Opening for White according to Anand 1.e4 vol. XII - Rauzer Attack

Preface Dear readers, You are holding in your hands book 12 of the series “Opening for White According to Anand – 1.e4”. It is devoted to one of the main lines of the Sicilian Defence, beginning with the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6. Strangely enough, this system has not acquired yet a universally acknowledged name. It is worth mentioning that the scheme, which we recommend against the majority of the other Sicilian variations in our books, the set-up Be3-f3-Qd2 would not work against this system, because of quite concrete reasons. After 6.Be3 Ng4, as well as in case of 6.f3 e5, Black solves his opening problems rather easily. Meanwhile, after the move we recommend – 6.Bg5, quite irrevocably accepted by contemporary theory as the most dangerous for Black, there would be no more terminological ambiguities – the Rauzer Attack is on the board. (..) Many opening variations, which are analyzed in this book, were tested at the highest level, up to the matches for the World Championship, already around the year 1950. (..) In the first part of this book, we deal with numerous sidelines, beginning with Black’s attempts to avoid the main lines as early as move three. These variations are not so principled in the majority of cases, nevertheless we felt we needed to analyze them. I believe the most interesting variation among them is 6.Bg5 g6. This attempt by Black to build the Dragon set-up has never enjoyed good reputation, but strangely there never were exact analyses how to deal with it with White and Black had good practical results even at the master level. It seems to me that in this book I have given a thorough analysis proving that White can achieve a considerable advantage. In the second part of the book we deal with variations arising in cases when after 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2, Black refrains from the almost obligatory move a7-a6 in most of the systems of the Sicilian Defence. This is due to his desire to evacuate his king away from the centre as quickly as possible with 7...Be7 8.0-0-0 0-0. It is worth mentioning that Anand preferred this set-up for Black, but that was mostly in the past millennium. White must play actively in these variations not only in the centre, but on the kingside as well. One of his important resources for thisis the pawn-break e4-e5. The game is often forced in these cases and sometimes theory goes up to move thirty. (..) (..) The third part of the book is devoted to the variations beginning with 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6. They were considered for a long time to be the most reliable for Black and in particular the system with 8.0-0-0 h6. He managed to hold his ground even at the highest possible level. At the very end of the past century though, some games of the Israeli chess-players, in which the original idea of Jacob Murey 9.Nxc6!? bxc6 10.Bf4 was tested, reduced drastically the number of players who were willing to continue playing this system with Black. This verdict has stood until today. Both sides have numerous interesting tactical possibilities, but White’s trumps are quite convincing. Presently, Black’s main lines are considered to be 8...Be7 and 8...Bd7, but his opponent is better in both cases. This would be particularly true if the White players have read this book... A. Khalifman 14th World Chess Champion INDEX 1 Miscellaneous / 1 .e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 1 various; 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4 without 4...Nf6 2 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 various 3 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 without 6...Bd7 & 6...e6 4 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 Bd7 Part 2 Rauzer Attack without a7-a6 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 5 without 7...Qb6, 7...Be7 and 7...a6 6 7...Qb6 7 7.. .Be7 8.0-0-0 various; 8...0-0 9.f4 without 9...Nxd4 8 7...Be7 8.0-0-0 0-0 9.f4 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 various; 10...Qa5 11.Bc4 without11...Bd7 9 7...Be7 8.0-0-0 0-0 9.f4 Nxd4 10.Qxd4 Qa5 11.Bc4 Bd7 Part 3 Rauzer Attack with a7-a6 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Bg5 e6 7.Qd2 a6 8.0-0-0 10 various without 8...h6 and 8...Bd7 11 8...h6 9.Nxc6 bc 10.Bf4 d5 12 8...Bd7 9.f4 without 9...Be7 and 9...b5 13 8...Bd7 9.f4 Be7 14 8...Bd7 9.f4 b5 Index of Variations

• Casa editrice Chess Stars
• Code 6012
• Anno 2009
• Pagine p. 284