Monday, September 23, 2013

The risky Katalimov Sicilian

Boris Katalimov (or Katalymov) (1932-2012) was a strong Soviet (later Kazakh) master who played against the greats of Soviet chess, often successfully. FIDE finally awarded him the International Master title in 1996, although at his best he surely would have been a grandmaster by today's standards. According to Chessmetrics, at his peak in May 1978 he was the No. 84 player in the world. He was still playing actively and well the year before his death, scoring a respectable 7-4 (no draws!) at the 2011 World Senior Championship.

Katalimov played imaginatively in the openings, often playing the Sokolsky (1.b4) as White. In the Sicilian Defense, the Katalimov Variation of the Sicilian Defense (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 b6) is named for him. It is probably playable if Black knows what he is doing. The French GM Christian Bauer is a devotee, and seems to score very well with it. A few other GMs, such as Humpy Koneru and Stuart Conquest, play it occasionally. However, it is a demanding line for Black, who can easily get blown off the board if he plays carelessly. This is well-illustrated by the following game, where Black greedily grabbed two pawns in the opening and was annihilated by White. The notes to the game illustrate some other crushing wins by White.