Forlagets egen omtale

Sicilian Warfare is a practical guide to the most dynamic and ambitious defence against 1.e4, starting where opening theory ends and the middlegame begins. Ilya Smirin breaks down the strategic battle into easily understood elements and then looks at them in a dynamic setting.

With illuminating annotations of Smirin’s best Sicilian games with both colours, Sicilian Warfare offers a feast of attacking chess and a world-class guide to the most ambitious reply to 1.e4.

Ilya Smirin peaked at number 13 in the world with a rating over 2700. He is considered one of the most creative grandmasters of his generation.

Fra forfatterens forord

The Sicilian Defence is truly the choice of champions. Although Karpov only played it rarely, it has been a cornerstone in the Black repertoires of most of the world champions in my lifetime. Kasparov relied heavily upon it and played little else for most of his career. Kramnik was the great champion of the Sveshnikov Variation in the Sicilian Defence, until he came up with the Berlin Defence to frustrate Kasparov and claim the crown. Later on, he turned to the Najdorf, though this time without so much success. Topalov is a natural Sicilian player, as is Anand, although 1...e5 has also been a standard for these two champions. Magnus Carlsen is a truly versatile player, who played the Najdorf and the Dragon on his way up, while he recently returned to the Sveshnikov Variation against Caruana in the 2018 title defence – an opening he had not played since his junior days.

There are many ways to meet 1.e4, but all are essentially inferior in some way to two principal options – the Sicilian Defence and the Petroff/Classical Ruy Lopez/Berlin approach. While the latter may try to prevent a fight, the Sicilian is the archetypical fighting opening.

In my previous book, King’s Indian Warfare, I looked at common themes in the KID and how they had occurred in my own games. The book was well received by reviewers and a segment of the chess public, so I saw no reason to change the format when it came to dealing with my other favourite opening.

Sicilian Warfare is not a theoretical work, but a book about what comes after memorization of opening moves. This is a feeling for the positional and especially the dynamic possibilities that arise from this extremely popular, double-edged opening. The structure of the book is simple. We look at ten different topics; mainly dynamic in nature, but with some exceptions. In each chapter I will give a brief overview of the theme with one or more clear-cut examples. Then I will present the themes in a complex setting in my own games. There is one major difference between the two books, which is that I play 1.e4 with White and thus obtain the Sicilian with both colours. This gave me a greater number of games to choose from. Hopefully, you will be happy with the selection I have made.

Reviews of the author’s previous work King’s Indian Warfare

King's Indian Warfare by Ilya Smirin is an inspirational read.
GM Michael Adams, Daily Telegraph

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I have been frankly awed at the number of fantastic games that Smirin has played and haven’t stopped oohing and aahing as I’ve played through them. Smirin’s comments are also a perfect balance of analysis and general advice. My favourite book of the year 2016! * (5/5)
GM Matthew Sadler, New in Chess