Hi, so I'm putting together an Open (mostly) Sicilian repertoire "seriously", maybe for the first time. I kind of wanted to share my plan, and have the ChessPub community check for move order issues, and the like, as I'm not so experienced with this Open Sicilian stuff.
So, basically, as a base I'm starting with the Rossolimo (hence why I said "Open (mostly)". I don't particularly want to play against the Sveshnikov or Kalashnikov, and I've already been playing the Rossolimo for a few years. I think it's a good opening, and I like it.
Against 2...g6, I'm planning 3 d4 cd4 4 Qxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3, to avoid having the deal with the Accelerated Dragon, when I've already avoided the "proper" Acc. move order with 2...Nc6 3 Bb5
Against early ...e6 based Sicilians, I want to play an approach involving Be2, centered around the so-called Classical Scheveningen. This also includes the line of the Taimanov where White meets ...Bb4 with Na4, Nxc6 and Nb6xc8, and 5 Be2 against the Kan, where Delchev and Semkov say Black has nothing better than to transpose to the Taimanov.
The issue is that Scheveningen lines with a delayed ...a6 (e.g. ...Qc7/...Nxd4 recommended by Van Kampen) are quite solid. Therefore, if I can do so without any move order issues, I'd like to play an approach involving 0-0-0 whenever Black plays ...e6 and delays/omits ...a6. These lines would be 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e6 6 Be3 Be7/Nc6 (6...a6 7 Be2) 7 Qe2(!), and 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cd4 4 Nxd4 Nc6 5 Nc3 Qc7 6 Be2 Nf6 7 Be3, intending Qd2 and 0-0-0 (if Black continues to not play ...a6).
Against 2...d6, I'm planning 9 0-0-0 and 10 Qe1 against the Dragon, and probably some sort of Sozin against the Classical, as the Rauzer seems like a lot of work for a Sicilian I don't see played very often in my area.
This, of course, leaves the Najdorf. Well, here, I'm not entirely sure. I was playing 6 h3 for a while, but then 6...e5 and 6...e6 are both "independent" Najdorf options available to Black, both with a lot of theory. Ideally, I'd like to go 6 Be2, as 6...e6 is a position that would arise from many different branches of my intended repertoire. However, after 6...e5, I'm not entirely sure what to do. 6 Bc4 leaves Black with "only one" (sort of) option, in 6...e6, but the critical lines after 7 Bb3 Nbd7 are again very sharp and theoretical. Same goes for 6 Be3 e5 (6...e6 7 Be2, but 6...Ng4 - ?; I was looking at 7 Bg5 h6 8 Bc1 for a bit, but is this any good?) 7 Nb3 etc.
Thanks!
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