The Modernized Sicilian Khan

When you're building your repertoire, you have many options available against 1.e4. Everyone knows Sicilian is the most dangerous answer, but there are so many options! Most of them are highly theoretical like the Najdorf or the Dragon. Some are very difficult to understand from a positional and dynamic standpoint. The Kalashnikov and the Sveshnikov are two good examples, not to mention the amount of theory.

I've always been interested in the less theoretical Sicilians. I've been playing the Sicilian classic for a long time and just before the Covid period, I decided to look for a new one. The Sicilian Khan came to me as a very serious option and I decided to work on it. Meanwhile, my friend and publisher Daniël Vanheirzeele offered me the opportunity to write a book about it. This completely surprised me, since I had no experience with it. Compared to my work on Reti and Dutch (my two previous books), I am a novice in the subject. But I decided to accept the challenge. I found it extremely interesting, as this gave me a new look at positions. I think I managed to ask myself the questions that everyone would have asked me. I also work as a second for others and I'm used to working on openings that I don't necessarily play as well as finding the key ideas very quickly. So, after a thorough initial work to understand the variations, I was ready to start writing!

He knew that keeping the variations to a reasonable length would be a difficult task, since the aperture is generally considered to be better for whites.

As opposed to my previous efforts, I decided to start with the main lines. I did it both during my work and later on in the book structure. It seemed better to tackle the harder lines first to show that black gets playable positions and then deal with the less challenging lines. This approach allows you to get an idea of the typical positions and then compare it to the less common lines so you can understand why the lateral lines are not so good.

I take this as an opportunity to share my knowledge of openings and how I analyze them. I started this book with the idea that I wanted it to be useful for all levels of strength play, from amateurs to great grandmasters. I really think the best books are those in which everyone can understand the basic concepts of variations and, at the same time, be useful to anyone who wants to delve deeper into the theory.

I based many of the lines and conclusions of this book not only on computer assessment but also from a practical point of view. While I did a deep dive using powerful motors when analyzing the lines, I can't say they're perfect. Most importantly, all evaluations are based on my own understanding and knowledge of chess.

After writing this book, I had to take on another challenge: my personal choices led me to become an editor at Thinkers Publishing (again, after Daniël's kind offer), and I decided to publish the book myself. The bad thing is, any problems with this book, about the chess content design, I can't complain to anyone but myself!

I really hope that this book will help you to develop a solid understanding of Sicilian Kan and that it will bring you good results. I hope you enjoy the material as much as I wrote (and edited)!