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Saturday, January 10, 2015

Anti-Sicilians

     I will be entering another section on LSS and so have been giving some thought to what can I play against the Sicilian Defense that while off the beaten path is at the same time reasonably sound. 
     I have mostly been looking at either 2.a3 or 2.Na3, preferring the latter. Last year Russian Grandmaster Boris Savchenko won a strong open tournament in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. Savchenko, known for his creative style of play, scored 6.5/9 and he successfully used the move in several games.
     2.Na3!? is interesting because the knight is not totally misplaced. It can go to c2, or b5 or c4. GMs Malakhov and Zvagintsev have also played 2.Na3. GM Jobnathan Rowson wrote 2.Na3 (aka the Kronberger Variation) is not a great move, but nor is it a bad move and opined that Black has to play the opening well not to emerge with a disadvantage. If you type 2.Na3 Sicilian into YouTube a bunch of videos come up with some decent commentary. So this looks like a promising idea.
     But there are other Anti-Sicilians out there, including many that I never heard of and some that look interesting! Using an engine, you could make your own book and get an some ideas to spring on unsuspecting opponents! To name a few:

Myers Attack 1.e4 c5 2.a4
Grob Variation 1.e4 c5 2.g4
Amazon Attack 1.e4 c5 2.Qg4
King David's Opening 1.e4 c5 2.Ke2
Brick Variation 1.e4 c5 2.Nh3
Myers Attack 1.e4 c5 2.h4
Big Clamp Formation 1.e4 c5 2.d3 Nc6 3.c3 d6 4.f4
Snyder Variation 1.e4 c5 2.b3
Bowlder Attack 1.e4 c5 2.Bc4
Gloria Variation 1.e4 c5 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.g3 h5
Staunton-Cochrane Variation 1.e4 c5 2.c4
Chameleon 1.e4 c5 2.Ne2
Halasz Gambit 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.f4
McDonnell Attack 1.e4 c5 2.f4
Morphy Gambit 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3
Coles Sicilian Gambit 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qd1 Nf6 6.Bc4

Just as an example of what you can do, here is an analysis I did for about an hour using the Komodo 8 engine.

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