The Lazy Man's Sicilian: Attack and Surprise White [Paperback]

The variation retains surprise effect and remains playable to this day, with this work explaining both the theory and the key ideas behind Black's approach. A very good book which offers a relatively simple Sicilian system. The funnily-named Basman-Sale variation is prospering. It has lost its place among rare variations in which Black scores 50 percent, but the variation is a live and kicking. When I wrote my first Survey in Yearbook 73 (2004), there were 424 games in MegaBase 2004, with Black scoring a respectable 50 percent. Today, MegaBase 2015 has 1581 games and Black's score is 46 percent. Well represented and neatly organized, with a good balance between prose and variations. Of course, no opening is quite as easy to learn as the publicity might suggest because there are transpositions and critical lines just like any other line. However, if you stick with 4...Bc5 then the long-term experience will certainly help you to handle the positions better than White who might only rarely come across the variation. Nowadays, anybody with computer software is a critic so there has been a suggestion on chess forums that the line: 5 Be3 Qb6 is refuted by 6 b4. The short answer is no and the long answer is that after 6...Bxb4+ 7 c3 Be7 the chances are roughly equal. A book full of inspirational ideas for players who wish to play something a bit different. The Lazy Man's Sicilian is fun and offers lots of original positions. On a lazy day I am certainly going to try this. A good way to understand an opening and surprise future opponents. I can highly recommend this original and diligently-researched book to everyone. A must-have opening book. The writing style is a nice combination of strategy, sensible clear logic and a touch of humor (...) The new edition does contain a fair proportion of recent developments and Giddins has added in home analysis to bolster his case. The Basman-Sale Variation is a relatively unexplored weapon for Black ilÓ.