page 1 of 26; games 1-25 of 645  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Lasker vs Bird ½-½ 59 1890 02.-- G02 GBR Liverpool B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 2. Lasker vs Bird ½-½ 58 1890 02.-- G04 GBR Liverpool B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 3. A Neumann vs H Caro   0-1 70 1905 Barmen Masters B, GER B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 4. Mieses vs W Fick   1-0 45 1923 Sheveningen (Netherlands) B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 5. Mieses vs Maroczy   0-1 37 1923 Hastings 2324 B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 6. Tolush vs Bondarevsky   1-0 40 1939 Leningrad/Moscow B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 7. A Thomas vs N Folke Ekstroem   ½-½ 60 1946 Zaandam it, NED B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 8. H Mallison vs R M Bruce   1-0 40 1947 WECU Bristol B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 9. Kholmov vs T Lubienski   ½-½ 38 1949 URS-ch sf B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 10. E Bykova vs M T Mora Iturralde   ½-½ 84 1950 Moscow, WCH Woman RUS B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 11. Smyslov vs Bronstein 1-0 39 1951 Ch URS B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 12. Smyslov vs Geller 1-0 48 1951 Moscow B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 13. W Heidenfeld vs J A Fred   0-1 55 1951 Marianske Lazne - Praha B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 14. Pachman vs Filip   1-0 30 1953 Teplitz-Schonau B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 15. B Milic vs Ivkov   ½-½ 46 1954 Belgrade B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 16. Pachman vs Najdorf   ½-½ 40 1954 Amsterdam B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 17. Pachman vs Filip   ½-½ 15 1954 Match B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 18. Pachman vs Rucha   1-0 48 1954 Czech Ch. B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 19. F Blatny vs J Podgorny   0-1 42 1954 CSR-ch B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 20. F Blatny vs L Alster   ½-½ 25 1954 CSR-ch B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 21. F Blatny vs V Brat   ½-½ 20 1954 CSR-ch sf B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 22. G Agustsson vs G Barcza   0-1 32 1954 Amsterdam ol (Men) B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 23. G Agustsson vs T Van Scheltinga   ½-½ 31 1954 Amsterdam ol (Men) B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 24. P Smederevac vs Ivkov   0-1 35 1955 Novi Sad B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3 25. Najdorf vs Panno   0-1 41 1955 Goteborg B26 Sicilian, Closed, 6.Be3  page 1 of 26; games 1-25 of 645    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)

Secrets of Opening Surprises

Jul-03-04    acirce: It is a pretty reasonable opening if you want to avoid the mainline Sicilian. You can't trust those statistics, they can be flawed for so many different reasons. Jul-03-04    Zenchess: I used to like White in this line, but now I like Black. He lets White play Bh6 and grab h7 while he castles Q and gets counterplay on d4. Some of my opponents won't even grab the P 'cause they don't like Black's compensation. Dec-22-04    drukenknight: Hey I finally win a closed sicilian, this ECO code was the closest I could find. No fianchettos, but the B did go to e3: 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 (I decide to start w/ the QN after watching Nakamura do it this way) 2... Nc6 3. d3 d6 4. f4 (leaves book here, there were some corr. games in the 1970s that have something similar w/ Be3 but no f4) 4.... Nf6 5. Be3 Bg4 6. Be2 Bxe2 7. Qxe2 e6 8. Nf3 Be7 9. e5 dxe5 10. fxe5 Nd5 11. Ne4 Nxe3 12. Qxe3 O-O 13. g4 h6 (apparently …Bg5 would have helped a lot, either here or a few moves later, also ...Qa5 is useful in certain lines) 14. O-O-O Nd4 15. Nfd2 f6 16. exf6 Bxf6 17. c3 Nc6 18. h4 Ne5 19. g5 Qxd3 20. Qxc5 Qd5 21. Qe3 hxg5 22. hxg5 Be7 23. Qh3 Qxa2 24. Qh8+ Kf7 25. Rdf1+ Ke8 26. Qxg7 Qa1+ 27. Kc2 Qa4+ 28. Kb1 Nd7 29. Qg6+ Kd8 30. Qxe6 and it just gets worse, 1-0. Mar-16-06    Knight13: White wins 24.4% Black wins 40.7% So that means this opening is bad for White? Feb-16-07    ChessDude33: <Knight13> I know this is a long off response but you should probably take a look at acirce's post at the top^ Dec-01-07    notyetagm: <Knight13: White wins 24.4% Black wins 40.7% So that means this opening is bad for White?> No, it means that weaker White players tends to play it against stronger Black Sicilian players to avoid their preparation in the main lines. Do you really want to face someone rated 300 points above you and let them play their favorite Open Sicilian (Najdorf, Sveshnikov, Dragon, etc.) against you? Dec-01-07    ongyj: I quite like this setup for White, with the only exception of 6.Be3. I know that it has the typical idea of doubling with Qd2, and after 0-0-0 (and Black goes ...0-0), Bh6, trade and play on the h-file. Often I find the allowance for Black's ...Nd4 outpost(and occasionally, the ...Ng4 kick) too much a concession. I prefer to make a "waste move" setup with b3 and Bb2, also avoiding the possibility of the "accelerated ...Qb6" that hits White's b pawn. Following which Knight on g1 belongs to e2 so that White can play f4 to cover a Bh6 pin (if White queen goes to d2). This somewhat allows White to consider castling either side[Though Queenside is usually better looking, if not intimidating.] How would you think of the "Queen Pawn style" setup I try to describe above? [I don't know how to post positions. Pathetic=(]Thanks in advance for all comments and criticisms. Dec-01-07    notyetagm: <ongyj: ... [I don't know how to post positions. Pathetic=(]> You simply post the <FEN> string of the position you want. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FEN explains what <FEN> is. Then you simply use a chess software tool that will allow you to create the <FEN> string from your chess position. Nearly all chess programs have this feature. For example, I tend to use the <WINBOARD> program to examine PGNs. I open a PGN with <WINBOARD>, then under the <FILE> menu, I select "Copy Position To Clipboard". This command puts the <FEN> into the Windows Clipboard. Then using the Windows paste command (CTRL-V) will place the <FEN> into the Chessgames.com Kibitz box. Chessgames.com software then automatically converts the <FEN> string into the chess diagrams you see all over the site.

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