Sicilian novelties during 2019 FIDE World Cup

Let's look at possible novelties in Sicilian games during 2019 FIDE World Cup (Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia, 10 September - 4 October):

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?tid=97231

First of all, we'll make statistics of current 34 Sicilian games out of current 299 games.

• Najdorf variation, 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6, 11 games
• Rossolimo variation, 2. Nf3 Nc6 (or 2. d6) 3. Bb5, 9 games
• Closed Sicilian, 2. Nc3,  3 games
• Taimanov, 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3, 3 games
• Chekhover, 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4,  2 games
• Old Sicilian, 2. Nf3 Nc6,  2 games
• Richter-Rauzer, 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5, 2  games
• Alapin, 2. c3,  1 game
• Kan variation, 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6,  1 game

We see that Najdorf and Rossolimo are largely leading as the most popular variations.

Good   Tell me more. 

Hey, bro, I'm a bit sleepy now, I'll do it tomorrow.

Ok bro

May I advertise your blog in my club Oracle?

You can also open a forum there and copy paste, I think members are interested, its a very good idea  

Hey, Mio, please do it! I'm a bit busy today, but I'm planning to come back to this subject this evening.

on evening I am at laptop and can put the link, but a forum would be круто 😎 

All right, sometimes I'll post at your Oracle Club forum too, maybe not exactly this topic. Let's first see whether there are real novelties.

Let's start with Najdorf 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 variations:

• Zagreb variation, 6. g3, 3 games
• Adams attack, 6. h3, 2 games
• Amsterdam variation 6. f4, 1 game
• English attack, 6. Be3, 1 game
• Opocensky variation, 6. Be2, 1 game
• 6. a4, 1 game
• 6. f3, 1 game
• 6. Bg5, 1 game

Andrea, I posted it in the forum of your Oracle Club too.

My opening with white is  Najdorf English attack. 

Absolutely , I developped the whole theory of statistical evaluations in chess:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/4-statistical-subcategories-of-moves-and-openings

Though I prefer pure mathematics.

We have 3 Najdorf: Zagreb: Main Line games

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1972001

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1972067

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1972161

Here black has the following good options: 8...O-O, Nbd7 or b5.

@PawnstormPossie Basically, we have searched for similar things with different approaches.  It would be nice to have a database organized by pawn structures. I also thought about creating a database of reversed openings and I often play such openings (with a3, a4, h3 or h4) in my daily games here. I'd be glad to discuss all these topics and maybe to make a common project.