Mastering the Sicilian Defense

I am rated about 1900 USCF and always had trouble playing the sicilian against stronger players. I just cannot remember any memorized lines after about move 7 in most case (probably a bit longer in the dragon). After seeing a few reviews, i was not sure if i wanted to buy this book. However, I have read some material by Mr Kopec and he writes clearly, and gets to the point.So I went ahead and ordered the book (i could always return it if i did not like it). However, I was pleasantly surprised. I tried a few ideas on chess.com/icc and generally the play went well for me. I also used some ideas in an OTB tournament with slow time controls and was able to hold a USCF Master (rated 2264) to a draw (after coming out of the opening with a better position, i messed up after the opening and the opponent messed up the ending leading to a draw).So, if you are rated below 2200-2300, ignore the reviews that the book is superficial and does not cover variations in detail. None of your opponents at this level are going to have a perfect recollection of all the variations. Try something less played like the labourdonnais/kan variation for an occasional surprise! As long as you play according to the general ideas, you should be doing fine in the opening. Any memorization without understanding is counterproductive. You may lose the occasional point to an overly booked up player in an extremely sharp line, but each loss will deepen your understanding.

I liked the in-depth explanation of various structures and games to demonstrate the ideas

O K Readers, Those of you interested in this book "Mastering the Sicilian Defense" I WILL QUOTE from its introduction: the first paragraph reads.... "THIS BOOK IS INTENDED FOR THE PLAYER WHO WISHES TO DEVELOP A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE MOST IMPORTANT SYSTEMS IN THE SICILIAN DEFENSE. It is NOT a book that attempts to cover ALL lines or variations---OR EVEN THE MOST CURRENT ONES. MY GOAL has been to show the MAIN FORMATION (patterns) AND THEMES , which can arise in DIFFERENT Sicilian variations. The book is written DISTINCTLY FROM BLACK'S POINT OF VIEW AND DESIGNED to provide an inherently SOUND and VIABLE opening repetoire. PAWN STRUCTURES , typically arising from these systems, will be presented and discussed...." says the AUTHOR, IM Dr. Danny Kopec. THIS BOOK IS RE-PRINTED FROM (2001) and STILL useful today. This 217 page book covers most Open, OFF-BEAT and Closed Sicilian Defense PAWN STRUCTURES alive today, but there are SSOOOOO many to choose from, it may be short by most standards. I believe this work could have more of a point with modern game data (2001-11) but the modeled games STILL have poignancy. This is an optimal approach to studying this defense and developing your OWN preferred SD system and playing style. The author gives/summarizes the key points of each discussed Sicilian system with recommendations. I recommend this book for chess players still trying to tread through the fathoms of the Sicilian, strong or intermediate/beginner. Now you have a life-boat filled with rations....avoid the sharks and find land! NUFF SAID........

I swear by the Sicilian Defense. I have been playing the Dragon variation (even as white) for many years now, because of the extremely interesting games it always seems to create. I wanted more information on other variations and transpositions, in a slightly less heavy format than some of my other books on the subject. This book delivers, and then some. One thing I really like about the book is the "Mastery Lesson" for each of the example games. They break down the key points of the variation used, and how you might want to deal with the likely attacks in the typical positions they create. From the Dragon variation part, I picked up some ideas on how to deal with Rauzer-esque positions, which had always given me the heebie-jeebies. Now I have even started added some Najdorf and Scheveningen variations to my play, just to spice things up a bit (and when I want a slightly less double-edged game than the Dragon). The best part is that while you can (and should) sit down at a chessboard and work through things, it's also good for reading a short bit or two before bed or during those little 5-minute chunks of the day when you can squeeze in a little chess reading. While I truly liked playing Sicilians before, now I truly LOVE playing them.

I didn't find this book very useful. Basically it's just a short book of annotated games with some key points at the beginning. Sometimes the games don't even represent main lines (see the 3. Bg5 section, for example), and the key points are often trivial, such as don't attempt the highly theoretical Najdorf without prior study. Disappointing to say the least.

So first off, anyone trying to understand what the main ideas/goals of the various Sicilian setups are will find out with this book. However, this is more of a theoretical knowledge book on the popular Sicilian and it does not focus on any one of the most played variations such as the Najdorf, Scheveningen, Dragon, etc. For serious tourney players I'd recommend a Sicilian Book specializing in one of the popular variations of the Sicilian. This book is written well enough, but is not great.

Very good breakdown of the major Sicilian lines. A basic knowledge of this defense is advantageous (not a beginner's manual).

Not the best Sicilian book but is good if you want a general overview. I would recommend the grandmaster series book on the Sicilian defense for this purpose over this book though.

This book is a bit sparse on the details, and the annotations for games are a bit hasty and don't always give you information you are after. It's easy to say a book is for GMs, but we all know that's mostly an excuse for just presenting a bunch of unannotated games and Chess Engine analysis, which is what this book is. Some games are worth it, and he does have some good things to say about the Sicilian in General. If you play Sicilian it's a good reference book to have, just pick it up and play through some games, but Mastering the Sicilian? Nah.