Latest Updates:
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1 ... 8 9 [10] 11 12 ... 31
Topic Tools
Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella (Read 383590 times)
kylemeister
God Member
*****
Offline



Posts: 4901
Location: USA
Joined: 10/24/05
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #326 - 01/26/15 at 05:30:59
Post Tools
It is perhaps adorable that the reviewer thinks you have advocated "a fairly new approach" against the Closed Sicilian.  (As far as I know you opted for 6...e5 stuff which off the top of my head goes back six decades ...).
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
TonyRo
God Member
*****
Offline


I'm gonna crack your skull!

Posts: 1826
Location: Cleveland, OH
Joined: 11/26/07
Gender: Male
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #325 - 01/26/15 at 05:00:08
Post Tools
First review at Amazon UK is up! Five stars!

Grin

One star for each ten pound note I slipped the author.

Shocked
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
TonyRo
God Member
*****
Offline


I'm gonna crack your skull!

Posts: 1826
Location: Cleveland, OH
Joined: 11/26/07
Gender: Male
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #324 - 01/22/15 at 22:34:55
Post Tools
Deal.  Grin
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
RoleyPoley
God Member
*****
Offline


I Love ChessPublishing!

Posts: 741
Location: London
Joined: 12/29/13
Gender: Male
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #323 - 01/22/15 at 21:38:38
Post Tools
TonyRo wrote on 01/22/15 at 04:13:20:
A small request - If any of you guys genuinely enjoyed/are still enjoying The Killer Sicilian, please write a review the next time you stop into Amazon - it'd be a big help! Thanks!

Grin


Only if you promise to find it helpful  Grin
  

"As Mikhail Tal would say ' Let's have a bit of hooliganism! '"

Victor Bologan.
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
TonyRo
God Member
*****
Offline


I'm gonna crack your skull!

Posts: 1826
Location: Cleveland, OH
Joined: 11/26/07
Gender: Male
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #322 - 01/22/15 at 04:13:20
Post Tools
A small request - If any of you guys genuinely enjoyed/are still enjoying The Killer Sicilian, please write a review the next time you stop into Amazon - it'd be a big help! Thanks!

Grin
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
TonyRo
God Member
*****
Offline


I'm gonna crack your skull!

Posts: 1826
Location: Cleveland, OH
Joined: 11/26/07
Gender: Male
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #321 - 01/17/15 at 17:18:53
Post Tools
tony37 wrote on 01/17/15 at 12:43:10:
Kalashnikov spotted in Carlsen-Hou


Larsen_fan wrote on 01/17/15 at 15:14:55:
Hou looks fine and Carlsen is taking a lot of time trying to come up with something (move 17 - 18).


Yes, interesting game. I looked at this 9...Bg5 line against 6.c4 Be7 7.N1c3 a6 8.Na3 Be6 9.Nc2! for TKS, but I didn't find the positions particularly easy to play or evaluate. Black is super solid, and indeed Hou looked fine in this game, even up to move 25-30 or so. But when I was working on these positions, I could never find any good ways to really improve my position - computers will shuffle Black's pieces around efficiently and not let White make any marked progress, but to me that seemed like a terrible way to play the game, or at the very least a terrible repertoire choice.

This game reminds me of one of the chapter's from Axel Smith's award-winning Pump Up Your Rating - "No Pawn Lever - No Plan". These kinds of positions are probably not the greatest choice against Magnus, and indeed, past move 30 Magnus out-maneuvered Hou quite badly, and by move 40 or so she looked markedly worse, and probably lost after 44.c5!.

Sad
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
TonyRo
God Member
*****
Offline


I'm gonna crack your skull!

Posts: 1826
Location: Cleveland, OH
Joined: 11/26/07
Gender: Male
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #320 - 01/17/15 at 17:10:46
Post Tools
RoleyPoley wrote on 01/17/15 at 12:33:50:
Come play the Kalashnikov! (Tony,you have my permission to use that title for your next book! Hell! lets plug the series to Everyman!)


