Starting Out: The Sicilian (Starting Out - Everyman Chess)

I have looked at the Hippo System by Briffoz. I bought Emms' book, of all kindsof Sicilians, to be prepared for attacks against the Hippo setup. There is a moreaggressive Black defensive system by GM Bauer, "Play 1....b6". Also, for White,there is the King's Indian Attack, or (g3) English by Neil McDonald. This two openingrepertoire (KIA or English, and 1...b6) leaves time for a more gradual expertise in the1. e4 Sicilian. Also, a great book on strategy is Michael Steans' expert Simple Chess.The Sicilian is today a tactical defense. I know Reshevsky played it a long time ago,he was known as a positional GM. Today, the Sicilian is most all heavy duty theory.I took one star off of this review for Emms' book only because he could havegiven a little more in short side notes in the otherwise excellent annotated games.I would go set the position up on Stockfish just to see what could happen if Whiteplayed an obvious alternate move. Turned out, Black has to be very careful withthe Sicilian defense, sometimes Black's position is solid only if accurate movesare played (that's why there are so many Sicilian types, it's a careful set of moves).For a classic and reliable defense to 1.e4, look at Simon William's Attack with the French.He is also an amazing chess writer, he gives specific step-by-step reasons for moveswith an overall plan and strategy. (Note --- An awesome book on building up strategicthinking is Edmar Mednis' Strategic Chess in Closed Games (1.d4). Just because thoseare 1. d4 games doesn't mean that the thinking process can't be useful in the Sicilian.)I'm off topic. Anyway, S.O. Sicilian has great games, notes, some strategy, lots of tactics.It's kind of advanced, and a student might be better off with, first, Chernev's WinningChess Traps (short tactical games, covers Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, and more) beforechoosing to spend time on the heavy tactical Sicilian.

I really teetered between four and five stars for this book, and I just can’t give it five. The deciding factor is that I think Emms is a little bit unclear in his writing in some places, dropping a misplaced pronoun with sentences like “And he’s fine.” There wasn’t anyone being talked about, in particular, previously, so who is “he.” I haven’t had this problem with the other “Starting Out” books (Ruy Lopez, Caro-Kann, and Dutch), so it’s certainly not me. This happens in in a few places in the text, but it isn’t rampant or anything. The major reason the book pushed me on the side of 4 stars is that I think it is a monumental task to put this book kind of general introduction to the Sicilian together, and it is an achievement just doing so, as John Watson’s blurb says, but it is nearly impossible to do a great job with this project. I felt some of the lines of discussion that were given on lines was a bit too much and overly complicated for a “Starting Out” book. Compare this to others in the “Starting Out” series, and I think you’ll come away from each variation with the key ideas, objectives, and popular mentalities that go into plan construction for that variation. In Emms’ book, my take away was decent, but much vaguer in some cases. Finally, the minor detraction I haven’t mentioned is that Emms includes games that do not represent the latest in theory, but that are, as he says, some of the funner games. That’s okay, but the idea of including practical games as concrete examples is to show the execution of ideas mentioned in the body of the chapter. Therefore, not only are the ideas in a variation sometimes vague in a section or chapter, but the practical games don’t serve as a presentation for the ideas.Aside from these downsides, I think this is a good book to launch yourself into play against the Sicilian or to employ the Sicilian. Everyman has an excellent recipe in this “Starting Out” series, and they are typical so good as a first introduction to an opening that I think it is nearly a waste of time to habitually remark on all of the positives, but I’ll list a few. The books in this series, Emms’ included, are well organized, the diagram choices are exceptions, the content is relevant to popularly played club games AND to the international scene, the lightbulb indicators (symbols used in the text) are usually extremely helpful, as are the boldfaced notices for dangers, and the books are reasonably sturdy. I haven’t found a better first-introduction to the Sicilian, and I trust “Starting Out” by name.

This is an INTRODUCTION to the sicilian, it will give you an overview of the basic plans in the most common lines. I think it is well written, and does not go too deeply into variations. My only complaints are twofold:1: No index of variations2: Ordering of systems. Dragon is first, Najdorf is second, c3 is nearly last. I think c3 should be first, because it is less theoretically sharp, but that's a quibble.I recommend this book to everyone who is thinking of playing the sicilian or plays against it often. I'm a Caro-Kann player by heart, but I think some knowledge of the sicilian will help me as white when I play 1. e4 -- perhaps i'll even start playing something besides 2. c3 with a little bit of theoretical backing.

This 2nd edition by GM John Emms covers all the major systems and variations of the various Sicilian Defence's that you are most likely to encounter.He explains the plans and objectives, for both sides, of each variation, and gives many illustrative games to prove his point.Whether you play against the Sicilian Defence as white, or whether you play it as black, this book gives many valuable insights and suggestions.Very up to date also, considering that some variations undergo theoretical changes frequently.A great book for the novice, student and club player.

The target audience of this book is players that really have no idea what they're doing in a sicilian. It really is a fine introduction for such players. It will help you begin to form a repertoire as white or black.If you've already decided to play 6. Bg5 against the Najdorf, the Yugoslav attack against the Dragon, the Maroczy Bind against the Accelerated Dragon, and so on, this book is not at all for you.For a player who plays the Sicilian as black - pick your variation and jump right to the book on that.

John Emms can always be relied on to produce a good chess book and this edition by Everyman Chess is no exception. The newcomer to the Sicilian defence is given a basic grounding in everything the player of the black pieces can expect againt 1.e4 c5 including the Grand Prix Attack (2.f4) and the popular Rossolimo and Moscow variations (3.Bb5).

This book is great for people starting out. It taught me a lot in terms of opening strategy with the Sicilian and greatly developed my intuition. The sample games and their explanations for each variation are really helpful too. Really recommend this one for any intermediate or beginner players looking to get into the Sicilian.

Uno de los libros que ahora estoy leyendo...ejemplos de partidas con sus explicaciones. Soy un jugador de francesa y pienso que un cambio de aire fresco me vendrá bien utilizando líneas más incisiva como lo es la defensa siciliana.

文字通り、シシリアン・ディフェンスを初めてみる本です。チェスで最も有名で、最も指されている戦法といっても過言ではないこの戦法、variationだけで単行本もたくさんでています。Openingの本では、ほとんど手順の羅列だけで終わってしまい、また個々のvariationの本では、詳しすぎます。そこで、シシリアンをはじめてみようという時にこの本はお薦めです。この本は、変化手順についてはやたらと詳しいわけではありません。各variationごとに狙いを示し、また実戦譜を示しながら解説されています。さらに詳しくこの戦法を知るには、この本の冒頭にBibliographyとして記載されている書籍がお薦めです。