Model Black Win in the Boleslavsky Hole Structure

GM Illingworth

Mar 7, 2020, 7:58 AM | 2

The Boleslavsky hole structure can arise in many Sicilians, such as after the following moves:

One reason the structure is quite popular and respected is that it's one of the few Sicilian structures where Black has as much space as White out of the opening - that is what Black gains for weakening the d5-square, along with, of course, the tempo gained on the d4-knight.

For today's post, I have analyzed a quick win by the 2020 FIDE Candidates participant Kirill Alekseenko against a lower-rated player, which is a model example of how to play these structures as Black, and what Black is aiming for.

Before you study the full notes, see if you can play like him in the key phase of the game:

Now for the full game, with my annotations:

Games like this show to some extent why 6.Bg5 is mostly played at the Grandmaster level. However, 6.Be2 is still a reasonable move, and the historical game below (which sealed Radjabov's victory in a game he only needed to draw to win the 2019 FIDE World Cup) shows the correct execution of the plan White attempted to play in the previous game:

If you enjoy my content here, you can join my email list for more chess information and more of my experiences.

I also have a chess mastermind - a private group where chess improvers come together with me to learn from and inspire one another.

I know that you want to win more chess games, and potentially become a chess master or chess champion. I'm sure you would rather learn from others, and have support on your chess journey, rather than having to make all the mistakes yourself, right?

You can be a part of my chess mastermind by clicking here and following the steps

See you in the group and in the next post!

Model Black Win in the Boleslavsky Hole Structure

GM Max Illingworth's Blog