Sicilian Scheveningen by GM Magesh and GM Arun
Today we will study the Sicilian Scheveningen variation. One of the best things about this variation is the amazing potential of all the transpositions into this variation from other branches of the Sicilian.
Our first game today is the 9th game from the PCA world championship match between Viswanathan Anand and Gary Kasparov in the year 1995. In fact, this is one of the very few games that Kasparov has lost in this variation in the countless total games he has played. This win was the first win for Anand in the match, but unfortunately it was only one for the rest of the match.
In this game Anand chose a more positional style to outplay the then World Champion. Playing the Sicilian does not mean that every single game has to end in a checkmate. The Sicilian is a very dynamic opening that gives a lot of chances for both sides.
Our second game was the nail biting 24th game of the World Championship match between two of the greatest players of our era, Anatoly Karpov and Gary Kasparov. With Kasparov leading by half a point in their 24 game match in the year 1985, the last game was a do or die situation for Karpov. He had to win in order to tie the scores at 12-12 which would let him retain the World title. Naturally Karpov chose a sharp variation in the Sicilian to go after the challenger, but it was not to be his day in the history books.
A tragic finish to the game, but this is nevertheless a very interesting branch of the Sicilian with several fantastic possibilities. White has the extra space to attack both on the king side and the queen side, but black maintains a very solid position throughout, ready to latch onto any weakness white allows in the process of his expansion.
