The Sicilian Defence is the most popular counter-attacking weapon in modern chess. It is the particular favourite of Garry Kasparov, the strongest player in the history of the game. Kasparov employed the Scheveningen Sicilian in the crucial fi nal game of his 1985 world title clash with Karpov to become the youngest ever World Chess Champion. The Najdorf Sicilian was the rock which broke Nigel Short’s ambitions as white in his challenge to Kasparov in 1993, while Kasparov’s shock use of the Dragon Variation crushed Anand’s resistance in their 1995 match in New York.
In this book Grandmaster Raymond Keene selects 39 critical examples of Kasparov’s use of the Sicilian defence in top level competition. He explains the strategy behind the opening and analyses the critical variations in such a way as to allow the reader to build up a Sicilian repertoire and develop it into a deadly arsenal for personal use. The Grandmaster author takes special care to explain the ideas behind the moves, in the belief that comprehension of the themes of a chess opening will be of more value to the reader than memorisation of reams of moves by rote.
