The Sicilian Sveshnikov

When my friend Wan Ismail met me during the last National Aged Group, he told me that he had a problem to teach his son on how to face the Sicilian Sveshnikov which is quite popular among the youngsters. Well I did show him my personal preference and dislike against the Sveshnikov and in fact I also shows the strategy against those who play the Kalashnikov, instead of the Sveshnikov.

I have a good personal record against the Sicilian Sveshnikov. Despite being part of repertoire (black side) of the chess giants such as Kramnik, Shirov and not to forget Kasparov himself, I still enjoy playing the white side of this setpiece.

In my stock are 2 books of Sveshnikov, one of them in mint (new) very good condition and the other one was my personal reference when I taught Mumtaz Muhammad of UIA about a decade ago. The last news I received from her was that she had safely gave a birth to her first baby in General Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

Sicilian Sveshnikov
by GM Neil McDonald
published 1999
(mint) very good condition
My price : RM80.00


Sicilian Sveshnikov
by Mikhail Krasenkow
published 1996
used condition
My price : RM50.00 only


(sample stock photo)

Here I present my notable victories against the Sveshnikov
[Event "USM open (team)"]
[Date "2004"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Rizal A Kamal IIUM KNIGHT"]
[Black "Tan Eu Hong MMU"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33 Sicilian Sveshnikov"]
[Annotator "Rizal,A Kamal"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8.
Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Rb8 12. Nc2 O-O 13. Bd3 a5 (13... Bg5)
14. O-O (14. a3 a4 15. Ncb4 Na5 16. Qe2 Bd7) 14... b4 15. Nce3 Bg5 16. Qa4 Ne7
17. Bb5 bxc3 18. bxc3 Bxe3 19. Nxe3 Be6 20. Rfd1 Qb6 21. Rab1 Qc7 22. c4 f5 23.
exf5 Bxf5 24. Rb2 (24. Nxf5 Rxf5 25. Bd7 Rxb1 26. Be6+ Kf8 27. Rxb1 Rf6) 24...
Nc6 25. Nd5 Qa7 26. Qa3 Nd4 27. Qxd6 Bc2 28. Rd2 Nxb5 29. cxb5 Ba4 30. Ne7+ Kh8
31. Nc6 Rbc8 32. Qxf8+ (32. Nxa7 Rc1+ 33. Rd1 Rxd1+ 34. Qxd1 Bxd1 35. b6 Rb8
36. Nc6 Rb7 37. Nxa5 Rb8 38. b7 Ba4 39. Rb4 Bd7 40. Rc4 Kg8 41. Rc7 Be6 42. Nc6
) 32... Rxf8 33. Nxa7 h6 34. h3 Rb8 35. b6 Kh7 36. Re2 1-0




[Event "Catur OKU berpasukan"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2007.??.??"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Rizal A Kamal"]
[Black "Fariz Shafruddin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B33"]
[PlyCount "73"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 (3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 (6. c4)
6... a6 7. Na3 b5 8. Nd5 Nge7 (8... Nf6)) 3... Nf6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 e5 6.
Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 h6 10. Bxf6 gxf6 11. c3 Bg7 12. Nc2 f5 13.
a4 (13. exf5 Bxf5 14. Nce3 Bg6 15. h4 h5 16. a4 Rb8 17. axb5 axb5 18. Ra6 Qd7
19. Be2 f5 (19... O-O 20. Rxc6 Qxc6 21. Ne7+) 20. O-O f4 21. Nc2 Ne7 22. Nxe7
Qxe7 23. Nb4) 13... bxa4 14. Rxa4 fxe4 15. g3 O-O 16. Bg2 f5 17. O-O a5 18.
Nce3 Rb8 19. b4 Ba6 20. Re1 Bb5 21. Ra3 f4 22. gxf4 (22. Nc2 f3 23. Bh3 Be2 24.
Be6+ Kh8 25. Qd2 Qe8 26. Bg4 axb4 27. Ncxb4 (27. cxb4 Nd4)) 22... exf4 23. Nxf4
Rxf4 24. c4 axb4 25. Ra2 Nd4 (25... b3 26. Qxb3 (26. cxb5 bxa2 27. bxc6 a1=Q
28. Qd5+ Kh8 29. Rxa1 Bxa1) (26. Ra3 b2 27. Qd5+ (27. cxb5 Rxb5) 27... Kh8 28.
cxb5 Ne7 29. Qh5) 26... Ba6 27. Qa4 Bb7) (25... Bxc4 26. Nxc4 b3 27. Ra6 Ne7 (
27... Nd4 28. Rxd6) 28. Rxd6 Qf8 29. Re2) 26. cxb5 Qg5 27. Kh1 Rbf8 (27... Qxb5
) 28. Rg1 Rxf2 (28... Qxb5) 29. Rxf2 Rxf2 30. Ng4 Rd2 31. Qc1 d5 (31... Nxb5
32. Qc8+ Kh7 (32... Kf7 33. Qd7+ Kg6 34. Bxe4+ Kh5 35. Nf6+ Bxf6 (35... Qxf6
36. Qg4#) 36. Qe8+ Kh4 37. Rxg5 Bxg5 38. Qxb5) 33. Bxe4+ Qg6 34. Nf6+ Bxf6 35.
Bxg6+ Kg7 36. Qd7+) 32. Qc8+ Kh7 33. b6 Ne2 34. b7 Be5 (34... Ng3+ 35. hxg3
Qh5+ 36. Nh2 Be5 37. b8=Q (37. Bh3 Kg7 38. Qd7+ Kg6 39. Qe6+ Kg7 40. Qe7+)
37... Bxb8 38. Qxb8) 35. Nxe5 Ng3+ (35... Nxg1 36. Qd7+ Qg7 37. Qf5+ Kg8 38.
b8=Q+) 36. hxg3 Qh5+ 37. Bh3 (37. Bh3 Rf2 38. b8=Q) 1-0

