"Second edition- Extended & Fully Revised"
We have to admit that the idea of writing this book was planned for quite some time, but we hesitated to take the final step. Why? In today's era of computers we receive daily a sea of information. It's difficult to write something that will have important theoretical value and also a lasting impact. However, the wish prevailed within us to display the genesis of the Taimanov, an opening variation that has been a companion in our chess careers for more than twenty years.
With great pride we can state that the majority of the experts in our Sicilian friend come from Serbia, starting with the legendary Milan Matulovic, to Slavoljub Marjanovic, Dusan Rajkovic, Branko Damljanovic, and Igor Miladinovic ... and this factor was surely an additional motivation to write this book.
We have tried to deliver a user-friendly style that suits all levels of players. Nowadays, chess players are overwhelmed with piles of information and endless databases. It is very difficult to choose "your variations” and therefore this book will surely come as a great additional help.
In addition to the basic Taimanov ideas we had to keep, we followed – in an original manner – our two main concepts: ‘almost never play an early …d6’ (Scheveningen-style) and ‘push …h5 whenever you can’ (Paulsen-style).
We have tried to demonstrate the classic game for the type of positions that occur in the Taimanov, in order to make our readers primarily able to familiarize themselves with the basic motifs and ideas of this Sicilian. When we believed the variations to be sharp and complicated, we have offered two possible continu-ations.
The latest fashion, which we have to mention, did not even exist when we started to write our book – the 7.Qf3 line. Readers will have the choice between the peaceful 7...Bd6, and 7...d6 where we head for a sharp Sicilian, true to its style. In the famous English attack with Be3 – Qd2 – 0-0-0, in addition to the well-known …Bb4 and …Ne5, our second proposal – of which we can safely state that we are most proud – is called the "Serbian variation" starting with …Bb4 and …0-0. About the specific move order in reaching our Paulsen-Taimanov variation, there are two possibilities. The first possibility is to start with 2... e6 and 4... Nc6, and the second one is revealed by 2...Nc6 with 4...Qc7.
We decided on the move order 2...Nc6 and 4...Qc7 firstly because we all learned this way in the Paulsen-Taimanov variation, but also for practical reasons.
Firstly, we avoid 5.Nb5, which results in typical Hedgehog set-ups, and these posi-tions are not to everyone's taste. Another reason is to keep in reserve the option of playing ...e5 at once, or sometimes even ...g6 without touching the e-pawn. This book is the result of twenty years of our work and playing the Taimanov combined. We have played over 500 games in this variation and we desired to show all the beauty and richness of "our" variation.
We hope that our book will conjure all this and more, and will help our readers into the labyrinths of our Taimanov Bible.
Ivan Ivanisevic, Milos Perunovic, Robert Markus
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