Anti-Sicilians - A Guide for Black [Paperback]

Dorian Rogozenko (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2003

The Sicilian is far and away the most popular chess opening, and many players prefer to side-step the Open Sicilian with one of the Anti-Sicilian systems at White's disposal. This book equips Black to fight against all these lines. The Anti-Sicilian systems include: positionally motivated lines such as the 2 c3 Sicilian and the 3 Bb5 systems; slow but tricky attacking lines including the Closed Sicilian and the King's Indian Attack; aggressive but loosening ideas like the Grand Prix Attack and a variety of gambits. In the most critical variations, Rogozenko provides a choice between a solid and an aggressive option. He caters for those who meet 2 Nf3 with the three main moves, 2...d6, 2...e6 and 2...Nc6.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Gambit Publications specialises in chess and has an unrivalled reputation for originality and editorial excellence. The company is owned and staffed entirely by leading chess masters and grandmasters.

About the Author

Dorian Rogozenko is a young grandmaster from Moldova who lives in Romania. He plays in the German, Romanian and Dutch leagues and has represented his country at four Chess Olympiads. Rogozenko also qualified for the 2001 FIDE World Championship and is a recognized expert on opening theory.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Gambit Publications (March 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1901983846
• ISBN-13: 978-1901983845
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #555,170 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive repertoire for strong players, September 4, 2003

By 

lethalgambit (Earth) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anti-Sicilians - A Guide for Black (Paperback)

A few months ago, a book titled "Meeting 1e4" was released. This book presents a neat repertoire for black to face anti-sicilian openings. Now Dorian Rogozenko, an active figure at chessbase online site, tries to present a more comprehensive anti-sicilian repertoire for sicilian players. There are some weak and strong points about this book. First, unlike "Meeting with 1.e4" which only discusses anti-sicilian with move order of 1...c5 2...Nc6, Rogozenko covers the needs of 1...c5 2...d6 or 1...c5 2...e6 players. Najdorf players can rejoice to see the discussion about the annoying 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ line and other relevant lines.

Overall, there are five main topics covered in this book: Grand Prix attack, Closed Sicilian, Sicilian c3, 3.Bb5(+) lines and Misc lines. Based on how dangerous an anti-sicilian line is, the proportion of topics seems very balanced. The discussion is presented in "tree-variation format" which is better than "games-format" for an opening repertoire book. Solid mainlines are Rogozenko's choice in this book, for example he recommends 3 ..g6 against Sicilian Rossolimo. We will see later that Rogezenko's approach is a double edged sword.

It is fascinating to see that the book covers 1.e4 c5 2.d3/b3/g3/etc lines or 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4, it gives the impression that sicilian beginners will benefit a lot from here. But unfortunately this is not 100% true for a reason. The lines recommended in this book are the main lines of the variations and thus very heavy in theory. Another weak point is the analysis, quite often the recommended lines end with minimal annotations like "Black has equal chances", while the final positions demand more explanations for beginner or intermediate players. Even veteran sicilian players will need to spend a lot of time to evaluate these positions. To his credit, He tries to turn left or right in the middle of the mainlines, for example in the closed sicilian he prefers to play 9...b6 than the popular 9...Nd4. Whether these deviation lines are fresh enough, I will let you to judge them.

In conclusion, if you are a strong player and plays sicilian, get this excellent book. If you are an intermediate/beginner player, you may get learn something, however it will be frustrating to play the recommended line and does not how to proceed from the final position due to the lack of explanations. I recommend beginner/intermediate players to buy "Meeting 1e4" by Alexander Raetsky instead.

This book deserves four stars if you are a strong player.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you play the Sicilian, you should get this, October 1, 2004

By 

Wallace Hannum (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anti-Sicilians - A Guide for Black (Paperback)

Rogozenko gives online lectures all the time. He understands how most club-level players think better than most GMs. But this book is not a simple, low-level book full of tips. Rogo is a grandmaster that has worked hard on the Sicilian throughout his career. He shares his insights along with a lot of computer assisted analysis to make sure it holds up. Again, this is not simply theory. It is a recommended repertoire for black whenever white avoids the open sicilian.

This book often gives you multiple lines against the most common anti-sicilian systems. You can play solid and safe or risk more for winning chances.

If you play the Sicilian you know that many, many white players avoid the open Sicilian so they don't need to learn the white side of the Najdorf and Dragon and scheveningen, etc. Few books have addressed all anti-sicilians from the black point-of-view and those that have are years and years out-of-date with comtemporary opening theory.

This is simply a must-have for all serious chess students that want to play the Sicilian in tournaments. You simply HAVE to know a line against the Smith-Morra, Bb5 lines, c3 Sicilian, etc.
You cannot just study the Najdorf or the Dragon and not really know what to do when white plays something other than Nf3, d4, and Nxd4.

Unless you are below 1200 or above 2550 than this book is perfect. Its is an up-to-date manual written from a current tournament GM (i.e. these ideas WILL be played against him).
Buy it if you play the Sicilian (the most popular defense against e4).

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is a MUST HAVE for any Sicilian player, November 8, 2005

By 

Marjanovic Gyrgy - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anti-Sicilians - A Guide for Black (Paperback)

The Sicilian Defence is meant to give Black a dynamic position with a lot of possibilities for counterplay. An attractive aspect of Sicilian Defence for Black is that he is the one who decides wich line to play in the Open Sicilian. Most of the people who choose an Anti-Sicilian line do so because of need, because for various reasons they are not able or they don't wish to learn the theory of the Open Sicilian. The goal of this book is to provide readers with complete,objective,safe and well-organized repertoire for Black against all possible Anti-Sicilians:

1. Early Deviations(White second move deviations: 1.e4 c5 and now:2.c4,2.b4,2.b3,2.d3,2.g3,2.d4)10 pages.
2. The Grand Prix Attack (1.e4 c5 and now 2.f4,2.Nc3) 15 pages.
3. The Closed Sicilian 13 pages.
4. The Alapin Variation (2.c3) 34 pages.
5. Miscellaneous Lines after Nf3 49 pages.
6. 3.Bb5(+) Lines 49 pages.
7. 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 9 pages.


According to my Fritz Powerbook 2005 reccomended variatons scores wery well for Black in practical play.