Nibaldo Calvo Buides. 1.e4 c5; 2.b3 against Sicilian defense. Editor: Bethany Calvo Buides

Transcription

1 Nibaldo Calvo Buides 1.e4 c5; 2.b3 against Sicilian defense Editor: Bethany Calvo Buides September/

2 About the author Nibaldo Calvo Buides (1972, Cuba), lives in Louisville, Kentucky (USA). He is Cuban Chess Expert, with International rating (FIDE). Also he has a Bachelors Degree in Economics and a Diploma in Journalism. From 2007 to 2011 he was the president and coach of Capablanca chess club, in Oaxaca Mexico, where he taught chess to more than 1000 people (including schools and jails). His chess blog is in the top 5 in the Spanish language in the World: He teaches chess in Louisville. 2

3 Prologue The variant 1.e4 c5; 2.b3 is very interesting to fight the very popular Sicilian defense. Since 1995 I've had it in my repertoire and many of my students too. In your chess career, how often have you changed your repertoire to avoid confrontation of the Sicilian defense? Frequently my students and readers say: "I do not know how to play against the Sicilian defense!" With 2.b3 against the Sicilian you will find a variant easy to understand. I hope you enjoy the book and obtain many successes with 2.b3 against the Sicilian. Thanks The author 3

4 Sumary Origin of the variant Chapter 1: White to play Ne2 and Nd Chapter 2: 1. e4 c5 2. b3 e6 3. Bb2 d6 4. f4 Nc6; 5.Bb Chapter 3: 1.e4 c5; 2.b3 Nf Chapter 4: 1.e4 c5; 2.b3 Nc6; 3.Bb2 e5; 4.Bc Chapter 5: 1.e4 c5; 2.b3 b6; 3.Bb2 Bb Games

5 Origin of the variant The Sicilian with 2.b3 is named Snyder Sicilian and Czerniak Attack. Chessplayers suggest that the name Czerniak Attack should be the one because Robert Snyder has reputation problems of the latter. The line 1.e4 c5 2.b3 (or 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.b3, definitely serves to reach an interesting position where the player with white pieces don t have to study too much theories. This system has been played occasionally by some very strong Grand Masters, such as Magnus CArlsen, Nigel Short, Boris Spassky and Alexander Morozevich. Also has been the main anti-sicilian weapon of such strong players GM Tamaz Gelashvili, IM Moshe Czerniak, and IM/WGM Eva Repkova. 1. e4 c5; 2.b3 was played for first time in the match Cochrane - Staunton, London

6 Chapter 1: White to play Ne2 and Nd2 We begin to study the main line I learned from the Cuban International Master Nestor Velez, which I occasionally mentioned as "Variant Velez". The idea is to get the following development of the white pieces: Play b3 and Bb2. Play Bb5 and change the bishop on c6 or d7. Develop knights in e2 and d2. Short castling. Move the knight from e2 to g3 and h5, in order to remove the defender black knight that it is normally on f6. If black plays g6, then the white knight will remain in g3, where it will make pressure on the squares f5 and h5. Sometimes the knight jumps from d2 to c4 and afterwards e3, to have control of the important d5 and f5 squares. 6

7 Advance the f-pawn to f5 if possible, to win in space while ensuring an effective attack on the kingside. It is very important to know that sometimes the white may not fully realize the whole plan I mentioned because his/her opponent can stop it. But the good thing of this system is that it has elasticity, so it will let you mix other ideas I will show you in the next chapters. In the last pages of the book I included a selection of games, where you can see several sub-variants that I have not included as principal. Without further ado, let s see how you can play the variant with Nd2 and Ne2: 7

8 Nibaldo Calvo - Anastasio Giron Torneo San Jacinto Amilpas, México, e4 c5 2.b c6 3. b2 d6 4. b5 d7 5. xc6 xc6 6.d3 e5 7. d2 e7 8. e f a4 a5 11. g3 g6 [11...b5 12.axb5 xb5] 8

9 12.f4 d7 13.f5 g5 14. e2 xd2 (I think the black had to keep this dark-squared bishop. From now the weakness of his black squares of his castling will be noticed.) 15. xd2 h4 16. c1! (I consider it a good move, because it represents a complement to my previous analysis) f6 17. e2 (and the black queen is immobilized)] 17...g5 18. h5 g4 19. g3 f7 20. e3 g7 21. d2 h6 22. c3 What it would happen if I capture the pawn on h6?, this: 22. xh6 h7 23. e3 xh f2 h3 25. e2 f3+; 22.c3] 9

10 22... b6 23. e1 f7 24. d2 d7 25. xa5 If my opponent trades his rook by my bishop on a5 I would stay with advantage. In return his queen would be released by g5. I think that it would be more convenient to keep locked up the black queen instead to capture in a5. 10

11 25...b6 [25... xa5 26. xa5 g5] 26. d2 h7 27. e3 h5 28.a5 My plan is to open the column a in order to change rooks and win easily the endgame because black continue with his queen trapped. 28..;b5 29.a6 b4 30.c4 [It is better 30.c3 to open the c column.) g8 31.a7 b6 32. a6 b7 33. a1 d7 34. a5 c8 35. d8+ h7 36. xd6 xd6 37. xa8 c6 38. d8 d7 39. xd xd7 40.a

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