What Sicilian book should I buy?

I have read some theory on the Sicilian and played it for years now and want to get better at it. I saw mastering the Sicilian on google, but didn’t know if it offered enough technical information beyond what I’m at. Any thoughts and or suggestions?

Do you favour a particular variation of the Sicilian?

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627112552/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen24.pdf

I have one on the Scheveningen, but the author is not very good at making their point. I know the weapons of chess has good authors. I’m not opposed to learning new lines, especially since I don’t like to take on the Keres attack. The dragon might be a good alternative. 

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Possibilities:

Starting Out: The Sicilian (2009)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627122350/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen123.pdf

Starting Out: The Sicilian Dragon by Andrew Martin (2006)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140626201436/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen80.pdf

Does this have a bunch of lines that make it difficult to read, or I have to figure out what the line of the game is? I have experienced this with authors from everyman chess.

"... Everyman Chess has started a new series aimed at those who want to understand the basics of an opening, i.e., the not-yet-so-strong players. ... I imagine [there] will be a long series based on the premise of bringing the basic ideas of an opening to the reader through plenty of introductory text, game annotations, hints, plans and much more. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627055734/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen38.pdf

In 2014, Pete Tamburro wrote, "... You will see [in Openings for Amateurs] the reply to 1.e4 to be the great reply of the open games with 1...e5. The Sicilian Dragon is presented as an alternative. ... I have found that scholastic players take to the Sicilian Dragon very quickly. ... A cautionary note: the Dragon is good at club level, but as you start facing better players you're going to find yourself memorizing tons of lines and the latest analysis, ... From my experience with coaching players below 1800, you won't need to do that too much. ..."
"As a professional player, I participate in many opens. I need at least 7.5/9 for the first place so I have little margin for mistakes. ... It suffices to mention the 6.Bg5-attack with forced variations all the way up to move thirty or more, to understand my reluctance to use the Najdorf. ... The Dragon is even more unfit for a main repertoire. The same long narrow forced variations, many dead drawn endgames in some lines without h4, and on top of all - the unbearable sight of the d5-square, where one White piece replaces another. ..." - GM Alexander Delchev (2006)

If you want something different from books, you could try dvds. I've personally found them better than books sometimes, but it's personal preference really. I think there's been more dvds on the sicilian recently rather than books, but I could be wrong.

It all depends on what you want out of your Sicilian game, but perhaps two of the best options to get playable positions without having to memorize reams and reams of theory (well, everything is relative, even in the Sicilian ...), I'd advise you to adopt either the Kan variation, 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6, or the Taimanov variation, 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7. GM Johan Hellsten (a highly regarded coach/trainer) has written a well-reviewed book on this, 'Play the Sicilian Kan'. John Emms has written one called 'Sicilian Kan' (but it's quite a few years older than Hellsten's). On the Taimanov, there's 'The Safest Sicilian' by Delchev & Semkov. Both the Taimanov and the Kan often sees 5. Qc7, and the main difference between the two is whether to play an early Nc6 (as you do in the Taimanov) or not (as is the case in the Kan).

 

 

Hmm thank you. I am liking the dragon I just started using in blitz and now understand what is even going on in these games! I like your compare and contrast. I’ll play these three variation in blitz and daily games and see which one I enjoy playing the best. 

I really liked Lev Polugaevsky's two volume paperback called The Sicilian Labyrinth.  

More possibilities:

The Sicilian Taimanov Move by Move

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7070.pdf

The Sicilian Dragon Move by Move

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7618.pdf

Thank you. :-)

There is a sort-of update called The Most Flexible Sicilian. It covers both Taimanov and Kan lines, but my impression is that it is not for those seeking to avoid the presentation of "a bunch of lines". A sample can be seen here:

https://www.newinchess.com/media/wysiwyg/product_pdf/7407.pdf

I don’t mind a bunch of lines, but when a bunch of lines is not proceeded by or followed after, points of interest that should be focused on is just a level of teaching I don’t have time to learn 250 pages with few low context cues if any. 

