Starting Out Sicilian Grand Prix

STARTING OUT: SICILIAN GRAND PRIX
Author: Gawain Jones
Everyman Chess (2007)
174 pages
$24.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

STARTING OUT: SICILIAN GRAND PRIX, the first book by the strong young English GM Gawain Jones, is really two books in one. On the one hand it covers what we traditionally know as the Grand Prix (1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 followed by 3.f4) and on the other a sort of left-handed Rossolimo Attack (1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5) that has become increasingly popular of late.
 
The Everyman Starting Out Series uses a model game approach to present its material and in this case 36 complete, annotated games tell the story. Jones prefers words and explanation over variations so this is an especially useful work for players from 1400 up to 2200. Those who want a more detailed treatment will want to use it in conjunction with other works.

To be fair to Jones the Grand Prix Attack, an institution on the English weekend circuit since David Rumens brought it into prominence in the early 1970s, is even now not an especially theoretical opening and many lines lack examples of strong players on both sides of the board.
 
It's clear that Jones, who plays 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5 regularly, holds a higher opinion of it than the Grand Prix Attack. Though several recent books geared at defenders of Anti-Sicilian lines like setups based on ...e6 and ...a6 against the GP, the test has always been the sequence 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 and now either 5.Bc4 or 5.Bb5. Let’s take a look at what Jones thinks of the former: after 5.Bc4 e6 6.f5 Nge7 7.fxe6 fxe6 8.d3 d5 9.Bb3 b5 10.0-0 the position after 10...c4 11.dxc4 dxc4 12.Qxd8+ Kxd8 13.Nxb5 cxb3 14.axb3 might be good for Black but is quite messy. Instead 10...Qb6 -- played by Yudasin -- which guards the b-pawn, threatens ...c4+ and prepares to castle, Black has an easy life. After 11.exd5 c4+ 12.Kh1 cxb3 14.dxc6 bxc2 14.Qxc2 0-0 Jones writes: "Black is no worse with his two bishops, despite Fritz preferring White". He is right. Of course 5.Bc4 has not been the main line of the GP for a long time. More important is the evaluation of the line 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bb5 Nd4 6.0-0 Nxb5 7.Nxb5, which is how the great GP expert, GM Mark Hebden, interpreted the variation. Now after 7...d5 White has two choices: A) 8.exd5 a6 9.Nc3 Nf6 10.d4 Black has had difficulties after 10...Nxd5 and 10...c4 but even though it is stuck in a note it's clear that Jones thinks the little played 10...cxd4 has value. After 11.Qxd4 0-0 12.Ne5 Bf5 he writes, "Black has compensation for the pawn, but White should retain some advantage." It's probably pretty small because when you analyze this position with Fritz 11 and Rybka they have a hard time finding anything for White. B) 8.e5 (This was always Hebden's choice.) 8…a6 9.Nc3 Bg4 10.d4 cxd4 11.Qxd4 e6 leads to a critical position.

B.1. 12.Qb4 Bxf3 13,Rxf3 b5, = Hodgson

B.2. 12.Ne1 is Jones’ main line 12...h5 (12… Ne7 looks like an improvement meeting 13.h3 with 13…Bf5 14.g4 Nc6 15.Qf2 Be4) 13.Qf2 Ne7 14.h3 Bf5 15.Nf3 with an advantage Minasian-T.Petrosian, Yerevan 2004.

As with the Grand Prix, the bulk of material on 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5 covers lines where Black plays ...Nd4 and ...e6. This makes sense as this logical approach, shutting down the Bishop's activity, is quite popular but I would have liked to know more about 3...Nd4 4.Bc4 g6. This line only gets one game (Svidler-Leko, Dortmund 2004) and after 4...g6 Jones writes, "This line use to be very topical and featured in several clashes between the world's top grandmasters. Nowadays Black has more or less abandoned 4...g6 at the highest level, because of games such as this one, and switched to the lines we've examined earlier in the chapter.”

Svidler-Leko went: 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4 4.Bc4 g6 5.Nge2 Bg7 6.Nxd4 cxd4 7.Qf3 Nh6 8.Ne2 0-0 9.d3 (9.Bb3) 9…Ng4 10.Bb3 d6 11.Qg3 a5 12.a4 Nf6 13.0-0 Nd7 14.Bg5 with White having the initiative.

There is no mention of the superior 12…Qb6, used successfully in Heberla-Shirov, Poland 2006 and earlier Stripunsky-Vigorito, Foxwoods 2003 (though Black blundered at the end after having a satisfactory position for much of the game).

STARTING OUT: SICILIAN GRAND PRIX is a solid first effort by GM Jones and a good introduction to this Anti-Sicilian weapon but is not meant for the hardcore GP specialist.

Like other recent Everyman books, STARTING OUT: SICILIAN GRAND PRIX is available in both print and electronic (ChessBase format) versions.

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