Negi Publication Day

Today is the official publication day of Parimarjan Negi’s 1.e4 vs The Sicilian II.

In our terms, that means it’s the day the new books will arrive at specialist chess shops. Some websale customers will already have received their books. If you bought on our site and haven’t received your book yet, then it’s in the post. As ever, we will be interested to know what you think of the book.

Parimarjan was in action in a mixed-format match against Hou Yifan last week. The result was 11–7 to the Chinese star, but Parimarjan had his chances, and even lost one on time in a dead drawn position, after being winning earlier. The biggest gap was in Fischer Random, which was won 3.5–0.5 by Hou Yifan.

No opening prep can help in Fischer Random, but Parimarjan did put some ideas from his book into action in the other games, including the following line against a rare but clever variation of the Accelerated Dragon. The following is a blitz game so I shall not analyse it in depth.

Parimarjan Negi – Hou Yifan

USA 12/11/15

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Be3 Nf6 7.Bc4 O-O 8.Bb3 Re8


Negi devotes a whole chapter to this rare move. “This rook move is incredibly subtle, which is why it has almost exclusively been played by really strong players.” You’ll need to read Negi’s explanation of the points of 8…Re8 to understand why he is so impressed by this move.

9.h4
The more ambitious of the two lines Negi recommends. Negi also covers 9.Nxc6 as a safe route to an edge.

9…Qa5
A novelty, but it looks risky for Black. Instead Negi analyses a range of options, mainly concentrating on Black trying to break in the centre.

10.h5
Bold. The solid reply would be 10.f3.

10…Nxe4
10…Nxh5 11.Nf5 looks fun for White, but maybe Black should try this, as her position in the game is unpleasant.

11.hxg6 hxg6 12.Qf3! d5
12…Nf6 13.O-O-O offers White a strong initiative.

13.Bxd5
White is doing well, and Negi later won a complicated struggle.

13…Nf6 14.Bb3 Bg4 15.Qg3 Rad8 16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.Rh4 Bh5 18.Ra4 Qf5 19.f3 e6 20.Qf2 Nd5 21.Nxd5 exd5 22.O-O-O d4 23.Bd2 g5 24.g4 Bxg4 25.Rxa7 Rf8 26.Rg1 Qxf3 27.Qxf3 Bxf3 28.Bxg5 Rde8 29.Bf6 Re1+ 30.Rxe1 Bxf6 31.Rf1 Bg5+ 32.Kb1 Bd5 33.Bxd5 cxd5 34.a4 Be3 35.Rd7 f5 36.a5 1-0

48 thoughts on “Negi Publication Day”

  1. I ordered Negi’s book and the two volumes on the Dragon yesterday and hope to receive them tomorrow. Really looking forward to them 🙂

  2. was today at the chess shop, and was very impressed with the new Negi book. Something that struck me was a c3 move in a middlegame position which gives a better endgame after the skirmish is over. Unfortunately I vowed I won’t buy a sicilian book untill I have finished studying sicilian attacks from Yakovich.

    I left the shop with Python Strategy nevertheless:)

  3. As was demonstrated in one of the other blitz games (game 1) that involved the Accelerated Dragon, one of the key things about this repertoire is being able to remember the analysis! (I am presuming that in that game Negi forgot the move he recommends ).

    Really brilliant books though

  4. Lol! No worries, I laughed before reading the followup post.

    I second that motion, by the way – here in the United States we were getting Christmas commercials before Halloween (October 31st). Dear Lord…it’s too much.

  5. @Seth
    Personally I am happy one of my kids has her birthday in December. You will always hear about the birthday months in advance, but at least this eclipses Christmas a bit.

  6. Received my books of Negi and Jones today 🙂 First impression is great, as usual 🙂 I like the recommendations of Negi against the Sveshnikov and the Kozul variation!