You could try the Hyper Accelerated Dragon. There is an interesting book in Chessable.com. The advantage from the books there is that will learn using spaced repetition. I am learning this defence myself and it seems quite solid to me, although I learned only 44 from 309 variations. The book is written by IM Raja Panjwani, who used a lot of own games in this book. A good thing about the HADragon is that you are not in the danger of get mated in the first 20 moves, what you cannot say about a lot of other Sicilian lines.

"Anyway, I do have all (Hyper)Accelerated Dragon books printed up to date (starting with David Levy's back in the late seventies) and if I had to pick one, it would be [Starting Out The Accelerated Dragon by IM Andrew Greet]. It's not perfect, but fairly thorough and very well laid-out." - IM Pfren (March 30, 2017)

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627012235/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen111.pdf

"... I recently got [The Hyper Accelerated Dragon by Raja Panjwani]. I think it's not a good book for class players (unlike Greet's). Good & thorough analysis, but the lines picked are not the easiest, and there are no simple verbal explanations." - IM Pfren (December 31, 2017)

http://www.thinkerspublishing.com/_media/teaser-hyper-ad.pdf

Well, I think the lines are well explained, and for the moves which are not clear you can ask the author or other IMs in Chessable. The author have some interesting, own ideas in several lines, and he has a lot of experience in this defence.

I can imagine that there are other, perhaps better books on this defence, but which one can you learn using spaced repetition? Spaced repetition males the training highly efficient, so you can go for a tournament with the opening knowledge of an IM. You still have to know what to do with all suboptimal lines not considered in the book, but for most reasonable moves played by white you will know what to do. The only other tool using spaced repetition is Chess Position Trainer, but there you have to make your own repertoire, in Chessable you can purchase one, saving hours of work.

The problem with the hyper accelerated dragon is that white can still get a maroczy bind setup, which just gives white an advantage (albeit slight) but it's also easier to play from the white side.

"... The main difference is that [in the Accelerated Dragon] Black chooses to fianchetto earlier and leaves his d7-pawn at home. In some variations this can prove to be advantageous to Black. We saw in the Dragon that Black often tried to engineer a ...d6-d5 break. In the Accelerated Dragon, Black can aim for an immediate ...d7-d5, thus effectively gaining an extra tempo. ..." - GM John Emms (2009)
"... The main consideration for Black between choosing the 'normal' Dragon and the Accelerated Dragon is that White can employ the so-called Maroczy Bind against the Accelerated Dragon. This restraining setup ... ensures White a solid space advantage, but Black has a number of ways to deal with it. ..." - FM Carsten Hansen (2010)
"[1 e4 c5 2 Nf3] g6 is an alternative route to the Accelerated Dragon ... Black steers clear of the Rossolimo Variation (2...Nc6 3 Bb5), but he has to be prepared for some other lines, most notably [3 d4 cxd4] 4 Qxd4 and 3 c3. ..." - GM Paul van der Sterren (2009)
"[The Hyper Accelerated Dragon is] not much better, or worse than the regular Accelerated Dragon. The c3 systems after 2...g6 is nothing to worry about, and the same goes for the 4.Qxd4 line. You do avoid Yugoslav attack mainlines with both systems (and there are several good ways to do that), but the major headache is (of course) the Maroczy." - IM pfren (~16 days ago)
"Active plans against the Maroczy are quite risky, positonally- so Black has to meet white's clear space advantage with a lot of patience, and proper handling of the so-called 'dark squared strategy'. Most class players are not very good handling either of these requirements." - IM pfren (March 24, 2017)
"... the Maroczy Bind ... requires quite sophisticated positional understanding to play well. What I've noticed is that even if club players are aware of this line they tend to play it badly for White, ..." - GM Nigel Davies (2010)