You are holding before you the much-awaited
final volume of my trilogy about Open Sicilians. The first volume dealt with
the Najdorf and Scheveningen variations, while the second concerned itself with
the Taimanov, Kan, and Richter-Rauzer variations. In the pages that follow, I
round off the collection with the Dragon, Accelerated Dragon, Sveshnikov,
Kalashnikov, and Four Knights variations. Each of them is the subject of
extensive literature already. So while it is unavoidable that I go into some
theoretical details, my intention here (as with the previous volumes) is not to
drown you in opening analysis, but rather to focus on general considerations
and plans, giving an idea of the interplay between structure and strategy in
each of the variations. There is overlap between the strategic elements of the
Dragon and its Accelerated cousin in this regard, and between the Sveshnikov
and Kalashnikov. But they each get their own chapter nevertheless, because
talking about general considerations does not mean it’s clever to eschew
granularity entirely. There are individual traits associated with each of the 5
systems.