The Sicilian Taimanov & Kan: Essentials (White Repertoire)

By Theo van Stratum

A White repertoire against the two closely related ...e6 Sicilian systems that delay or omit an early ...d6: the Taimanov Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Nc3, followed by 5...Qc7 or 5...a6) and the Kan Variation (4...a6, keeping the queen's knight at home even longer). Covers the modern fianchetto treatment and the classical approach against the Taimanov, the Kan's main line, and the Maroczy Bind (5.c4) against the Kan -- White's most ambitious try, clamping down on d5 before Black can ever play it.