviations/improvements for both sides. Will be interesting to see what happens if and when this gets gets tested at high level.

Having dipped back into Anand 10, I see Khalifman also mentions another option of 20.f3, citing the game Aginian-Kucypera and offering a later improvement for White. Can I ask what Kolev gives here? I see a couple of other games have reached the same position with Black trying 20...Rb7 and 20...Bxe3+, both of which seem quite sensible as well.

Overall this variation seems to be a critical battleground for the Sveshnikov; so much tension in the position, and still plenty of room for creativity with so few games having been played.

IMJohnCox wrote on 05/23/08 at 12:12:46:


There was such a "bad remark" in one of Aagaard's books, hinting that the most recent "Modern Endgame Practice" had too many analytical errors. But I don't mind, I only have the first two and find lots of interesting material there.

I deduce that "Winning Endgame Technique" is the one you're missing, since the other two are listed on the London Chess Centre discount pages for £5 and £7,50 (good books don't sell, apparently!) But according to www.bookfinder.com you can still get W.E.T. used in good condition for below £20. Could be an option if nobody here on chesspub is willing to part with it.

If anyone has both 'Easiest Sicilian' and 'Anand 10' I would be curious to know at precisely what point the two sets of analysis diverge. Presumably the 'last word' must have come from Kolev, who would have had access to Khalifman's book while writing his own. Is there some earth-shattering new idea, or perhaps just differing evaluations of a certain critical position?
Thanks in advance.

Khalifman is writing now the Dragon. The plans are for 12 books altogether in the series.

I am sorry, but I do not defend any side. You are right that is someone does not work on the rpoject you have full right to remove him. 
Anyway, I bought the book and I think it is very good. There are some not mentioned possibilities for both sides or some unexplained ideas and moves, but of course it is not possible to cover everything on about 250 pages. So my overal assessment of the book is 9 out of 10  .
At the same time I want to ask Semko what are the plans for future Khalifman's book "Openings according to Anand". What is expected to be included in the next volumes and how many of them there will be.
Thanks