Starting Out: The Sicilian

by John Emms

Book Overview

n this user-friendly book, Grandmaster John Emms goes back to basics, studying the fundamental principles of the Sicilian Defence and its many variations. Throughout the book there are an abundance of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1857442490
• ISBN13: 9781857442496
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Everyman Chess
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.9" x 9.7"

Customer Reviews

Great intro to sicilian!

includes and all sub opening its a great book that will help you and is in very friendly language so u understand overall a great buy

Ideas vs memory!

When playing chess i dont do a great amount of calculating posibles moves by the other player, instead i try to apply Nimzowiths ideas and then try to make a plan using the basic concepts of his book "My System". My chess openings are simple and i never go in depth when i use a book opening and for players like me this book is "made in heaven" because of the ideas and the way it teaches you different sicilian variations. The sicilian is a favorite opening and getting the ideas in the way this book does will help you a lot. So if you are a beginer first go to Niwzowitsch and then come to this book and you will see serious results in your game. Enjoy!!!

An excellent introduction to the Sicilian Defence

John Emms is a fine author and I think this is a great book. Suppose you are a novice at chess tournaments. One of the most enjoyable openings you can play is the White side of an Open Sicilian (1 e4 c5 2 Nf3, followed by 3 d4). The strategic ideas are clear and there are plenty of grandmaster games to use as examples. Your pawns fly down the board to open lines. And your challenge is to find the most efficient squares for your pieces. Some people want to avoid the Open Sicilian on the grounds that the lines are too complex. Don't be one of them! I think the lines are far tougher for Black than they are for White. Emms starts by reminding us that if you play 1 e4, you'll see 1...c5 half the time. There is one little problem with 2 Nf3 and 3 d4 of course. You just gave away your d-pawn for Black's c-pawn. As Emms warns us, if you don't play aggressively, you should lose. This book should give you an idea of which lines you'll feel comfortable with as White. The first system we see is the Dragon. Emms introduces the Yugoslav attack, the Classical Variation, the Levenfish attack, and 6 g3 (personally, I think that unless you play the Yugoslav or the Levenfish, you might as well not play an Open Sicilian). In the Yugoslav, as Fischer said and as Emms reminds us, you pry open the h-file (with your h-pawn) and then "sac, sac, mate!" And, of course, you trade your trashy queen bishop for Black's gorgeous Dragon Bishop. In the Yugoslav, Emms shows us 9 Bc4 and 0-0-0. You may also want to investigate 9 g4. I also like the Levenfish, which is very easy for White and very tricky for Black. In it, you blast away at Black's position with 7 e5. The next chapter is on the Najdorf. What do you do with your Queen Bishop now? Emms shows us two popular ideas. In the Main Line (6 Bg5), that Bishop just gets in your way, so you save time by exchanging it for the Black Knight on f6. In this line, Emms covers 10 g4, but you may want to look at 10 Bd3 as well. The other option is 6 Be3, with the idea of an eventual Qd2. Before you decide to try this, play over the game Emms shows where Black plays 6...Ng4. Chapter 3 is the Scheveningen, where you have several good choices: 6 g4 (the Keres attack), 6 Be3 (the English attack) and 6 Bc4 (the Fischer attack). I happen to prefer the latter, because I think it gives me the best chance of finding something useful for my Queen Bishop to do. Next is the Sveshnikov. Here, Emms gives us the choice of 9 Bxf6 or 9 Nd5. 9 Bxf6 gxf6 10 Nd5 f5 is why I do not play the Sveshnikov for Black. I think 11 Bxb5 and even 11 Nxb5 are very dangerous for Black. But no matter what White plays, Emms explains that she has to figure out what to do about her pathetic horse on a3. After that, the author introduces us to the Richter-Rauzer attack and the Sozin and Velimirovic attacks against the Classical Sicilian. The Velimirovic attack is especially fun to play for White. You castle queenside, play Rhg1, g4

This book delivers on its promise

I am rated about 1500 USCF and I found this book to be an excellent introduction to the Sicilian. A brief look at each idea and 1-2 games to illustrate the points. Of course, I found that at times I wanted to delve deeper into the topic but then I closed the book, looked at the cover and re-read the title: "Starting Out: The Sicilian." An excellent title.

Best introduction to the sicilian defence

This is an INTRODUCTION to the sicilian, it will give you an overview of the basic plans in the most common lines. I think it is well written, and does not go too deeply into variations. My only complaints are twofold:1: No index of variations2: Ordering of systems. Dragon is first, Najdorf is second, c3 is nearly last. I think c3 should be first, because it is less theoretically sharp, but that's a quibble.I recommend this book to everyone who is thinking of playing the sicilian or plays against it often. I'm a Caro-Kann player by heart, but I think some knowledge of the sicilian will help me as white when I play 1. e4 -- perhaps i'll even start playing something besides 2. c3 with a little bit of theoretical backing.