Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. d4/3...cxd4/4. Nxd4/4...Nf6/5. Nc3/5...e5

Sveshnikov Sicilian
a b c d e f g h
8a8 black rookb8 black kingc8 black bishopd8 black queene8 black kingf8 black bishopg8 black kingh8 black rook8
7a7 black pawnb7 black pawnc7 black kingd7 black pawne7 black kingf7 black pawng7 black pawnh7 black pawn7
6a6 black kingb6 black kingc6 black knightd6 black kinge6 black kingf6 black knightg6 black kingh6 black king6
5a5 black kingb5 black kingc5 black kingd5 black kinge5 black pawnf5 black kingg5 black kingh5 black king5
4a4 black kingb4 black kingc4 black kingd4 white knighte4 white pawnf4 black kingg4 black kingh4 black king4
3a3 black kingb3 black kingc3 white knightd3 black kinge3 black kingf3 black kingg3 black kingh3 black king3
2a2 white pawnb2 white pawnc2 white pawnd2 black kinge2 black kingf2 white pawng2 white pawnh2 white pawn2
1a1 white rookb1 black kingc1 white bishopd1 white queene1 white kingf1 white bishopg1 black kingh1 white rook1
a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN)
Moves: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5

Sveshnikov Sicilian

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Moves: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5

The variation is named after the Latvian Grandmaster Evgeny Sveshnikov. In the various Najdorf lines where Black plays e5, he gets his desired pawn structure at the cost of leaving his king's bishop stuck behind a pawn on d6. Right now, Black is trying to have his cake and eat it by delaying d6 until the bishop has fled to b4. The standard Najdorf was good enough to be played religiously by Garry Kasparov; White must cut out the threat of ...Bb4 or be faced with an improved Najdorf.

The move that does more or less force ...d6 is Ndb5. The knight threatens to invade the d6 outpost with check. Note that this forks Black's king and c8-bishop, but Black can deal with this easily with 7...Bxd6

Nde2 is the only significant sideline, fortifying the c3 knight to avoid the wrecking of the queenside pawns that would occur after ...Bb4 and ...Bxc3 bxc3. Neither Nb3 nor Nf3 offer anything in particular to compensate for letting the bishop out, Nf5 places the knight on a shaky square that can be instantly exploited with 6...d5! and Nxc6 bxc6 hands control of d5 back to Black.

Theory table

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1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5

6 7 8 9
Main Line Ndb5
d6
Bg5
a6
Na3
b5
Bxf6
gxf6
+=
Nf5
d5
exd5
Bxf5
dxc6
bxc6
Qf3
Qd7
=
Morozevich Variation Nde2
Bc5
Ng3
d6






=
Nb3
Bb4
Bd3
d5






=
Nf3
Bb4
Bc4
O-O






=

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References

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