Grandmaster Repertoire 6 - The Sicilian Defence

Grandmaster Repertoire is a new series of high quality chess books based on the main lines, written by strong grandmasters.

The aim is to provide the reader with a complete repertoire at a level good enough for elite tournaments, and certainly also for the club championship. Grandmaster Repertoire provides a repertoire to last a lifetime.

Lubomir Ftacnik is a renowned opening analyst with great experience and expertise in the Sicilian Defense.

In this book he reveals his secrets to provide a complete repertoire for Black against 1.e4 with 1...c5. The meat of the repertoire is the Sicilian Najdorf – the perennial favourite of those who want to attack with Black.

It is no coincidence that Fischer, Kasparov and Anand have all relied on the Najdorf. Naturally, White’s less critical tries are also covered, such as the 2.c3, 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+, and the Closed Sicilian.

Also available in hardcover.

Lubomir Ftacnik is a chess grandmaster from Slovakia. Despite his numerous international tournament victories, from European Junior Champion in 1977 to winning the World Open in 2008, he is most famous as an opening analyst.

CONTENTS

Bibliography 6

From Russia Sicily with Love - Introduction 7

Minor Systems

1 Pandora’s (Chess) Box - Miscellaneous 2nd moves 9

2 Some Like It Hot - The Morra Gambit 29

3 Forrest Gump - The c3-Variation 37

Closed Systems

4 Up Close(d) and Personal - Without g3 67

5 A Bridge Too Far - 3.g3 85

Anti-Open Systems

6 Fight Club - Various 101

7 Blade Runner - 3.Bb5† 119

8 The Last Samurai - 4.Qxd4 133

Minor Open Lines

9 The Misfits - 6th Move Sidelines 149

10 Sideways - 6.g3 161