The Taimanov Variation with 6.Le3 a6 is currently very popular and is also considered one of the most reliable Sicilian systems for Black. White has tried out various approaches here, not least the English Attack (7.Qd2 followed by 8.f3) or moves like 7.Bd3, 7.Be2, 7.Qf3, 7.f4 etc. In comparison, 7.g4 is still as good as "new".
In March of this year Anish Giri managed a beautiful win with 7.g4 against Ian Nepomniachtchi in the Magnus Carlsen Invitational. This encounter is also the starting point of Robert Ris’ video analysis. The World Championship challenger reacted to the unusual advance with 7...h6, but after 8.h4 Nf6 9.Nxc6 bxc6 10.Qf3 d5 11.g5 hxg5 12.hxg5 Rxh1 Qxh1 Giri got a comfortable position with a clear lead in development.
Nepomniachtchi's reply 7...h6, however, is somewhat unusual and has received little attention in the discussion since. In his analysis Robert Ris therefore goes into more detail on alternatives such as 7...Bb4 and 7...Ne7. The IM from the Netherlands sees the really critical continuation in the variation 7…Nxd4 8.Qxd4 b5 9.0-0-0 Bb7 10.Kb1!?
This is what happened in the games Nepomniachtchi-Caruana and Anand-Van Foreest, both played this year.
"This entire system with the move 7.g4 is alive and kicking. We will definitely get to see more games with this setup.... It's a cool system and I'm ready to play it myself."
Running time of the complete video in CBM Extra 203: 38:15 min
In the second opening video of CBM Extra 203 Jan Werle examines Carlsen's move 4.c4 in the Caro-Kann Advance Variation (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.c4 e6 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.cxd5) from the game Carlsen-Fedoseev from the World Cup 2021. Video playing time: 31:09 min.
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