I like the name, but even thinking about another book right now makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit.  Cry

*Takes a nap*
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
TonyRo
God Member
*****
Offline


I'm gonna crack your skull!

Posts: 1826
Location: Cleveland, OH
Joined: 11/26/07
Gender: Male
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #319 - 01/17/15 at 17:09:33
Post Tools
barnaby wrote on 01/17/15 at 03:13:18:
The book made me an offer I could not refuse.  I am making the book my new wartime consigliere.


I see what you did there.  Grin

barnaby wrote on 01/17/15 at 03:13:18:
So I jumped right in and started playing some training games using just the shallow understanding I grabbed in a few hours of reading and found some great positions coming up on the board.  Now making a more studious effort to learn and work through it and put Kalashnikov in repertoire for the upcoming US $$ tournaments that lead up to the World Open.


barnaby wrote on 01/17/15 at 03:13:18:
Its a real good book.   Smiley  Thanks for your efforts.


I'm glad you like it - thanks for the support, and good luck in your tournaments! I was thinking about traveling to the World Open, just to check it out this year - maybe I'll see you there!

DenVerdsligeRejsende wrote on 01/17/15 at 05:20:53:
It is true, this book is quite unique that it has a broad range of audience, I am someone who only has goals of IM by norms and hopefully better even, and it has good coverage for this cause. Usually opening books are either little detailed for higher rated players, or too detailed for lower rated players, but this one seems to have good balance. Even in open tournaments, you know that you need at least 5,5/9 with a 2400 performance to get rewarded an IM norm, thus you need good materials to help you. I like to think about opening books in that category: which ones really help to achieve norms after study, and which not, and I find that this one falls into the first category.


Thanks! If I recall I said in the introduction that I tried to give stronger players a lot of detailed analysis (it's still possible to give too much - that's something that an author really needs to think about), and club players reasonable explanations. I think the intro and "key takeaways" help there. Club players can always just study the book less deeply than titled players, but if the detailed analysis is not there, stronger players will never use your book!
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Larsen_fan
Full Member
***
Offline


I Love ChessPublishing!

Posts: 111
Location: at the board
Joined: 02/23/11
Gender: Male
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #318 - 01/17/15 at 15:14:55
Post Tools
Hou looks fine and Carlsen is taking a lot of time trying to come up with something (move 17 - 18).
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
tony37
God Member
*****
Offline


I Love ChessPublishing!

Posts: 619
Joined: 10/16/10
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #317 - 01/17/15 at 12:43:10
Post Tools
Kalashnikov spotted in Carlsen-Hou
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
RoleyPoley
God Member
*****
Offline


I Love ChessPublishing!

Posts: 741
Location: London
Joined: 12/29/13
Gender: Male
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #316 - 01/17/15 at 12:33:50
Post Tools
bragesjo wrote on 01/17/15 at 11:08:17:
PatzerNoster wrote on 01/17/15 at 09:57:20:
In my tournament games the use of Anti-Sicilians has declined in the last two years:

Out of 23 games, I got:

  • 14 "real" Dragons
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4: 4.Nd4: Nf6 5.f3 - 2 games
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d3 - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c3 - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.f4 (GPA) - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Ne2 (but transposed to a mainline Maroczy) - 1 game


The average rating of my opponents was slightly below 2300, so I guess it's not true that you get more Open Sicilians only on Grandmaster level.

Though 2. ... Nc6 might be a different story, as there 3.Bb5 is really really popular...


I have also noticed that anti sicilians are  less common in the last two years. But these days I play e6 based sicilians and not Dragon.


