Chess Opening Theory
Chess Openings The first few moves in the chess opening lays the foundation for every chess game. Most of the chess openings have been named and analyzed for hundreds of years. It is important if you want to be successful in chess to be familiar with some of the most popular openings and understand the theory behind the moves. 'Modern Chess Opening Theory' is just that and mine is a non-algebraic paperback by-the-way. But, as Chess has gone thru so many phases of development and explanation, an attempt to effectively present its opening theory - would seem to have to be too thin and abstact OR too long and detailed to be useful for many living players of Chess.
Chess Opening Theory Trainer
The Sicilian defence is undoubtedly the most popular opening in modern chess, to such an extent that it makes up a quarter of all games in the Chess Informant database. It is the most successful of all Black's defences to 1.e4, although this success has resulted in the opening accumulating a large body of opening theory. First analysed by Italian players in the 16th century, the Sicilian was considered an unorthodox opening throughout the 19th century, and even into the 20th century as 1.e4 e5 and 1.d4 d5 remained the most popular way to open the game. It wasn't until the 1940s and 1950s, when many dynamic openings such as the King's Indian were being explored, that the Sicilian defence took centre stage. Since then, its popularity has never declined.
Games starting with the Sicilian defence are divided into two broad categories - the Open Sicilians, where white plays a quick Nf3 and d4 and attempts to open the position to take advantage of Black's slow development (as the move 1... c5 does nothing to help develop Black's pieces), and the Anti-Sicilians, which consist of various other systems played by White to avoid the huge amount of theory associated with the Open Sicilian. In this tutorial, we will be looking at the Open Sicilian, while the Anti-Sicilians will be covered separately.
The Najdorf Variation
Although such a hugely complicated opening as the Najdorf could never be covered adequately in 20 games, never mind two, these examples should illustrate the cutthroat attacks that can arise.
J. Polgar vs Gelfand, Novgorod 1996
De Vreugt vs Naiditsch, Corus B, Wijk aan Zee 2003
Chess Opening Theory & Practice
The Dragon Variation
Here are some examples of attack and counter attack in the Sicilian Dragon from master play.
Byrne vs Ciocaltea, Hastings 1972
Whitehead vs Miles, Lone Pine 1980
Chess Opening Theory Table
The Sveshnikov Variation
Here are some examples of the tactical chaos that can arise in the Sveshnikov.
Anand vs Z. Polgar, Munich 1991
Milos vs Krasenkow, FIDE World Championship, Tripoli 2004
The Taimanov Variation
Chess Opening Theory Table
Here are some grandmaster games to illustrate how play can develop in the Taimanov variation.