The author of this book is a Russian GM famous for his Road to Self Improvement book. He got his GM norm at a relatively late age by modern standards so has a better capacity to understand our amateur mind than most professional players(above master's level).
The book deals with a special variation of the Sicilian, orthodox enough and tested enough that many silly opening traps fail against its solidity, yet modern enough to be used in various championships around 10 years ago.
I feel that chess books like this don't get old at any rate because they explain the ideas and not the variations, which is what we amateurs seem to lack the most in our games. As a B level I don't often go for a book with many opening variations, because almost every second online game I play features a different setup. If I am not familiar enough with different general methods of how to counter them, I find myself fighting against a tactic after tactic in an unfamiliar territory. That seems to be a losing battle for players who have to come up with a a new idea every moment.
This books shows such ideas for our benefit. Sadly it is small enough and does cover as many variations as I would have liked, not even the Grand Prix variation that so many lesser levels, including my B, still enjoy.
On the bright side, being smallish almost ensures that this book could actually being studied to the very end. I find it difficult finishing some of my chess books, unless my study can quickly progress as it does with middlegames and tactics. Everything else, even openings, I study thoroughly but slowly and it felt very encouraging to be able to finish this book after only three months of carefully examining the 25 games provided for illustration.
The book deals with a special variation of the Sicilian, orthodox enough and tested enough that many silly opening traps fail against its solidity, yet modern enough to be used in various championships around 10 years ago.
I feel that chess books like this don't get old at any rate because they explain the ideas and not the variations, which is what we amateurs seem to lack the most in our games. As a B level I don't often go for a book with many opening variations, because almost every second online game I play features a different setup. If I am not familiar enough with different general methods of how to counter them, I find myself fighting against a tactic after tactic in an unfamiliar territory. That seems to be a losing battle for players who have to come up with a a new idea every moment.
This books shows such ideas for our benefit. Sadly it is small enough and does cover as many variations as I would have liked, not even the Grand Prix variation that so many lesser levels, including my B, still enjoy.
On the bright side, being smallish almost ensures that this book could actually being studied to the very end. I find it difficult finishing some of my chess books, unless my study can quickly progress as it does with middlegames and tactics. Everything else, even openings, I study thoroughly but slowly and it felt very encouraging to be able to finish this book after only three months of carefully examining the 25 games provided for illustration.
