Overview

When you are building your repertoire you have many choices available against 1.e4. Everyone knows the Sicilian is the most dangerous reply but there are so many choices! Most of them are highly theoretical such as the Najdorf or the Dragon. Some are very difficult to understand from a positional and dynamical point of view. The Kalashnikov and the Sveshnikov are two good examples, without even mentioning the amount of theory. I have always been interested by less theoretical Sicilians. I have been playing the Classical Sicilian for a long time and right before the covid period, I decided to find a new one. The Sicilian Kan came to me as a very serious option, and I decided to work on it. In the meantime, my friend and editor Danil Vanheirzeele offered me the chance to author a book about it. This came to me as a complete surprise, as I had no experience with it. In comparison with my work on the Reti and the Dutch (my two previous books), I am a newbie on the subject. But I decided to accept the challenge. I found it extremely interesting, as this gave me a fresh look at the positions. I think I managed to ask myself the questions everyone would have asked. I also work as a second for others and am accustomed to working on openings I do not necessarily play as well as finding the key ideas very quickly. So, after a deep initial work to understand the variations, I was ready to start writing8 In opposition to my prior efforts, I decided to start with the mainlines. I did it both during my work and then in the structure of the book. It seemed better to address the most difficult lines first to prove that Black gets playable positions, and then take care of the less challenging lines. This approach allows you to have an idea of the typical positions and then compare it with the less usual lines so you may understand why the sidelines are not as good. I take this as an opportunity to share my knowledge of openings and how I analyze them. I started this book with the idea that I wanted it to be useful for all levels of playing strength, from amateurs to even top grandmasters. I really consider the best books to be those where everyone can understand the basics of the variations while also being of use to anyone that aims at going deeper into the theory. I based many of the lines and conclusions in this book not only on computer evaluation, but also from a practical point of view. While I did a deep dive using strong engines when analyzing the lines I cannot say that they are perfect. The most important thing is that all of the evaluations are based upon my own understanding and knowledge of chess. Adrien Demuth November 2021

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Reviews

French Grandmaster Adrien Demuth has filled a gap in the literature with his The Modernized Sicilian Kan. The system 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6, sometimes called the Paulsen after the German-American master who played it successfully on many occasions in the 1880s, has few books devoted to it - the most recent by Johan Hellstein was almost 15 years ago. The repertoire Demuth proposes is centered around 5...Bc5 ( after1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxf4 a6 5.Bd3) with the critical line running 6.Nb3 Ba7 7. 0-0 Ne7 8.Qe2 Nbc6 9.Be3 0-0 10.Bxa7 Rxa7. Against 5.c4 he advocates for central oriented play with 5...Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4 as opposed to a Hedgehog setup. Besides a complete repertoire against the Open Sicilian, the author also covers 3.c3, 3.b3 and various sidelines. This book will prove quite useful for players over 2000 who wish to take up the Kan/Paulsen variation of the Sicilian. Those who play the O'Kelly (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 a6) will also find it useful as they can answer 3.Nc3 with 3...e6. IM John Donaldson, March 2022.

Author Information

Adrien Demuth, currently rated 2543, is a grandmaster belonging to the youngest French chess generation. He was born and raised in La Reunion and learned chess when he was seven in Tahiti. He is now 27 years old. Once back in France, he was frequently selected for the French Youth Team. He received his two titles (IM in 2011, and GM in 2015) during his studies and when achieving his degree of Master in Mathematics. He is now a chess professional, trainer, player and author. In 2016 he was one of the seconds of the Olympic French team in Baku and during the World Youth Championships as well. His most famous results we noted his win of the Paris Championships in 2013 and last year by beating the former World Champion V. Anand in Gibraltar in 2016. This is his third book for Thinkers Publishing and is proud to that his first 'The Modernized Reti' became an opening classic! He just started as the new Editorial Director of Thinkers Publishing.

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