The National Age Group 2009 had just ended. I was not involved directly or indirectly - I simply too busy with my personal and family matters. However, I did visit my friend, Wan Ismail Wan Yusof who had travelled all long way from Kota Bharu, just to accompany one of his sons, Wan Muhd Imran who contested in this tournament.

When I met him and his son, it was already at the end of round 4. So we had some beverages refreshment and we proceeded to our main business, that is transaction of some chess books.
Wan Ismail bought "Beating The Caro Kann" wrote by Vassilios Kotroniasbecause he said that, his son has the trouble facing the solid like rock Caro Kann and yet there is so few players in Kelantan who adopts it regularly.

In the end, I sold 3 books to him because he badly needs some books as references for his son, including one of my personal books (not meant for my business) that is Sicilian Accelerated Dragon publlished by Batsford.

After that I helped him to get the bus tickets at the Putra Bus Station for him and his son to return to Kota Bharu the next day. Subsequenytly we returned to his room at the Pearl Hotel. There, while having light meals, I, by off hand, gave free chess consultation to his sons as regards to :-
i)the opening strategy and most common opening traps
ii)my personal pass experience,
iii) knowing the opponent strategy
iv) style of the great players - Karpov, Tal, Fischer, etc.

I stopped at about 11.30 pm when I had to go back to my house and wished him and his son good luck ( I still do not know the achievement of Wan Muhd Imran up to the point I am writing here in this blog)

Below is a part of Wan Muhd Imran's game which we discused briefly:
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.f3 b5 8.Qd2


Here I explained that, the sharpest is actually 8.g4 whereby black must choose between:-
a) the sharp and quick Queenside counterplay approach by 8..Nfd7 follows by Nb6 and N8d7, Bb7, Rc8 etc; or
b) the temporary stopper 8..h6

In the actual game Wan Muhd Imran played something like 8...Bb7 9.0-0-0 Be7 . (Well I do not remember exactly the move order, but it is something like this, whereby I had to critic the move Be7 as this is normally delayed) The game sontinued (after g4 ) with Nfd7 follows by Nb6, N8d7 and Rc8 without touching the f8 Bishop yet. And now, any act leaving the knight on c3 (example Qf2) is naturally answered by the thematic exchange sacrifice Rxc3 follows by Na4, Qa5(or c7), Ndb6 or Ndc5 , 0-0 follows by Rc8 pressuring white's shattered Queenside. (See for example Movsesian vs Kasparov; Bosna Super GM Sarajevo 2000)

Well, as my explanation was made off hand, therefore, I cannot produce all the details of analysisi here. However, readers who love to play the English attack against Sicilian Najdorf Scheningen or the defender of Najdorf Scheveningen on the blackside may look into the details from the following books:-

1. The English Attack - Sammalvuo Tappani
2. Play The Najdorf Scheveningen Style (EVERYMAN)
3. Kasparov's Greates Games Vol 2 (Igor Stohl) - GAMBIT

Chess video mentioned on
[Letsplaychess.com Chess video forum]

Exchange sacrifice on c3 in Sicilian: Movsesian-Kasparov