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Le Fritz Powerbook 2024 contient 25 millions de positions d'ouverture, dérivées de 1,7 million de parties de tournois de haut niveau.

I started playing the line 1.e4 c5 2.c3 in the Sicilian Defense as White in 1988. Since then I have employed it in more than 100 games, achieving a high performance score. My personal peak were the years 2005 - 2006, when I managed to win twelve 2.c3-games in a row. Yet I also know the other side of the coin – countless times I had to face this opening with Black when the opponents wanted to avoid my Dragon, for example during the World Candidates Match against Adams in New York in 1994. White tries to occupy the centre with a second pawn, and Black must know his stuff very well in order to be able to equalize. And this is only possible with 2...Nf6 – all other lines give the first player a small edge everywhere. Especially against stronger opponents, 2.c3 is an excellent weapon. If White doesn‘t risk anything, he cannot lose! Controlling the game, he can always make a draw from a position of strength. In contrast, playing for a win with Black is always connected with a extremely high risk, and we have seen many games when much higher rated players were completely smashed by White. In comparison with the main lines of the Sicilian, there is much less theory to study – and yet a lot of room for improvement for both sides. Video running time: 4 hours. See you too – with 2.c3!

The Winawer Variation in just 60 minutes - that can only work by reducing it to a clear repertoire for Black and, where possible, general recommendations rather than variations. Alexei Shirov was surprised at how quickly he managed to make of the French Winawer an opening he himself could play. And now he will let you share in his conclusions. In his first video clip the author starts by concentrating on 4.a3, a move which in his view he found surprisingly strong. Then he turns to the position after 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3 Ne7. Positional variations such as 7.Nf3 and 7.h4 are dealt with relatively quickly because in them the understanding of plans is more important than the study of variations. Then he turns to the critical 7.Qg4! and of course Shirov does not shrink from the adventurous 7...cxd4!. His conclusion on it: it may not be 100% objectively speaking, but it leads to fascinating positions and that is what we play chess for.