1

Nibaldo Calvo Buides

1.e4 c5; 2.b3 against Sicilian defense

Editor: Bethany Calvo Buides

September/ 2015

2

About the author

Nibaldo Calvo Buides (1972, Cuba), lives in Louisville,

Kentucky (USA).

He is Cuban Chess Expert, with International rating

(FIDE). Also he has a Bachelors Degree in

Economics and a Diploma in Journalism.

From 2007 to 2011 he was the president and coach of

Capablanca chess club, in Oaxaca Mexico, where he

taught chess to more than 1000 people (including

schools and jails).

His chess blog is in the top 5 in the Spanish language

in the World: www.nibaldocalvo.com

He teaches chess in Louisville.

3

Prologue

The variant 1.e4 c5; 2.b3 is very interesting to fight the very popular Sicilian defense. Since 1995 I've had it in my repertoire and many of my students too.

In your chess career, how often have you changed your repertoire to avoid confrontation of the Sicilian defense? Frequently my students and readers say: "I do not know how to play against the Sicilian defense!"

With 2.b3 against the Sicilian you will find a variant easy to understand.

I hope you enjoy the book and obtain many successes with 2.b3 against the Sicilian.

Thanks

The author

4

Sumary

Origin of the variant-----------------------------------------5

Chapter 1: White to play Ne2 and Nd2-----------------6

Chapter 2: 1. e4 c5 2. b3 e6 3. Bb2 d6 4. f4 Nc6;

5.Bb5------------------------------------------------------------16

Chapter 3: 1.e4 c5; 2.b3 Nf6-----------------------------20

Chapter 4: 1.e4 c5; 2.b3 Nc6; 3.Bb2 e5; 4.Bc4----26

Chapter 5: 1.e4 c5; 2.b3 b6; 3.Bb2 Bb7--------------34

Games----------------------------------------------------------40

5

Origin of the variant

The Sicilian with 2.b3 is named Snyder Sicilian and

Czerniak Attack. Chessplayers suggest that the name

Czerniak Attack should be the one because Robert

Snyder has reputation problems of the latter.

The line 1.e4 c5 2.b3 (or 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.b3,

definitely serves to reach an interesting position where

the player with white pieces don’t have to study too

much theories.

This system has been played occasionally by some

very strong Grand Masters, such as Magnus CArlsen,

Nigel Short, Boris Spassky and Alexander Morozevich.

Also has been the main anti-Sicilian weapon of such

strong players GM Tamaz Gelashvili, IM Moshe

Czerniak, and IM/WGM Eva Repkova.

1. e4 c5; 2.b3 was played for first time in the match

Cochrane - Staunton, London 1842.

6

Chapter 1: White to play Ne2 and Nd2

We begin to study the main line I learned from the

Cuban International Master Nestor Velez, which I

occasionally mentioned as "Variant Velez".

The idea is to get the following development of the

white pieces:

• Play b3 and Bb2.

• Play Bb5 and change the bishop on c6 or d7.

• Develop knights in e2 and d2.

• Short castling.

• Move the knight from e2 to g3 and h5, in order to

remove the defender black knight that it is normally on

f6.

• If black plays g6, then the white knight will remain in

g3, where it will make pressure on the squares f5 and

h5.

• Sometimes the knight jumps from d2 to c4 and

afterwards e3, to have control of the important d5 and

f5 squares.

7

• Advance the f-pawn to f5 if possible, to win in space

while ensuring an effective attack on the kingside.

It is very important to know that sometimes the white

may not fully realize the whole plan I mentioned

because his/her opponent can stop it. But the good

thing of this system is that it has elasticity, so it will let

you mix other ideas I will show you in the next chapters.

In the last pages of the book I included a selection of

games, where you can see several sub-variants that I

have not included as principal.

Without further ado, let’s see how you can play the

variant with Nd2 and Ne2:

8

Nibaldo Calvo - Anastasio Giron

Torneo San Jacinto Amilpas, México, 24.04.2007

1.e4 c5 2.b3

2...¤c6 3.¥b2 d6 4.¥b5 ¥d7 5.¥xc6 ¥xc6 6.d3 e5

7.¤d2 ¥e7 8.¤e2 8...¤f6 9.0–0 0–0 10.a4 a5 11.¤g3

g6 [11...b5 12.axb5 ¥xb5]

9

12.f4 ¤d7 13.f5 ¥g5 14.£e2 ¥xd2 (I think the black

had to keep this dark-squared bishop. From now the

weakness of his black squares of his castling will be

noticed.)

15.£xd2 £h4 16.¥c1! (I consider it a good move,

because it represents a complement to my previous

analysis).

16...f6 17.£e2 (and the black queen is immobilized)]

17...g5 18.¤h5 g4 19.¤g3 ¦f7 20.¥e3 ¦g7 21.£d2

h6 22.£c3 What it would happen if I capture the pawn

on h6?, this: 22.¥xh6 ¦h7 23.¥e3 £xh2+ 24.¢f2 ¦h3

25.¤e2 ¦f3+; 22.c3]

10

22...¤b6 23.£e1 ¢f7 24.¥d2 ¤d7 25.¥xa5

If my opponent trades his rook by my bishop on a5 I

would stay with advantage. In return his queen would

be released by g5. I think that it would be more

convenient to keep locked up the black queen instead

to capture in a5.

11

25...b6 [25...¦xa5 26.£xa5 £g5] 26.¥d2 ¦h7 27.¥e3

h5 28.a5

My plan is to open the column a in order to change

rooks and win easily the endgame because black

continue with his queen trapped.

28..;b5 29.a6 b4 30.c4 [It is better 30.c3 to open the c

column.) 30...¢g8 31.a7 ¤b6 32.¦a6 ¦b7 33.£a1

¥d7 34.£a5 ¤c8 35.£d8+ ¢h7 36.¦xd6 ¤xd6

37.£xa8 ¥c6 38.£d8 ¦d7 39.£xd7+ 39...¥xd7

40.a8£ 1–0

12