The Sicilian Defence, Chekhover Variation (also sometimes called the Szily Variation or Hungarian Variation) is a
chess opening
The opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established Chess_theory#Opening_theory, theory. The other phases are the chess middlegame, middlegame and the chess endgame, endgame. Many opening sequences, known as ''op ...
named after
Vitaly Chekhover, from the game Chekhover–Lisitsin, Leningrad 1938.
It is defined by the moves:
:1.
e4 c5
:2.
Nf3 d6
:3.
d4 cxd4
:4.
Qxd4
On move four
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
ignores the standard
opening
Opening may refer to:
Types of openings
* Hole
* A title sequence or opening credits
* Grand opening of a business or other institution
* Inauguration
* Keynote
* Opening sentence
* Opening sequence
* Opening statement, a beginning statemen ...
principle to not develop the
queen
Queen most commonly refers to:
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen (band), a British rock band
Queen or QUEEN may also refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Q ...
too early in the game. Although the Chekhover Variation is somewhat rare at
grandmaster level, it is not uncommon among amateurs.
The ''
Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings
The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' (''ECO'') is a reference work describing the state of Chess theory#Opening theory, opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugos ...
'' assigns code B53 to this opening.
Main line: 4...Nc6
Black's main response to the Chekhover Variation is 4...Nc6 immediately attacking White's queen, leading to:
* 5.Bb5 pinning the knight: 5...Bd7 6.Bxc6 Bxc6.
* 5.Qa4?! avoiding an exchange and keeping the light-square bishop.
* 5.Qe3 a non-ambitious reply, often played in conjunction with Be2, 0-0, Nc3 (with or without c4), and Bd2. This system has been coined the Harikrishna System by
IM Alexandru-Bogdan Banzea, as it has recently been used by
super grandmaster
Grandmaster (GM) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally the t ...
Pentala Harikrishna
Pentala Harikrishna (born 10 May 1986) is an Indian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster. He achieved a peak world ranking of 10 in November 2016, and a peak Elo rating system, Elo rating of 2770 in December 2016.
On 17 August 2001, he bec ...
in over-the-board games with positive results as White.
Other continuations
* 4...a6 prevents a future pin: 5.c4 Nc6 6.Qd1.
* 4...Bd7 prepares 5...Nc6.
* 4...Nf6 avoids exchanges and continues with .
Example games
*
Evgeni Vasiukov vs.
Loek van Wely, 2002
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.Bxc6 Bxc6 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Bg5 e6 9.0-0-0 Be7 10.Rhe1 0-0 11.Kb1 Qa5 12.Qd2 Qa6 13.Nd4 Rfc8 14.f4 h6 15.h4 Qc4 16.g4 Kf8 17.f5 hxg5 18.hxg5 Nd7 19.fxe6 Ne5 20.Rh1 fxe6 21.b3 Qb4 22.Rh8 Kf7 23.Qf4 Bf6 24.Rh7 Kg8 25.gxf6 Kxh7 26.Qg5 Rc7 27.Nxe6 Rac8 28.fxg7 Kg8 29.Rh1 Bxe4 30.Rh8 Kf7 31.Nxc7 Qxc3 32.g8=Q
*
Mikhail Tal
Mikhail Tal (9 November 1936 – 28 June 1992) was a Soviet and Latvian chess player and the eighth World Chess Champion. He is considered a creative genius and is widely regarded as Comparison of top chess players throughout history, one ...
vs.
Robert Eugene Byrne, 1976
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.Bxc6 Bxc6 7.Nc3 Nf6 8.Bg5 e6 9.0-0-0 Be7 10.Rhe1 0-0 11.Qd2 Qa5 12.Nd4 Rac8 13.Kb1 Kh8 14.f4 h6 15.h4 hxg5 16.hxg5 Nxe4 17.Qd3 Bxg5 18.Nxe4 Bxe4 19.Rxe4 Bh6 20.g4 f5 21.Rxe6 Bxf4 22.Nxf5
Mikhail Tal vs Robert Eugene Byrne (1976)
chessgames.com
See also
* List of chess openings
This is a list of chess openings, organised by the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' (''ECO'') code classification system. The chess openings are categorised into five broad areas ("A" through "E"), with each of those broken up into one hundred ...
* List of chess openings named after people
''The Oxford Companion to Chess'' lists 1,327 named openings and variants. Chess players' names are the most common sources of opening names. The name given to an opening is not always that of the first player to adopt it; often an opening is name ...
References
{{Chess
Chess openings