This is probably also a good time to admit my understanding of the situation derives primarily from having read the inside and back of a book jacket once.
Scheveningen Sicilian
Sort:
Hehe, still you're understanding seems to be infinately better than mine ;)
I dont understand the attraction of openings such as the Scheveningen. Its solid, but it is also quite cramped and your opponent gets the attack.
Reminds me of Alekhine's defense. Playable, but one inaccuracy and your position is going to be misery.
One of he best examples of how dangerous black's counterattack can be is the last game of 2nd Karpov-Kasparov match (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1067179)
Kasparov played brialliantly and destroyed white despite Karpov trying a new and very aggressive plan introduced by Sokolov shortly before the match
Any and every opening is dangerous in Kasparovs hands ;)
Mind you, if you're going to study the Richter/Rauzer seriously, you'll find that there are a number of variations for black to try. And nowadays, they all turn out to have theoretical problems. Except for one line that a few afficionados keep playing -- but that's the one that Yermolinsky in Chess Explained: Classical Sicilian calls the "Kozul Suicide Variation"...
Play in this variation is sometimes extremely irrational. Black hopes to survive into the endgame, in which he may well be better. Someone on chessgames.com has a small collection of games in which Kozul plays it ( http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1450489 ), he played it a lot more times.
Recently Dubov easily drew Svidler with it, so that's why I think this one may be theoretically OK right now: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1675689
On the other hand, that's on top level. All those lines that were wildly popular in the 90s are probably still perfectly playable below IM level.
Thats very interesting, I think I would prefer that to the messy positions of the Keres attack!