Kan is the most popular French reply, black is really flexible with a6-b5 which the Taimonav doesnt have and its very effective without much theory. They are kind of the same stuff but the Kan is much more win-effective but I havea book by James Rizzitano on the Taimanov whichI don't read so if you want it, I will give it but the Kan impresses me with the massive counterattack on the center if White doesn't play carefully.
Taimanov Question
At least do this a6, Qc7, Nge7, or something the b5 pawn thrust is really going to help in endgames also.
I could try, but every time I use chess.com's "Insert Game" with v3 on my iPad it glitches up somehow. It's very frustrating. At some point I'll get on my real computer and try inserting positions.
So supposedly if black plays 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6, white can achieve an advantage after 6. Nxc6 bc6 7. Bd3. I have read this in several sources which all contend that the immediate 5...a6 is a faulty move order.
However, after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7, if white ever takes on c6, black is always supposed to recapture with the b-pawn. And, for example, if white plays now 6. Be3 a6 7. Nxc6 bc6 8. Bd3, we have reached the same pawn structure as in the 5...a6 6. Nxc6 line, yet somehow it seems that strong players don't believe white has an advantage after the moves Be3 and Qc7 are inserted and the move Nxc6 is often given a ?!.
If the plan of Nxc6 and Bd3 is strong for white against the immediate a6, then what's wrong with it against the Qc7 lines? If white simply waits one move, black almost invariably plays ...a6 anyway, and the pawn structure on Nxc6 will be the same, as it is nearly always recommended for black to recapture on c6 with the b-pawn in the Taimanov.
I am currently working through the fantastic John Emms book on the Taimanov, but I do need some clarification, and for those who own the book, does he ever address this issue? At class level, somewhat unfortunately, the structure after an early Nxc6 is important for someone trying to play the Taimanov to know, because many players do not know theory and quickly capture the knight on c6. But unless there is some finesse I don't understand, there doesn't seem to be as much downside to this as I thought previously.
Regardless, in the structure after Nxc6 bc6, white often plays Bd3, 0-0, Kh1, Qe2, f4, and e5. And he doesn't score too badly in some of these lines. Black can often get in d5, but it seems that white always still has more play than he deserves. So in addition to helping me with the move order differences, if any experienced players handling black in these positions (preferably 2000+) could give me some advice on how to understand the black plans in the resulting pawn structures, that would be greatly appreciated.
With a large Open tournament coming up this weekend, I need to be prepared with my openings, and the nuances with these Nxc6 lines are confusing me a bit. Thanks in advance to anyone who posts here.
I believe you are mixing lines and ideas.
For example, if you look near the end of the book "Sicilian Taimanov: Move by Move", starting at page 340, you will see White tries to play 6.Nxc6, and yes, Black does take with the c-pawn, not the Queen.
HOWEVER, he then does not play an early ...a6 (...c6 already does the job of controlling b5).
Of course, also, there are scenarios when you take with the Queen. For example, by playing Qc7, you can now play ...a6 and ...b5, and if White takes, you take back with the Queen (you almost NEVER want to take back with the d-pawn).
First of all the structure after 5...a6 6NxN pN is playable, and a lot of GM's play it. It is just that a6 is something of an anti move in that structure, and it would be useful if black chould knock it back to a7, to be able to play Ba6. So if black can play the same structure without a6, will be tempo's up.
After 5...Qc7 6Be3 a6 7.NxN black can play QxN, so not sure where getting black is supposed to play pxN. Later on in opening black will decide on QxN, b7xN, or d7xN to follow-up possibly with e5, for concrete reasons.
Don't have Emms book but do have Delchev ones, amongst others. His latest goes into a bit the pro and cons of Taimanov and Kan move orders. The idea is, for example , if opponent always plays Be2 setups playing Kan can lead to more aggresive options. Taimanov is nearly always more theoretically sound. Whether play Kan more generally will depend on attitude to c4 setups. Personally find a lot of the Kan setups weird, so not very tempted.
In fact looking at it a bit more closely after 5...Qc7 6Be3 a6 7.NxN pxN then Qc7 does look more useful than Be3. After something like 8Bd3 Nf6 9.0.0 d5 black is preparing c5-d4, and Be3 needs to be on its way somewhere else.
Good question. @TwoMove Are you sure Qxc6 is the right move after Nxc6 in the move order where you already have played a6, Qc7, etc.? I browsed through my database and most people still played bxc6. It seems to me that the "advantage" black gets is that the dark-squared bishop doesn't really do much on e3. It seems like it would rather go to g5 or just stay on c1 for the moment. Black has enough time to play a quick d5 after Nf6. Qxc6 just seems really awkward to me but maybe I'm wrong....
So supposedly if black plays 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 a6, white can achieve an advantage after 6. Nxc6 bc6 7. Bd3. I have read this in several sources which all contend that the immediate 5...a6 is a faulty move order.
However, after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7, if white ever takes on c6, black is always supposed to recapture with the b-pawn. And, for example, if white plays now 6. Be3 a6 7. Nxc6 bc6 8. Bd3, we have reached the same pawn structure as in the 5...a6 6. Nxc6 line, yet somehow it seems that strong players don't believe white has an advantage after the moves Be3 and Qc7 are inserted and the move Nxc6 is often given a ?!.
If the plan of Nxc6 and Bd3 is strong for white against the immediate a6, then what's wrong with it against the Qc7 lines? If white simply waits one move, black almost invariably plays ...a6 anyway, and the pawn structure on Nxc6 will be the same, as it is nearly always recommended for black to recapture on c6 with the b-pawn in the Taimanov.
I am currently working through the fantastic John Emms book on the Taimanov, but I do need some clarification, and for those who own the book, does he ever address this issue? At class level, somewhat unfortunately, the structure after an early Nxc6 is important for someone trying to play the Taimanov to know, because many players do not know theory and quickly capture the knight on c6. But unless there is some finesse I don't understand, there doesn't seem to be as much downside to this as I thought previously.
Regardless, in the structure after Nxc6 bc6, white often plays Bd3, 0-0, Kh1, Qe2, f4, and e5. And he doesn't score too badly in some of these lines. Black can often get in d5, but it seems that white always still has more play than he deserves. So in addition to helping me with the move order differences, if any experienced players handling black in these positions (preferably 2000+) could give me some advice on how to understand the black plans in the resulting pawn structures, that would be greatly appreciated.
With a large Open tournament coming up this weekend, I need to be prepared with my openings, and the nuances with these Nxc6 lines are confusing me a bit. Thanks in advance to anyone who posts here.