page 1 of 186; games 1-25 of 4,646  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. B Suhle vs Anderssen 0-1 49 1859 Cologne B42 Sicilian, Kan 2. A Schwarz vs Anderssen 0-1 40 1873 Vienna B42 Sicilian, Kan 3. J Mason vs L D Barbour   1-0 27 1876 Philadelphia B42 Sicilian, Kan 4. Olland vs A Prange   1-0 26 1889 Amsterdam-B B42 Sicilian, Kan 5. M Porges vs W Paulsen   1-0 70 1892 DSB-07.Kongress B42 Sicilian, Kan 6. G Marco vs Von Gottschall   1-0 37 1904 Coburg (Meisterturnier) B42 Sicilian, Kan 7. Taubenhaus vs Tarrasch 0-1 47 1905 Ostend B42 Sicilian, Kan 8. Capablanca vs Tartakower ½-½ 37 1914 Vienna B42 Sicilian, Kan 9. G Marco vs Reti   ½-½ 31 1922 Bad Pistyan B42 Sicilian, Kan 10. D Daniuszewski vs O Naegeli 1-0 32 1924 Paris f-B B42 Sicilian, Kan 11. G A Thomas vs Tartakower   ½-½ 35 1925 Marienbad B42 Sicilian, Kan 12. R P Michell vs Tartakower 0-1 59 1925 Marienbad B42 Sicilian, Kan 13. Carlos Torre vs Spielmann 1-0 22 1925 Marienbad B42 Sicilian, Kan 14. M Romi vs A Louis   1-0 49 1925 Scarborough-A B42 Sicilian, Kan 15. K Klaman vs Furman   ½-½ 29 1957 USSR Championship B42 Sicilian, Kan 16. J Penrose vs Filip   0-1 49 1958 Hastings 1957/58 B42 Sicilian, Kan 17. Geller vs Tal   ½-½ 17 1959 Moscow USSR Team ch B42 Sicilian, Kan 18. W Pietzsch vs Gipslis   ½-½ 41 1959 Riga (Latvia) B42 Sicilian, Kan 19. Keres vs Tal 0-1 40 1959 Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates B42 Sicilian, Kan 20. Y Nikolaevsky vs Polugaevsky   1-0 64 1959 Moscow B42 Sicilian, Kan 21. Smyslov vs Tal ½-½ 40 1959 Bled-Zagreb-Belgrade Candidates B42 Sicilian, Kan 22. Stein vs Kliavin 1-0 34 1959 Olympiad URS B42 Sicilian, Kan 23. B Milic vs Taimanov   ½-½ 31 1959 Kiev B42 Sicilian, Kan 24. D Mardle vs P Clarke   0-1 31 1959 BCF-ch B42 Sicilian, Kan 25. E Hearst vs Benko   ½-½ 35 1959 US Open B42 Sicilian, Kan  page 1 of 186; games 1-25 of 4,646    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing> Jun-01-04    tomh72000: Has anyone seen the following variation: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 Bc4 6.Nb3 Be7 ? The Opening Explorer has 1994 as the earliest and 2004 as the latest year. This must be a pretty new line, because it isn't in any books I own, and I think it's at the cutting edge of theory right now, because it was played 3 times in the russian ch qualifiers this year, while the previous main line of 6...Ba7 wasn't played at all. Maybe its a Russian thing then... Jun-01-04    OneBadDog: tomh72000 I don't know about this line that you mentioned. I know that NCO evaluates a couple of lines in thi opening as equal for Black. Jun-01-04    tomh72000: <OneBadDog> Ok thanks. I have seen a couple of the 5...Bc5 lines as being equal too, but its just that this 6...Be7 is seemingly a very new thing. Being a Kan player myself its probably something I should know about. Jun-01-04    OneBadDog: <tomh72000> Do you think that this line transposes into some other variation of the Sicilian, such as the Scheveningen? Jun-01-04    tomh72000: Well, looking at the Opening Explorer it seems that the 6...Be7 line is good for black, with 36.4% wins, and only 27.3% for white. But then again, the Kan overall has one of the highest winning percentages for black (probably because of all the traps). Jun-01-04    tomh72000: <OneBadDog> It looks that way, with the Be7, yes. And in the games I have seen with this line, black usually plays ...d6 and ...Nf6 very early, along with ...Qc7. This makes it very Scheveningen-like, yes. Jun-01-04    OneBadDog: Just out of curiosity, why hasn't the Kan been as popular as the Najdorf or the Dragon? Jun-01-04    PinkPanther: <OneBadDog> Although flexible, it's not as dynamic as either of those openings you mentioned, and doesn't offer black as many winning chances. Jun-01-04    tomh72000: Well, I saw a question like this on another sicilian page. Someone (Benjamin Lau, I think) said it is just as good, but that people favour the Najdorf because Fischer played it, and Kasparov plays it now obviously. I agree with that. The dragon is very popular at club and amateur level, but it has vanished at top-level play. The Kan is definately sound though- Tal played it often, Kramnik and Kasparov have both used it before. Jun-01-04    OneBadDog: Didn't Fischer win with the Kan in the last game