Müller: Typically Sicilian - Effective middlegame training

Of course, every middlegame textbook contains one or two positions that can be clearly assigned to this or that opening. However, their number is negligible compared to the positions from all the other openings that are treated as examples. And thus, all of the positions whose strategic treatment the reader does not actually want to learn.

For example, as the author asks quite rightly, is the treatment of the topics of hanging pawns and minority attacks not just as dispensable for an e4 player as it is essential for a d4 player? Why should a die-hard fan of Indian openings be interested in the strategic subtleties of positions that result from all these complicated Queen's Gambit systems? And of course the other way round too: What can a player who generally avoids fianchetto openings do with all these subtleties of Indian positions?

And it is precisely this striking and astonishing vacuum in the area of ​​middlegame literature that inspired the author to try to improve it: for example, anyone who wants to learn Sicilian middlegame strategy will get a textbook and exercise book that deals exclusively with Sicilians. However, this book initially only deals with positions of the 'open Sicilian' type - namely those with the 'small center' consisting of the pawns d6 and e6, which is typical for the vast majority of Sicilian systems.

Special mention should be made of the fact that the more than 150 exercises were assigned to specific themes in order to ensure a varied and entertaining presentation - for example, 'promotion candidate', 'relegation candidate', 'violent measures or increasing pressure' and the like.

162 pages, paperback, 1st edition 2022