  7. Hi,

    enjoying Mr. Negi´s book on French … . Is it possible, that on page 470, (first page of Chapter 30) the third White move was supposed to be 3.Sd2 (and not Sc3, as in the book). Anyway, it transposes after the exchange on e4, but for later editions one might consider a change

  8. I’ve just recieved my copy of Parimarjan Negi’s 1.e4 vs The Sicilian II, and I’ve become a truly debotee of his White repertooire. When the books on the Ruy Lopez are to be expected?

  9. @The Doctor
    Sorry, I meant 10…Rb8.
    For 10…Qb8, Khalifman book on the Dragons (2009) or De la Villa Dismantling the Sicilian (2009) should be good enough, as it’s not the most critical and often played line (hence not included in Vigorito’s book Chess Developments the Sicilian Dragon from 2011).

  10. @AJZ

    You say that but is stronger than 10…Qa5 and that is covered. I have both those books but it would have been nice for completeness for Negi to have covered it

  11. @Jacob Aagaard

    Hi, not sure if this is the right place to address my question. I have just started to read seriously the Sicilian II of Negi. He recommends to play 14.f3 on : 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. O-O-O h6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bf4 d5 11. Qe3 Bb4 12. a3 Ba5 13. h4 O-O 14. f3. He only analyses the first computer reply Re8 but not the natural 14…Qb6 as played by Kononenko earlier in January 2016 this year. It seems to equalize comfortably (I have tried almost any queen move against my engine and could not find anything concrete). So it seems to me that the main line starting with 12.Be2 is more promising. What do you think?
    Thanks for the feedback.

  12. @Mechanize
    We do not share lines before publication, but the general idea is the Ruy Lopez of course. There is another volume to come first. Negi says he is close, but we are talking 2019 none the less.

  13. @Arnacman

    Maybe a queen move is not what the position needs? I cannot be sure unless i analyse for many hours carefully, but in the following position:

    1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8.
    O-O-O h6 9. Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bf4 d5 11. Qe3 Bb4 12. a3 Ba5 13. h4 O-O 14. f3 Qb6

    i took a look at the move

    15. g4!?

    Although there are some options for both sides along the way, one of the principal variations (and the most forcing one) seems to end in White’s favour (i think):

    15…Qxe3+ 16. Bxe3 Bxc3 17. bxc3 dxe4 18. g5 Nd5 19. Bc5 Re8 20. fxe4 Nxc3 21. Rd4 e5 22. Rc4 Nb5 23. a4 Be6 24. g6 Nd4 25. Bxd4 exd4 26. Rxc6 a5 27.gxf7+

    The resulting position is not something great, but it is annoying for Black and my engines (with endgame tablebases) give something like +0,50.

    In general, i’d be surprised if this line is 100% sound for Black. For example 13.Be2!? and after 13…O-O 14.exd4 cxd5 15.Qg3!? also seems better for White (i took a look at my own notes).

    Hope that helped a bit.

  14. I own the 1.e4 bibles from Negi and Shaw (all volumes). As I see the following line is missing in both works: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6 (B34) as played in e.g. Timman – Korchnoi, Bruxelles (m/5) 1991, Inf. 52/175.

  15. @Manfred
    Are you sure that line is missing in Shaw’s series Manfred? Have a look at the French and Sicilian Sidelines volume and I think you will find your line on page 358, about 2/5ths of the way down the the first column.

    James

  16. Yes, nice to see the Coming Soon section populated and dispel the impression QC sit around all day drinking coffee :-).
    However I will believe 6 QC books will be published in next 8 weeks or so only when they are sat on my bookshelf!

    1. Jacob Aagaard

      One is printed, three has been sent to the printer and the further two should take 3 weeks to finish and another 5 for the physical production. We are doing it!

  17. @Manfred
    You’re right I can’t see it in Negi either but it’s not a big deal. You can play as Shaw recommends with taking on C6 and pushing e5. Timman also played this way and although Korchnoi did draw he was clearly worse (Shaw gives the stronger line) so no wonder it’s a rarity since 1991. If you insist on following Negi I’m not sure what else black can play if white plays Be3. Either d6 or Bg7 transposes back to his accelerated or standard dragon lines and I can’t think of any alternatives: if black tries a6 then the Nxc6/e5 is probably even stronger.

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