Or find an alternative for the symmetrical. I've been thinking about king's fianchetto lines against sicilians...

AlanG wrote on 02/06/09 at 22:01:56:


Statistics tend to confirm this - Big Database 2008 claims a 64.4% score for Black after 1.Nf3 c5 2.b3 d6 3.Bb2 e5. 

A few examples of how to handle these positions as Black:

[Event "Tbilisi"]
[Site "Tbilisi"]
[Date "1986.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Gurgenidze, Bukhuti"]
[Black "Ubilava, Elizbar"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2440"]
[BlackElo "2515"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "1986.11.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "15"]
[EventCountry "URS"]
[EventCategory "10"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1997.11.17"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. b3 d6 3. Bb2 e5 4. d3 {(this is the most common move, preventing .
..e4 by Black)} Nc6 5. c4 f5 6. g3 Be7 {(I don't recommend 6...g6 as in
Akopian-Landa, 2002, where White won)} 7. Bg2 h5 $5 {(an interesting plan; 7...
Nf6 is more classical but this works well in the game)} 8. Nbd2 (8. h4) 8... h4
9. a3 g5 10. h3 hxg3 11. fxg3 g4 {(already I much prefer Black's position)} 12.
hxg4 Rxh1+ 13. Bxh1 fxg4 14. Ng1 Bg5 15. Qc2 Nd4 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. O-O-O Nf6
18. Kb2 Qe7 19. Ne4 Nxe4 20. Bxe4 Be6 21. Rf1 O-O-O 22. Bf5 Bxf5 23. Rxf5 Rf8
24. Rxf8+ Qxf8 0-1

[Event "USA-ch"]
[Site "San Diego"]
[Date "2004.11.26"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Goletiani, Rusudan"]
[Black "Perelshteyn, Eugene"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2336"]
[BlackElo "2505"]
[PlyCount "68"]
[EventDate "2004.11.24"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "USA"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2005.04.11"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. b3 d6 3. Bb2 e5 4. d3 Nc6 5. g3 g6 {(this is more common than 5...
f5)} 6. Bg2 Bg7 7. c4 Nge7 8. a3 {(I don't really see the purpose behind this
move; 8.0-0 and 8.Nc3 are more common, with a level position)} O-O 9. Qc2 h6
10. O-O Be6 11. Nbd2 Qd7 12. Rfd1 Bh3 13. Bh1 f5 14. Bc3 a5 15. Rab1 g5 {
(White is too short on space, whereas Black's attack is quite menacing)} 16. b4
axb4 17. axb4 cxb4 18. Bb2 f4 19. Ra1 Rae8 20. Ne4 Nf5 21. Re1 Bg4 22. Qa4 Qe7
23. Qb5 Kh8 24. Qb6 Rd8 25. Bg2 Bh5 26. h3 fxg3 27. fxg3 Nfd4 28. Nxd4 exd4 29.
Qb5 Be5 30. g4 Bf7 31. Rf1 d5 32. cxd5 Rxd5 33. Qb6 Bc7 34. Bxd4+ Rxd4 0-1

[Event "Petrov mem"]
[Site "St Petersburg"]
[Date "1998.??.??"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Kastanieda, Georgiy"]
[Black "Zagrebelny, Sergey"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A04"]
[WhiteElo "2395"]
[BlackElo "2485"]
[PlyCount "56"]
[EventDate "1998.??.??"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1998.11.10"]

1. Nf3 c5 2. b3 d6 3. Bb2 e5 4. e3 g6 5. c4 Bg7 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. d3 Nge7 8. Be2
O-O 9. O-O h6 10. a3 Be6 11. Qc2 g5 12. Rab1 g4 13. Nd2 f5 14. Ba1 a5 15. Nb5
Ng6 16. d4 exd4 17. exd4 cxd4 18. Rfd1 Be5 19. Nf1 Qf6 20. Qd2 Nf4 21. Ng3 Nxg2
22. Nc7 Nf4 23. Nxa8 Nh3+ 24. Kg2 f4 25. Ne4 f3+ 26. Kh1 Nxf2+ 27. Nxf2 Qh4 28.
Nxg4 Bxg4 0-1

What book (and/or Chessbase Trainer, etc) deals with the variation
1.Nf3 c5 2.b3 (for White) ?
(a kind of reversed Queen's Indian)


(Only as a little comment: I am switching from 1.d4 to 1.Nf3 and I want to use this move, 2.b3, temporarily, until I know enough about 1.Nf3 c5 2.c4. 
On 1..Nf6 I already play 2.c4, but even so there are a lot of variations that I avoid with 1..c5 2.b3--for example, 1.Nf3 c5 2.c4 Nc6 3.d4)