Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. d4/3...cxd4/4. Nxd4/4...Nf6/5. Nc3/5...e5

Sveshnikov Sicilian
a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) r1bqkb1r/pp1p1ppp/2n2n2/4p3/3NP3/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKB1R w
Moves: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5

Sveshnikov Sicilian

Moves: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5

The variation is named after the Latvian Grandmaster Evgeny Sveshnikov. In the various Najdorf lines where Black plays e5, he gets his desired pawn structure at the cost of leaving his king's bishop stuck behind a pawn on d6. Right now, Black is trying to have his cake and eat it by delaying d6 until the bishop has fled to b4. The standard Najdorf was good enough to be played religiously by Garry Kasparov; White must cut out the threat of ...Bb4 or be faced with an improved Najdorf.

The move that does more or less force ...d6 is Ndb5. The knight threatens to invade the d6 outpost with check. Note that this forks Black's king and c8-bishop, but Black can deal with this easily with 7...Bxd6

Nde2 is the only significant sideline, fortifying the c3 knight to avoid the wrecking of the queenside pawns that would occur after ...Bb4 and ...Bxc3 bxc3. Neither Nb3 nor Nf3 offer anything in particular to compensate for letting the bishop out, Nf5 places the knight on a shaky square that can be instantly exploited with 6...d5! and Nxc6 bxc6 hands control of d5 back to Black.

Theory table

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e5

	6	7	8	9
Main Line	Ndb5 d6	Bg5 a6	Na3 b5	Bxf6 gxf6	+=
	Nf5 d5	exd5 Bxf5	dxc6 bxc6	Qf3 Qd7	=
Morozevich Variation	Nde2 Bc5	Ng3 d6			=
	Nb3 Bb4	Bd3 d5			=
	Nf3 Bb4	Bc4 O-O			=

References

• Kasparov, Garry, & Keene, Raymond 1989 Batsford chess openings 2. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.