Sveshnikov Variation

The Sveshnikov Variation is built on a revolutionary concept. With his uncompromising advance 5...e5 Black irrevocably weakens the central d5-square, since from now on no black pawn can protect it. That constitutes an open invitation for White to make use of the said square as an outpost for his pieces and in almost all variations a white knight will settle on it. Generations of chess masters would never in their wildest dreams have come up with such a bold plan for Black – and in fact this is a young and modern system. It did not earn recognition until the 1970s, as a result of the untiring analytical work of Evgeny Sveshnikov; today it is one of the most important systems in the Sicilian Defence.