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A New Sicilian!

how does it do after Nd5? I've been avoiding Sveshnikovs and Kalashnikovs with White, as these openings completely disallow O-O-O because of fast counterplay, but can't White stop it with Nd5?

It's common in my beloved Freak Attack, where if Black goes for e5, but doesn't play d5 very fast, they will never do. And there is no Nxf6, so White can play g4 g5 and dominate the kingside and the centre. I'm not sure about queenside counterplay without the Dragon bishop nor Rxc3!! ideas, but maybe you cooked something against Nd5 aswell

how does it do after Nd5? I've been avoiding Sveshnikovs and Kalashnikovs with White, as these openings completely disallow O-O-O because of fast counterplay, but can't White stop it with Nd5? It's common in my beloved Freak Attack, where if Black goes for e5, but doesn't play d5 very fast, they will never do. And there is no Nxf6, so White can play g4 g5 and dominate the kingside and the centre. I'm not sure about queenside counterplay without the Dragon bishop nor Rxc3!! ideas, but maybe you cooked something against Nd5 aswell

Yeah I've had a few games with Nd5. It's quite a common move due to a similar theme in the English Attack of the Najdorf. The main drawback is white will no longer be able to pressure our backward d-pawn after we exchange on d5.

Take a look at this game:

https://lichess.org/study/jc6Tpxqq/R6SUyVbY

Yeah I've had a few games with Nd5. It's quite a common move due to a similar theme in the English Attack of the Najdorf. The main drawback is white will no longer be able to pressure our backward d-pawn after we exchange on d5. Take a look at this game: https://lichess.org/study/jc6Tpxqq/R6SUyVbY

Was surprised to see Daniel Fernandez essayed this a few times. He finally ran into a brick wall against Rublevsky though.

Was surprised to see Daniel Fernandez essayed this a few times. He finally ran into a brick wall against Rublevsky though.

Yeah it's definitely a high risk, high reward type of opening. Daniel played Be7 in his game, whereas I prefer Bg7. The main difference is trying to counterattack instead of trying to passively defending a worse position. Somehow he still managed to draw against Rublevsky though!

Yeah it's definitely a high risk, high reward type of opening. Daniel played Be7 in his game, whereas I prefer Bg7. The main difference is trying to counterattack instead of trying to passively defending a worse position. Somehow he still managed to draw against Rublevsky though!

How many games have you tried this in?did you win most?and is there any way you saw your opponent countering it?Thanks!

How many games have you tried this in?did you win most?and is there any way you saw your opponent countering it?Thanks!

I can see there have been 74 games played on the lichess 2500+ database, and I would imagine most of them were played by me! So in that case you can just look at the stats. At the moment it says 24% white, 20% draw, 55% black.

So far I've only managed to play it once myself in an OTB game where my opponent didn't know to play 9.Qe2 and instead went 9.Qd2 which allowed me to equalise with the d5 break.

One of my students managed to surprise a British Champion with it where he got a good position out of the opening, but unfortunately lost the game later on.

But in answer to your question, pretty much no one has played 9.Qe2 against me.

I can see there have been 74 games played on the lichess 2500+ database, and I would imagine most of them were played by me! So in that case you can just look at the stats. At the moment it says 24% white, 20% draw, 55% black. So far I've only managed to play it once myself in an OTB game where my opponent didn't know to play 9.Qe2 and instead went 9.Qd2 which allowed me to equalise with the d5 break. One of my students managed to surprise a British Champion with it where he got a good position out of the opening, but unfortunately lost the game later on. But in answer to your question, pretty much no one has played 9.Qe2 against me.
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Good Blog! Very Useful!

Good Blog! Very Useful!

Hey! Yeah it published in 2023, but since it's an opening I've used a lot online, I have been updating it since then. Most recently when I was writing the blog! :)

Hey! Yeah it published in 2023, but since it's an opening I've used a lot online, I have been updating it since then. Most recently when I was writing the blog! :)