The Scotch Game is the most “open” of all the Open Games. In fact this is the only really Open Game, in its essence, which matches the traditional terminology. The move 3.d2-d4 breaks immediately the symmetry. White tries to occupy the centre and gain additional space. Rapid contact between the opposing forces takes place, in fact much quicker than in the other open (and not only open...) games, which increases the value of every move and requires from both sides tremendous accuracy at a very early stage of the game. Positions with opposite castles arise much more often in the Scotch than in all the other Open Games put together.
The Breyer and Zaitsev Variations of the Ruy Lopez are two of the most dynamic lines played today. Examining them from both White and Black’s point of view, Greek grandmaster Vassilios Kotronias discusses their strengths, weaknesses and presents suggested improvements where necessary. The Breyer Variation of the Ruy Lopez is the brainchild of Hungarian hypermodern Gyula Breyer. He suggested the paradoxical knight retreat 9...Nb8 early in the 20th century. Although its soundness has been confirmed in many grandmaster games for over a century, there is surprisingly little which has been written about it. This book has just changed all that. The Zaitsev Variation was one of Anatoly Karpov’s workhorses in his title matches against Garry Kasparov. Formulated by the brilliant theoretician Igor Zaitsev, it can be found in the repertoires of some of the leading grandmasters of our era. As the author notes in his introduction, this is an objective presentation of two excellent opening variations for Black, from which players sitting on either side of the board may profit. The play is strategically complex, tactically rich and will improve you as both a player and connoisseur of the game. Kotronias’ clear writing style, coupled with in depth analysis, makes for a splendid opening manual on two of the most topical – and solid – variations of the Ruy Lopez.
This book presents the Triangle set-up, which arises after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3/Nf3 c6. This move order avoids many unpleasant systems for White, notably the Catalan, the Exchange Slav and the Botvinnik Variation. It leads to sharp strategically unbalanced play and brings Black excellent practical results. Semko Semkov is a chess journalist and theoretician. He has co-authored the famous books The Modern English, The Most Flexible Sicilian, Attacking the English/Reti, Attacking the Flexible Sicilian and Understanding the Queen’s Gambit Accepted.
The Vienna set-up aims for very aggressive play, which often includes sacrifices, but White prefers to be on the safe side, without burning all the bridges and to try to justify his actions from the point of view of positional play as well. This is how this usually happens. At first, he deploys his minor pieces to active positions, then he advances the thematic move f4, castles (usually on the kingside) and begins an attack only after all this.
This second and final volume of my Anti-Sicilian series covers our approach for all alternatives to 2...Nc6. The choice against 2...d6 was obvious. The Moscow variation is the only critical alternative to 3.d4 that has caused any concerns for Black – by developing with a tempo, we force Black to make an immediate decision on move 3 and wait for the right moment to open the position.
Whilst in the Rossolimo book I tried to achieve an objective advantage against every line, my choices in the Moscow were mainly selected by their ability to create practical difficulties for the opponent. Naturally, it is not possible to find an advantage in every variation but I have ensured to add many detailed explanations to guide plans and aid understanding in the various positions we’ll encounter.
Against 3...Nd7, I analyse two distinct options – either castling immediately with the aim of breaking in the centre with c2-c3 and d2-d4, or first playing 4.a4 and denying Black their typical counterplay on the queenside. Against the solid 3...Bd7, I offer two choices of achieving central control. 5.c4 aims for a more positional Maroczy structure, whereas the alternative 5.0-0 transforms the position into a French advanced-type structure, where we develop interesting chances on the kingside. We already discussed 3...Nc6 in the first volume from the move order 2...Nc6 3.Bb5 d6, but I’ve analysed a second option – 6.h3 instead of 6.c3. The point is to limit Black’s piece activity by suppressing the scope of the c8-bishop.
It was a bit harder to choose between 3.c3 or 3.g3 against 2...e6 – so I analysed both! The former transposes to an Alapin where my recommendations generally revolve around generating an attack against Black’s king – this is even attempted in the more ‘positional’ lines after 3...d5 4.exd5 Qxd5. The latter aims for a slower build-up before striking in the centre with d2-d4. Particular attention is given to Black’s attempts to generate immediate activity with a ...d7-d5 push, and I think my analysis here makes Black’s path to equality extremely narrow.
Finally, I thought it was important to also consider the less popular second moves (2...g6, 2...a6, and 2...Nf6). In particular, I examined both 3.c3 and 3.c4 against 2...g6. The latter transposes to an Accelerated Dragon, which I can justify including in an Anti-Sicilian book as I believe it’s correct to enter an ‘Open-Sicilian’ type position if it benefits us. This approach has been emphasised across both volumes and it is made especially clear in the chapter against 2...g6.
This exciting defence, which is characterized by the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3 Bc5, always amazed me. Quite an aggressive setup, Black is aiming to get very dynamic play (even at the cost of some material in many cases) in order to put a lot of pressure on White players as early as possible! No wonder that great, ambitious players such as Anand, Shirov, and Caruana, just to name of a few, like to employ it regularly. The variation also gained some attention at the Carlsen-Karjakin world championship match from 2016.
The Ark has always been considered one of the theoretically-heaviest defences in meeting the Ruy Lopez, though also the most exciting and definitely the most beautiful of all. It requires tactical vision, good calculation and memory, but not just from us – from the White side too. Let’s not forget that! I also must say that no good lines are absent of theory, so if we’ve decided to learn something “finally”, I argue that it can very well be an ambitious, double-edged line too!
I should also mention that this book is a complete Black repertoire starting from 3.Bb5 a6, the exchange variation being the first chapter. The publisher and me agreed on offering a full package, one that should prove useful for many years to come!
The Barry Attack is somewhat defensive-looking from the start. It tempts Black forward, provocatively. The Barry Attack is, after all, a little rebellious, flouting, as it does, all those common sense development rules. Perhaps your game needs a good shot of tactics to boost your results – it’s one of the fastest ways to improve and this is true not only for young players.
If your opponent plays an early move order that’s not in this book such as 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c5 or 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 for example, the good news is that Black will be forced to transpose back into the mass of material.
The ‘’super repertoire’’ that always keeps Black under pressure in all variations is of course, a total myth. Any reasonable opening set-up can work wonders for White or Black if they know it well. This is always going to outweigh theoretical evolution. Playing strong chess is also very much about your level of self-confidence, emotional and physical health. It’s about who you are and how you feel in many ways at the precise moment of play in addition to your opening knowledge and general technique.
Anyone who takes the trouble to play through each model example, move by move, note by note, will be rewarded. Your strategic play will deepen and your tactics will improve along with your assessment skills, and you’ll end up with a great repertoire!