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Thread: Sicilian Paulsen

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    Default Sicilian Paulsen

    what are the defining moves of this line?

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    Post www.chessgames.com

    You can find such basic information at the following website:
    http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess...on?cid=1005157
    All you have to do is Google for "Paulsen Sicilian".

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    To this day, as far as I know, there is mega-confusion/disagreement on the defining names and moves (or perhaps rather, starting positions) for the Sicilian variations called the Kan, Paulsen and Taimanov. Many sources say the Kan is the same thing as the Paulsen, for example. However, I've seen in places that the Scheveningen (reached one way by 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6) is referred to also as the Paulsen, and the Kan referred to as the Modern Paulsen (I think Pachman referred to it as the Paulsen Improved, because of the Keres Attack [6.g4] vs. the Scheveningen).

    My own way of making sense of these things is to assert that the Kan begins 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6, the Paulsen often begins with the position after 4...Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 (this is often, if not normally, thought of as a Taimanov line, but at least Karpov's Best Games [Batsford] has a game of his with it labelled as the Paulsen, though ...Nf6 and ...a6 were inserted before ...Qc7 and ...Nc6, according to that book [I suspect the actual move order used was otherwise], which shows how flexible a move order the darn line has) and the Taimanov includes lines independent of other Sicilian variations starting with moves other than 5...Qc7, especially with 5...a6 and/or lines where ...Nf6 is not played [edit: indeed, Graham Burgess' Taimanov Sicilian (2000) book calls the 'pure Taimanov' as having ...Nge7 included, as opposed to the more popular Paulsen (i.e. with ...Nf6)]. However, I was never sure how to classify the position after 4...Nc6 5.Nb5 (other, minor, deviations are also possible, perhaps causing a quandary for what defence name to call them by, too) 5...d6 (calling it a Taimanov line suggested itself, and a lot of folks, if not all, do this, though then what I thought of as the Paulsen would not seem to be truly independent of the Taimanov, as White could bypass the former and yet still be playing a mainline of the latter).

    In light of that last sentence, there is less confusion generated (perhaps) IMHO if the position starting after 4...Nc6 is called the Taimanov (even though from here the game might still transpose to even the Sveshnikov Sicilian, with a move lost for each side!) and the one after 4...a6 is called the Kan (though this might still transpose to even lines of the Scheveningen Sicilian) and then agree that the Paulsen is another name for it. The internet seems to generally point this way, by weight of search results I've seen, and it's also how the book The Most Flexible Sicilian (Chess Stars) handles the Kan and Taimanov (but discreetly without ever mentioning the word Paulsen, I think).

    [edit: The move order 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Qc7 is sometimes used, and it allows Black to bypass the 2...e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nb5 (plus other, minor, deviations by White at move 5) 5...d6 of my second paragraph (with White bypassing what I thought of as the Paulsen in the sense mentioned in that particular paragraph). Note that now White can avoid the Paulsen in ways that aren't in my mind clearly part of the Taimanov in any sense, even if (i.e. after 4...Qc7) by 5.c4 or 5.Nb5. In case of the latter, ECO all but claims white can get a slight edge after 5...Qb8 6.Bd3; however note that at least Chess Assistant 16 rates 4...Qc7 as okay for Black in terms of its numerical evaluation (besides the symbol "+=/=", meaning the usual microscopic edge for White in mainline openings, in its opinion), with optimal play, no matter how White plays. In short, it is not inconceivable to consider (in the sense of my second paragraph) the Kan, Taimanov and Paulsen as 3 distinctly independent defences of each other, depending on Black's exact choice of move order used to try to get into each. edit2: below is a link to a wiki sub-entry, on the Paulsen (i.e. they consider it the Kan)]

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicili...iation:_4...a6
    Last edited by Kevin Pacey; 05-31-2019 at 01:26 PM. Reason: Adding content
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    On an unrelated opening, there seems to be little confusion or disagreement about the names of the various Benoni defences. Wikipedia's entry on the subject notably refers to 1.d4 c5 as the Old Benoni (sometimes named after Blackburne, it notes too). This is not to be confused with the Old Indian (also called Chigorin Indian), I would note:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benoni_Defense

    [edit: This linked wiki seems not to mention the fairly popular Schmid Benoni (a form of the Old Benoni!?) which is 1.d4 c5 2.d5 Nf6 3.Nc3 where Black intends to fianchetto on g7 and play ...d6, and often, much later, ...e6 (not ...e5).]
    Last edited by Kevin Pacey; 07-21-2018 at 03:02 PM.
    There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
    Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.

