This first rate book by Russian Grandmaster Yuri Yakovich offers the reader a complete, up to date guide on one of the sharpest answers to 1.e4. A ten-page introduction with six well-annotated games gets the book off to a good start and then the meat of the work begins. After dealing with White's sidelines on move six and seven (only the move-order 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5 is covered, not the move order via 5…e6), Yakovich zeros in on the main lines.

The position after 6.Ndb5 d6 7.Bg5 a6 8.Na3 allows Black three separate tries. The old Bird and Larsen favorite 8…Be6 seems to have finally been put to death thanks to some careful analysis by Yakovich. Surprisingly enough, 8…b5 9.Nd5 Qa5+ is very difficult to crack. It is not only theoretically viable, but also spares the reader having to learn huge amounts of analysis. The drawback is a draw after 10.Bd2 Qd8 11.Bg5 Qa5+.

To avoid this option White does best to adopt the move order 8…b5 9.Bxf6! gxf6 10.Nd5 when 10…f5 leads to one of the most important starting positions in modern chess. No less than 84 pages are devoted to this favorite of Vladimir Kramnik and Peter Leko. This line is holding up nicely, but many non-professionals may feel a bit overwhelmed at the huge amount of analysis needed to play this variation.

Yakovich, who has played the Sveshnikov for many years, offers Black a strong, practical alternative in the Novosibirsk variation (10…Bg7) which is not only sound, but avoids the hair-raising 10…f5 11.Bxb5 line.

The COMPLETE SVESHNIKOV SICILIAN is must reading for anyone interested in this fascinating variation. Highly recommended.

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