page 1 of 42; games 1-25 of 1,033  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. H Kennedy vs Wyvill 0-1 52 1851 London B54 Sicilian 2. Steinitz vs A Stern 1-0 26 1870 Baden-Baden B54 Sicilian 3. Weenink vs P F Johner   0-1 48 1923 Scheveningen NED B54 Sicilian 4. Capablanca vs Yates 1-0 37 1928 Bad Kissingen B54 Sicilian 5. Ilyin-Zhenevsky vs A Bernstein 1-0 29 1929 USSR Championship B54 Sicilian 6. W Henneberger vs O Naegeli   0-1 50 1932 Bern B54 Sicilian 7. E R Lundin vs K Kullberg 1-0 35 1935 Orebro B54 Sicilian 8. Fine vs E Eliskases   ½-½ 23 1937 Semmering/Baden B54 Sicilian 9. Keres vs Capablanca ½-½ 56 1937 Semmering/Baden B54 Sicilian 10. Euwe vs W Winter   1-0 32 1937 Amsterdam B54 Sicilian 11. G A Thomas vs V Berger   1-0 34 1937 Margate B54 Sicilian 12. Rauzer vs Lisitsin   ½-½ 29 1937 URS-ch10 B54 Sicilian 13. Keres vs S Landau 1-0 73 1938 Noordwijk B54 Sicilian 14. E G Sergeant vs G A Thomas   ½-½ 53 1938 Margate B54 Sicilian 15. O'Kelly vs Ahlbach 1-0 16 1938 Correspondence B54 Sicilian 16. M T Mora Iturralde vs M Karff   0-1 53 1939 Wch women B54 Sicilian 17. A Khavin vs E Gerstenfeld   0-1 41 1940 URS-sf B54 Sicilian 18. Alekhine vs M Cifuentes 1-0 23 1941 Madrid B54 Sicilian 19. Smyslov vs Bondarevsky ½-½ 58 1941 USSR Absolute Championship B54 Sicilian 20. P Leepin vs Stoltz   0-1 21 1941 Munich B54 Sicilian 21. Cortlever vs Mross   ½-½ 65 1941 Munich B54 Sicilian 22. Fine vs J Rauch   1-0 52 1941 US Open (Prelim 1) B54 Sicilian 23. Alekhine vs Stoltz 1-0 80 1942 Salzburg B54 Sicilian 24. V Stulik vs K Petrik   1-0 47 1943 Zlin B54 Sicilian 25. A Khavin vs Veresov   1-0 55 1944 USSR Championship B54 Sicilian  page 1 of 42; games 1-25 of 1,033    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)

Mar-25-04    PaulKeres: other than the mainline 4...Nf6, I like 4...e5 as well for black. How would you reply to this? Aug-07-04    RonB52734: <PaulKeres> I too am interested in comment on 4...e5. I played a game today that went like this: 1.e4 c5 2. f3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.xd4 e5 5.f3 f6 6.g5 e7 7.xf6 xf6 8. c4 O-O 9.c3 c7 10.d3 d7 11.d5 d8 12.O-O c5 13.e2 e6 14.ad1 a4 15.b3 b2 16.b1 xc4 17.xc4 c8 18.d3 e8 19.xf+ xf6 20.c4 and at this point things look reasonably even to me. I'd be delighted to read any comments, brutal or otherwise. Incidentally, I played the black pieces and lost this game. Aug-07-04    RonB52734: In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that the game continuation gets ugly after 20.c4 because 20...g6 21.fe1 h3??? (I didn't see that 22.h4 was a killer) Aug-08-04    BiLL RobeRTiE: The principled reply to 4...e5!? would be 5 Bb5+. In fact, the entire rationale behind the Najdorf's 5...a6 is to control the b5 square and thus set up ...e5. Perhaps somebody would be willing to elaborate on why it's best to play ...a6 (or ...Nc6) before kicking the knight with ...e5. ;) Aug-14-04    suenteus po 147: I, too, would like to know why 5...a6 is th best continuation. I've seen it work (I lost three games in a row against this line of the Sicilian today), and I'm curious how one goes about refuting it as white. Aug-15-04    BiLL RobeRTiE: The logic behind it is to control b5 and set up ...e5, as stated above. Now ...e5 can also be prepared with ...Nc6 blocking the bishop check, but this is more committal - often after 5...a6, the Knight usually goes to d7. ...a6 is generally a desirable and/or mandatory move in the open Sicilian, so Black might as well play it now, forcing White to commit to a plan which can be responded to accordingly. As for refuting it, how would one go about refuting the main line of chess? Where the combined might of nearly every GM and IM has failed, we certainly will ;) Aug-15-04    suenteus po 147: <BiLL RobeRTiE> Perhaps "refuting" was too strong a word to use in regards to my question. I understand that the Sicilian is one of the strongest defences (if not THE strongest defense) in black's repetoire, but that doesn't make it unbeatable. So, for my question: Rather than refutation, what is a line someone might suggest that allows white to maintain equality into the middlegame against 5...a6? It doesn't have to be a proven line, of course, just something useful and helpful. Aug-15-04    BiLL RobeRTiE: There are many different setups White can choose: if you're looking for a roughly equal middlegame, without too much theoretical sharpness, I would recommend 6 Be2, followed by O-O, Be3, f4 etc. Black's counterplay is limited by White's short castling, while White has decent attacking opportunities. Check out the games of Efim Geller in this variation, he favored Be2 systems versus the Najdorf and Scheveningen and is/was a fine attacking player. Jul-31-05    waddayaplay: I suspect that the popularity of the Nadjorf is due to Fischer and Kasparov having used it. You could probably play ..e5 at once, after Bb5+ Bd7 Bxd7+ Qxd7 black has lost his bishop supposed to guard the e5 square from a white knight, and has his other bishop locked in by two pawns, but there should be counterplay if one would be willing to study it.

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