Understanding Before Moving 3 - Part 3: Sicilian Structures - Dragon - Sveshnikov - Four Knights - Herman Grooten

You are holding before you the much-awaited

final volume of my trilogy about Open Sicilians. The first volume dealt with

the Najdorf and Scheveningen variations, while the second concerned itself with

the Taimanov, Kan, and Richter-Rauzer variations. In the pages that follow, I

round off the collection with the Dragon, Accelerated Dragon, Sveshnikov,

Kalashnikov, and Four Knights variations. Each of them is the subject of

extensive literature already. So while it is unavoidable that I go into some

theoretical details, my intention here (as with the previous volumes) is not to

drown you in opening analysis, but rather to focus on general considerations

and plans, giving an idea of the interplay between structure and strategy in

each of the variations. There is overlap between the strategic elements of the

Dragon and its Accelerated cousin in this regard, and between the Sveshnikov

and Kalashnikov. But they each get their own chapter nevertheless, because

talking about general considerations does not mean it’s clever to eschew

granularity entirely. There are individual traits associated with each of the 5

systems.