Chessable. Short & Sweet: The Taimanov Sicilian (Annotated Games only)

Chessable, Chess Openings, Oct 09, 2017.Being a Sicilian, the Taimanov is naturally a sharp and concrete opening where theoretical knowledge is important. However, for the Sicilians, it tends to be less theoretical than many of the alternatives such as the Dragon and Najdorf. The other feature which is typical of Sicilians is its unbalanced play. This means that the Taimanov is a great weapon when you are playing for a win with black.Together with the other 2...e6 Sicilian, the Kan, the Taimanov is one of the safest and least theoretical Sicilians available to blacks. This also means that it is well-suited to the Short & Sweet series as much of the opening is founded on ideas.As mentioned above, Taimanov is characterized by the knight heading to c6. Whereas the Kan is exceptionally flexible, the Taimanov is a bit more direct (there is already tension between the pieces after 4...Nc6) - this does mean that white's options against the Taimanov are a bit more limited than against the Kan, but the lines are a bit deeper and more theoretical.One of the recurring themes in Taimanov is the black's intention to leave the pawn on d7 for a while. This has the advantage of keeping the option of playing the...d7-d5 break in a single move and allowing the dark bishop to develop actively outside the pawn chain. Many other recurring ideas will be featured, such as...h5, but we'll cover that in the specific variation/chapter.Over the last few years, the Taimanov has taken off in popularity at the super-GM level due to blacblacks'lity to play for a win without unnecessary risks. Players such as Svidler, Giri, Anand, Ivanchuk, and Mamedyarov have used it in recent years.If you are comfortable learning some theory and enjoy unbalanced positions that retain positional themes, you should enjoy the Taimanov. Wild complications such as those in the Dragon are very rare and in exchange for learning some of the Taimanov theory, you will get a weapon that allows you to play for the win as black without huge unnecessary risks.The Taimanov is quite theoretical (although maybe not by Sicilian standards). As a result, this course is a little bit more in-depth than some of the other Short & Sweet courses to prepare you better. However, the focus on easy-to-play variations which are objectively strong and slightly offbeat (where possible) remains. Instead of regurgitating copious amounts of theory, we've attempted to explain the essential ideas and plans for both sides.