Smyslov_Fan wrote on 03/14/10 at 02:18:38:


http://www.chesspub.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1233078158/0

It's 11...Nfxd5 as mentioned in that thread, and black appears to be fine (at least based on the look I had into it).

Given even Kasparov's Gambit ("Gary's Gambit") in the Taimanov Maroczy has been resurrected and appears fully viable, I wouldn't bother with the Nb5/c4 scheme. There's other routes white can go to unsettle black.

Meat wrote on 03/12/10 at 09:05:42:


I don't have much personal experience with it except as Black in blitz games, but it has been played by Kramnik, Anand, Karpov, and Fischer to name just a few.

The main line continues 5...d6 6.c4 and White has a nice structural advantage that can be turned out to torture Black regardless of his rating.  It's probably good enough to be a repertoire choice all the way through 2300-2400 FIDE. (Tho, as some have pointed out elsewhere, repertoires are becoming dinosaurs in chess thinking.)

Though I see what he's talking about, I don't know that I share zoo's low opinion of 5.Nb5.  Even so I don't think that it really qualifies as an anti-Sicilian, certainly not as the term is defined on this site.  It's simply one way of playing against the Taimanov.

Schaakhamster wrote on 03/11/10 at 11:46:27:


Precisely!
Since the prevalent opinion seems to be that there's no challanging anti-sicilian, what do you guys think about 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Ndb5 ? I normally enjoy Maroczy setups for white and hope that they're not blacks comfort zone. Does anyone have experience with this line?

Stigma wrote on 03/09/10 at 16:01:40:

Sure, that's how I initially thought as well. Playing the Classical Dutch with a few extra tempi, what more can one ask?
Except that those extra tempi are not there, mainly because White has played an early Nc3 and has not castled yet. So in several cases ...d4 is best answered with Nb1, which gives up two tempi. In a few other cases Black can play strongly ...dxe4. In other words, compared to the Classical Dutch White has played e2-e4 to quickly, which means that ...d5 is a counterstroke, not e2-e4. That makes some difference indeed.

Meat wrote on 03/09/10 at 09:25:10:


I find this a bit puzzling. Why are people satisfied with equality when they play some Anti Sicilian but expect an advantage when playing the Open Sicilian? 1.e4 c5 is theoretically equal. Ask Fischer and Kasparov. So White's strategy must be posing problems, which is not that hard given the asymmetrical structure of the position. Imo several sidelines - like h3 in the Keres Attack - pose a lot more problem than 95% of the Anti Sicilians. Given the low number of games such sidelines do not even require that much study.

ChevyBanginStyle wrote on 03/09/10 at 16:25:35:


If you overpress in a position where you mistakenly thought you were better, that's a failure of prophylactic thinking. Whether your pieces are black or white, and whether you initally played a critical or an offbeat opening is totally irrelevant to this since every position must be assessed individually on its merits, the available plans etc.

Re: this GPA line, I merely claimed White was not worse. I've played both the Leningrad and Classical Dutch with reversed colors, and in most lines it's equal, in some lines Black gets too ambitious and White gets chances for an advantage anyway. I never assume I'm better simply because I'm White, with such lines I'm just aiming to reach positions I understand better than my opponent. Of course there is a psychological point to choosing a reversed opening, but once you're out of known theory you just play the game as best you can, as in any other opening.