The Sniper is an Opening I want to Learn

There are several great advantages about the Sniper:
- It holds some surprise value, forcing unaware opponents to think for themselves straight from the off (which can be a great advantage in Blitz games too);
- It is really direct, aiming at undermining White's centre a.s.a.p.;
- There are several traps to avoid when you play this line as White, so you have to play accurately in order not to emerge with a worse position from the opening;
- In case it doesn't work catching the opponent off-guard, the game can transpose fairly easily into sound lines from other openings, such as the Benoni, variations of the Dragon Sicilian, or a variation of the Smith-Morra/Alapin hybrid which is infamously grossly underestimated by Evgeny Sveshnikov in his The Complete c3 Sicilian.

It really is a pity that I don't play the Sniper yet. The Accelerated Dragon peaks on my repertoire with Black, and I also play the Smith-Morra Gambit line with g6 and an early d5.

@Storey: Thanks for writing the book! I'll try to appropriate the material a.s.a.p. :)

What about this line against the Sniper?

Yes, 7...Qc7 is excellent.

Played five times in correspondence chess. The good news are that Black did not lose every game- he won one, and lost four. The bad news is that on this game white forfeited in a totally winning position.

Please go on, your comments are a lot of fun!

Don't care if it is almost a year old, but I think it's cool whenever they put a new name on an old system.  They renamed the Greco-countergambit the Latvian and (tried) renaming the Paulsen the Kan (Paulsen just has a better ring to it, and no, one cannot can the Kan ^_^ It draws with best play just like the Najdorf) so why not renamed the Leningrad Dutch, say, the Pegasus system ^_^ Leningrad isn't in Holland sillies ^_^ )

And no, the gambits I name are NON-NEGOTIABLE!  This includes the Bird Wing (because it combines the Wing Gambit with the Bird, duh!) and its Lightning Countergambit variation (black gets an advantage fully accepted: )

One day, I too will be able to charge in with wild fists blazing in defiance of those who would scoff at my pet opening.  One day, an innocent forum post will ask "How can I best succeed with ex0du5's Squilge opening, prolapsed variation?" and I can come, chip on my shoulder, and scream out at the uncaring world:

"In episode 17 of my series 'Squilge Inside-Out' (available in streaming 4K from Scamazon) you will clearly see that this variation must be followed up with a central pawn storm supported by fianchettoed knights.  The old method that pfren mocks is merely a straw man, whereas my method is made of Rearden Steel!"

One day...

Oh.

No I'm saying that white preparing against ...Nc5 was a great idea.  Knights at c5 are at worst quite dangerous and at best quite annoying, all else being equal.  He needed the b3 and a4 squares for his strategy, which the Nc5 would have taken away. 

These are all quite true!   It may not be a main line defence but high rated players do play this defence and it's not a bad one.  

Your right Mr Crow - Any opening you use as surprise value will aid your return rate. The Sniper Reloaded 2014 is the best 'Praxis' that can be offered against stern critique and is probably as close to 'quantum theory' available for 'The Sniper' I have pruned all bad lines from 2010 book (Which have been critiiqued from super engines) any that have not held up are on the 'bonfire' and not seen in Sniper Reloaded 2014 - or borderline bad lines to ensure Black has good play in every line - and most of it extremely complex and original. The book can be downloaded via ''Level 3 Downloads" at GrandMasterVideoCourse.com

Is it going to be available on the nook like your other book, Charles?

I am humble that you would address me personally in your post. Thank you, and I look forward to the new volume. I enjoy shouting, "sniper!" with the c5 pawn move during my live games.

I have just broke 2400 in the Chess.com 1 minute pool exclusively playing The Sniper as Black. I am currently working on my 3rd Black Sniper book which should be ready for publication in Summer 2016. I am working as an England Coach in the European Championships and it should be ready round about then.

It is beyond me how someone can be an England coach and recommend this opening. I first discussed it with the English U18 champion in 1965! He thought it was an interesting surprise idea, but back then the theory developed by Botvinnik would not make either of us want to play it. It seems like black has to play extremely well and concretely just to survive, and I'd rather play slightly better than my opponent and win.

Yes it is beyond you.

The Sveshnikov was at first considered highly inferior because of the weakness of the d5-square, and players using it were thought of to have a masochistic streak. Over the years it's scored just under 50% for Black and is still one of the most popular weapons against 1. e4. And so too may be the fate of the Sniper ;)

I never heard of the sniper.Where do these openings get their names?

Yay, it's easy!

1. You write a bad book about a second rate opening, and promote it as the Brand New Testament.

2. When challenged by a correspondece master, you accept and play a game against him.

3. After a while you forfeit the game in a totally lost position, declaring you have proven your point, and your opening is perfect.

This is the way things are working. Just ask mr. Storey if in doubt.

Also even "good" variations of the sniper are bad I.E

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 c5? 4.dxc5 and 4.d5 are both really really good for white.

But 3.Nc3 c5 might lose by force, I see why Chinese FM's are better than English ones ^^

Well you seem to be 100 points lower than me at bullet so your not really making sense with your primitive evaluations.