Who!? Cmon - I'm insulted! 

Yeah, and I expect this book will be well worth having, as well as interesting to read.

TonyRo wrote on 07/29/10 at 17:38:29:


Its a valid question, I dont always play 3.Nc3 but it does manage to avoid 2 important lines: Sveshnikov & early Qb6 system (which is under-estimated in my view) At top level its also popular so its worth having it in your repertoire.

Also the thing is against 3.Nc3 I think 3...e5 is a solid line theoretically for Black, but its not to everybodys taste to play those positions, and White is very safe, whereas 3...Nd4 I just don't believe in.

It's not particularly easy for White to gain an edge against any of Blacks' options. He's quite solid. I wonder why you'd choose to play this line instead of just learning a bit of stuff against the Sicilians that you're trying to avoid?

Keano,

I have to admit, 3. Nc3 is annoying, but if you're a normal club player, it's very unlikely that you'll see more than 5 3. Nc3's in a given year. I very, very rarely see it, and so it's fine for me to venture into 3...e5 or 3...Nd4. Also worth consideration is 3...d6!?, mentioned to me by John, which looks for Kalashnikov-esque play after 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e5. I think Radjabov has recently ventured this against Kramnik. It's interesting and uncharted, although I can't help but feel that it's a bit too much work to analayze all the knight moves (and 4. Bb5 is no laughing matter) just to avoid 3...e5 or 3...Nd4 in very rare circumstances.

Michael,

I'm slowly working my way through the Kalashnikov complex, one variation at a time. I probably have around 85 pages in word already! I am getting there, and expect to be done with all of my analysis within about a month and a half. I haven't made it to 6. c4 and 7. N1c3, mostly because it's big and I want to knock everything else out first. I will without question look at these ideas once I get there, which I anticipate being quite soon.

-Tony

See Mickey Adams has been giving the Kalashnikov a bash recently, that is definitely a bit of a strange one. Has he just got bored or has there been some new developments here? Have to admit the 3.Nc3 move-order mentioned earlier kind of puts a downer on the whole thing for me, since I dont really fancy playing those positions after 3...e5.

Thanks Tony -- I'll look forward to that!

Thanks for this. Is it free, and does he cover 6 c4 lines?

I keep discovering fascinating new lines! One of them is [b]7 Bd3[/b] Nf6 8 0-0 0-0 9 N1c3 a6 10 Na3 [b]Nd7!?[/b]; now P&A give 11 Nc2 Nc5 12 b4! Nd3 13 Qd3 as good for White, but Kalashnikov expert Grigore recently came out with [b]12 ...Ne6!?[/b]. Also I notice S. Ansell has played [b]11 ...Bg5!?[/b] here.