Come play the Kalashnikov! (Tony,you have my permission to use that title for your next book! Hell! lets plug the series to Everyman!) It's where all the ex dragon afficianados seem to hang out these days!!  Grin
  

"As Mikhail Tal would say ' Let's have a bit of hooliganism! '"

Victor Bologan.
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
bragesjo
God Member
*****
Offline


CCE at ICCF 2021 and CCM
at ICCF 2023

Posts: 1829
Location: Eskilstuna
Joined: 06/30/06
Gender: Male
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #315 - 01/17/15 at 11:08:17
Post Tools
PatzerNoster wrote on 01/17/15 at 09:57:20:
In my tournament games the use of Anti-Sicilians has declined in the last two years:

Out of 23 games, I got:

  • 14 "real" Dragons
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4: 4.Nd4: Nf6 5.f3 - 2 games
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d3 - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c3 - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.f4 (GPA) - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Ne2 (but transposed to a mainline Maroczy) - 1 game


The average rating of my opponents was slightly below 2300, so I guess it's not true that you get more Open Sicilians only on Grandmaster level.

Though 2. ... Nc6 might be a different story, as there 3.Bb5 is really really popular...


I have also noticed that anti sicilians are  less common in the last two years. But these days I play e6 based sicilians and not Dragon.
  
Back to top
WWW  
IP Logged
 
PatzerNoster
Full Member
***
Offline


I Love ChessPublishing!

Posts: 152
Joined: 10/22/09
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #314 - 01/17/15 at 09:57:20
Post Tools
In my tournament games the use of Anti-Sicilians has declined in the last two years:

Out of 23 games, I got:

  • 14 "real" Dragons
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4: 4.Nd4: Nf6 5.f3 - 2 games
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d3 - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.c3 - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.c3 - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.f4 (GPA) - 1 game
  • 1.e4 c5 2.Ne2 (but transposed to a mainline Maroczy) - 1 game


The average rating of my opponents was slightly below 2300, so I guess it's not true that you get more Open Sicilians only on Grandmaster level.

Though 2. ... Nc6 might be a different story, as there 3.Bb5 is really really popular...
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
DenVerdsligeRejsende
Senior Member
****
Offline


I Love ChessPublishing!

Posts: 269
Location: København
Joined: 05/16/14
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #313 - 01/17/15 at 05:20:53
Post Tools
It is true, this book is quite unique that it has a broad range of audience, I am someone who only has goals of IM by norms and hopefully better even, and it has good coverage for this cause. Usually opening books are either little detailed for higher rated players, or too detailed for lower rated players, but this one seems to have good balance. Even in open tournaments, you know that you need at least 5,5/9 with a 2400 performance to get rewarded an IM norm, thus you need good materials to help you. I like to think about opening books in that category: which ones really help to achieve norms after study, and which not, and I find that this one falls into the first category.

Regarding anti-Sicilians, I think not that it is that people are just more interested in the anti-Sicilians, but unfortunately that is how it goes, any Sicilian player knows that they usually get more anti-Sicilians, unless they are 2500+. Even then, Zwiagintszew, Swidler, even Carlsen play anti-Sicilians sometimes, not always, but still. However, I find that if one plays in closed tournaments, less people play anti-Sicilians against you.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
barnaby
Senior Member
****
Offline


The night is dark and
full of terrors.

Posts: 345
Joined: 01/09/12
Gender: Female
Re: The Killer Sicilian by Tony Rotella
Reply #312 - 01/17/15 at 03:13:18
Post Tools
The book made me an offer I could not refuse.  I am making the book my new wartime consigliere.

I've had it for a few days now and have had decent chance to get into it.  I've played a lot of Sveshnikov's over the years, became an 1...e5 player last five but have been looking for a second weapon to keep the rep from getting stale.

So I jumped right in and started playing some training games using just the shallow understanding I grabbed in a few hours of reading and found some great positions coming up on the board.  Now making a more studious effort to learn and work through it and put Kalashnikov in repertoire for the upcoming US $$ tournaments that lead up to the World Open.

I'm not sure what the Everyman target demo is but fwiw I am playing in the 'expert' sections.... u/2200 (in the lower half of that rating bracket).

Its a real good book.   Smiley  Thanks for your efforts.
  
Back to top
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1 ... 8 9 [10] 11 12 ... 31
Topic Tools
Bookmarks: del.icio.us Digg Facebook Google Google+ Linked in reddit StumbleUpon Twitter Yahoo