of the first Fischer-Spassky match? Jun-01-04    tomh72000: I didn't know that actually. Its very interesting if it's true. I suppose Spassky was all prepared for the Najdorf, and then was taken by surprise and beaten with the Kan. Jun-01-04    tomh72000: <Although flexible, it's not as dynamic as either of those openings> This makes it harder to play against for white, but easier to play as black, I think. Jun-01-04    OneBadDog: I play e4 as white and the Kan consistently causes me problems. I would alsost rather play against ultrasharp lines like the Najdorf or the Dragon. Jun-01-04    PinkPanther: <OneBadDog> Play against a person who really knows what they're doing with either of those openings (Dragon, Najdorf) and then tell me that. <Tomh720000> How could an opening which is less dynamic be harder for white to play against? That doesn't make any sense, I don't really understand why the hedgehog formation that the Kan commonly takes on would be considered more difficult for white to play against, than say, the Dragon or Najdorf. Jun-01-04    OneBadDog: <PinkPanther> I usually play the English attack against the Najdorf and the Yugoslav attack against the Dragon. Although these lines require a certain amount of theoretical knowledge to play well, the ideas are generally straightforward and easy to understand. When I lose to either the Najdorf or the Dragon, it's because my opponent saw further ahead than I did or calculated better. However, when I lose to the Kan its because I dont have the patience for a slower, more strategic kind of game. Jun-01-04    PinkPanther: <OneBadDog> Then all you have to do is play one of the sharper lines in the Kan where you play f4 and perhaps g4 and go for a kingside attack. There is almost no way black can force white to play a certain type of chess, that's one of the great things about playing the white pieces, you get to (for the most part) control the "flavor" of the game. You can't find an opening for me (which is perceived as being boring) that black can play where white can't turn it around and play something relatively sharp and tactical. Jun-01-04    OneBadDog: <PinkPanther> I think our old buddy Kramnik would disagree with you. The Berlin Defence is a dull opening that White really cant avoid if he he wants to play the Ruy. Jun-01-04    PinkPanther: There are some variations of the Berlin Defense that aren't as drawish as the one Kasparov kept walking into. Jun-01-04    refutor: a good attacking line v. ...Be7 was shown in A Ivanov vs Gulko, 2003 Jun-01-04    Dudley: Attacking always carrys a certain amount of risk for the attacking side. A slow strategic line like the Kan is harder to attack in relative safety than a more aggressive line like the Dragon. Black doesn't give anything for white to attack, like a fianchetto pawn formation or a knight on f6. By playing lines like this,Black can force white to play positionally or unsoundly if he insists on attacking. There is always some wild line you can find if attacking at all costs is your goal, and if you are the stronger player it might work. If not, you tend to get slaughtered. Jun-01-04    OneBadDog: Look out world! I just purchased Emms book on the Kan! Jun-01-04    PinkPanther: <Dudley> No knight on f6? I don't know what kind of Kan Sicilian formations you've been playing, but nearly every time I ever played the Kan my knight came to f6 fairly early on. Jun-01-04    Dudley: Well, there is a line in the Kan where the KB goes to c5 followed by Ne7 so it doesn't have go to Nf6, which I have looked at as a way to avoid the Keres attack. Jun-01-04    PinkPanther: <Dudley> But in the line you mentioned the bishop CAN come back to e7. Also, the Keres Attack is part of the Scheveningen not the Kan (although the openings sometimes transpose, I don't think they really can in this case). Jun-01-04    Dudley: Maybe you are right, but I think the intention is for the bishop to go to a7 if attacked by Nb3. Another option might be to move Ne7 before the KB moves, play Nc6, NxNd4 and then Ne7-c6. To tell the truth, I am mainly an acc. dragon player and am looking for another type of Sicilian to play that requires less memorization. < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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