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    Here's a relatively short game featuring what I and at least some book(s) might call an example of the Sicilian Paulsen (many other people would consider it to be an example of a Sicilian Taimanov instead). I'm not sure of the actual move order played in the game before move 8; I'm using ECO 4th edition's standardized move order for that part:


    [Event ""]
    [Site "Zadar"]
    [Date "1995"]
    [Round ""]
    [White "Mohr, G"]
    [Black "Romanishin, Oleg"]
    [Result "1/2-1/2"]

    1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3 {A possible prelude to an English Attack style treatment of the Paulsen by White, if he plays Qd2.} a6 {Black could try replacing this move with 6...Nf6 if he hopes to somehow take advantage of White's last move, which delayed development of the kingside by a turn.} 7.Bd3 {An aggressive looking setup, but Black has adequate resources. Instead 7.Be2 reverts to a classical setup.} Nf6 8.0-0 Ne5 {This, beginning ECO's main lines for section B48, is one choice among many for Black.} 9.Be2 {Not the most incisive choice, apparently. Instead 9.Nf3 or 9.h3 appear more combative.} Bc5 {This eventually leads to a flurry of exchanges that ultimately result in a rather drawish position. Instead 9...b5 or 9...Bb4 might prove more interesting.} 10.f4 d6 11.Kh1 0-0 12.Qe1 Neg4 13.Bg1 e5 14.fxe5 dxe5 15.Qg3 Bxd4 16.Bxd4 Nh5 17.Qh4 exd4 18.Nd5 Qxh2+ 19.Qxh2 Nxh2 20.Kxh2 Nf6 21.Nxf6+ gxf6 1/2-1/2
    Last edited by Kevin Pacey; 05-31-2019 at 01:28 PM. Reason: Spelling
    There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
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    Here's a relatively short game featuring what I and at least some books would call an example of the Sicilian Kan (many other people would consider it also to be an example of a Sicilian Pausen). I'm not sure of the actual move order played in the game before move 9; I'm using ECO 4th edition's standardized move order for that part:


    [Event "USA (ch)"]
    [Site ""]
    [Date "2000"]
    [Round ""]
    [White "De Firmian, Nick"]
    [Black "Serper"]
    [Result "1/2-1/2"]

    1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 5.Bd3 {White has a few decent alternatives to this aggressive move, notably 5.c4, 5.Be2 and [of course] 5.Nc3.} Nf6 {Including right here, both sides have tons of reasonable alternatives for quite a few moves onwards. The Kan is extremely flexible.} 6.0-0 Qc7 7.Qe2 d6 8.c4 g6 9.Nc3 Bg7 10.f4 {10.Nf3 is ECO's main move in this particular sub-variation, but it seems to me that Black is doing okay these days regardless.} 0-0 11.Kh1 Nbd7 12.Nf3 b6 13.Bd2 Bb7 14.Rac1 Rac8 15.b4 Qb8 16.a3 Rfe8 17.Qe1 {Here ECO evaluates the position as unclear. The players now rather prematurely agreed to a (grandmaster) draw, it seems.} 1/2-1/2
    There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
    Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.

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    Default

    Here's a relatively short game featuring what is indisputably an example of a Sicilian Taimanov. I'm not sure of the actual move order played in the game before move 6; I'm using ECO 4th edition's standardized move order for that part:


    [Event ""]
    [Site "Poland"]
    [Date "1995"]
    [Round ""]
    [White "Dworakowski"]
    [Black "Schmidt"]
    [Result "1/2-1/2"]

    1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Nxc6 {Aside from this, White's most usual moves are 6.Be2 and 6.Be3, and in both cases Black has the major Sicilian Taimanov option of 6...Nge7.} bxc6 7.e5 {The main line is 7.Bd3 here.} Qc7 8.f4 {8.Bf4 Ne7 9.Bd3 f5 10.Qh5+ g6 11.Qe2 Bg7 12.h4 Rb8 13.Rb1 occurred in Rogulj-Z.Krnic, Yugoslavia 1982, when Krnic gives 13...Rb4! 14.g3 c5 with a large edge for Black.} d5 {Here 8...c5 is an interesting alternative.} 9.exd6 Bxd6 10.Ne4 {10.Qg4 is interesting here.} Be7 11.Bd3 Nf6 {Again ...c5 would have been interesting. Now Black's N is committed.}12.0-0 0-0 {12...c5 13.Qe2 0-0 14.Ng5! Bd6 15.b3 +/= Ulibin-Kalegin, USSR 1987.} 13.Qe2 Bb7 {13...Nxe4 14.Qxe4 g6 15.Be3 Bf6 16.Rab1 +/= Malaniuk-Karpov, USSR(ch) 1983.} 14.b3 c5 15.Bb2 Nxe4 16.Bxe4 Bxe4 17.Qxe4 c4 {The players agreed to a draw here, in an equal position according to Chess Assistant 16, though it seems to me that Black has little to lose by playing on, since if 18.Rf3 [to stop the commonly played ...c3, if nothing else] then 18...Rac8 19.Kh1 Rfd8 favours Black considerably, as happened in one game played from this position.} 1/2-1/2
    Last edited by Kevin Pacey; 10-03-2018 at 01:11 AM.
    There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
    Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.

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    Fwiw, here's a link to an Amazon ad for a Graham Burgess book on the Taimanov Sicilian circa 2000, which explains the difference between the [pure] Taimanov and Paulsen lines according to the author (I alluded to this in my first post of this thread, especially in a subsequent edit mentioning the book):

    https://www.amazon.ca/Taimanov-Sicil.../dp/1901983331
    There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
    Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.

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