A Sicilian Vacation

There are so many ways for White and Black to play the Sicilian Defense. The knowledge required to be prepared is great and the variations often become critical. Some players insist on playing 1.e4, but simplify their preparation by replying to 1...c5 with the Closed Sicilian. Others regularly play the Open Sicilian, but play the Closed Sicilian at times. This allows them to avoid some variations their particular opponents play, or take a "vacation" from critical play, or have more time to study a new move that was just played in the last round.

The following game is a form of the Closed Sicilian with White playing a bishop to c4, outside of the pawn formation, instead of to g2. White is Andrei Volokitin who was born in Ukraine on June 18, 1986. He was the World Champion Under-12 in 1998. He became a grandmaster in 2001 at the age of 15. In 2004 he won the Ukrainian Championship.

Black is Zdenko Kozul. He was born May 21, 1966 and became a grandmaster in 1989. In 1989 and in 1990 he won Yugoslavia's championship. He is the leading Croatian player and won the European Championship in 2006.