Here is an example of why I love the grand prix so much.  Black can play seemingly reasonable moves yet be completely strategically lost.  This is just a 5-minute ICC game yet I have played hundreds of games almost identical to this, in the sense that black's c-pawn comes under heavy fire, white blockades the entire position, and black feels like he can't do anything.  

 

Of course black makes mistakes to get into a position like this, but I have even

gotten such positions against strong masters that aren't familiar with the grand

prix attack.   

 

Arg, why can't I post game boards anymore?  Here is the pgn:

[Event "ICC"]

[Site "Internet Chess Club"]

[Date "2008.02.28"]

[White "ZenChess"]

[Black "floatingself"]

[Result ""]

[WhiteElo "1874"]

[BlackElo "1916"]

[TimeControl "300+0"]



1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bb5 a6

6. Bxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nh6 8. Ne4 d6 9. Qe2 O-O 10. O-O Bf5

11. d3 Bxe4 12. Qxe4 d5 13. Qa4 Qc8 14. b3 e6 15. Ba3 Nf5

16. Bxc5 Rd8 17. g4 Nh6 18. h3 Bf8 19. Qb4 Bxc5+ 20. Qxc5 Qb7

21. Rfe1 a5 22. a4 Qa6 23. Nd4 Rac8 24. Kf2 Qa8 25. Kg1 Qb7

26. Kf1 Kg7 27. Ke2 Ng8 28. f5 Qb8 29. Kd2 Re8 30. f6+ Kh8

31. g5 h6 32. gxh6 Nxh6 33. h4 Qc7 34. Re2 Ng4 35. Nf3 Rf8

36. h5 d4 37. Qxd4 gxh5 38. Rh1


 

 

If your plan is to play the sicilian defense, you should eventually be prepared to meet all the anti-sicilians, they will definitely get played against you.

 I think the grand prix is a good choice to meet the sicilian for a new player.  In my opinion the open sicilian is almost a guaranteed loss as white against a much stronger rated player.  There are so many traps and zaps to watch out for, and many of white's best lines require a very aggressive approach with kingside pawn thrusts.  If you don't believe me, play some strong players as white, and count the number of times the b-pawn and knights hopping all over the queenside led to your downfall =)

The grand prix on the other hand takes your sicilian player out of their preferred 

territory, and into *your* repetoire.  But it's still not all roses, it's just a way to 

minimize the time required to survive in such an opening as the sicilian.  

I have various sources for my grand prix repetoire, including roman dzinzdiashvili's 

videos, "anti-sicilians, a guide for black (which doesnt go as deep in some of 

the lines roman recommends as youd need), and chess databases are also helpful. 

For instance, the free chessbase online database, or megabase 2008 can find you

games that may be relevant to your line.  

 

I am entering my repetoire into chess position trainer, a free opening trainer 

program that tests your memory of the openings you've entered into it, handles transpositions, 

etc.  I'd be happy to share the resulting data-files with you.  

 

Just to let you know: I used to play the Bc4 lines as white.  I almost completely

disregarded the grand prix attack after several games in which black got good

games against me in the main lines after b5 (as mentioned below).  I considered 

delving into the open sicilian, but that is such a momentous task that I didn't 

even get started.  (black as a sicilian player can choose so many variations of

the sicilian defense that as white you are facing a huge task to be familiar with

all of them.  ANd sadly, one slip in the open sicilian and you're dead lost).

 

So I kind of hoped that black wouldn't know the main lines of the Bc4 variation.

Then I watched roman's videos on the grand prix (the newer ones where he 

recommends o-o instead of Bd3 after Nd4), and I suddenly was relieved that

I had a system that I could compete with against the sicilian.  In fact my results

have been very good so far in ICC blitz games at least, and I've only been trying 

it for a few days now =) 

 

I actually have a book about the grand prix attack, I am going to see what it 

says about these lines.  Before I was using it to play the Bc4 variation, and the

conclusion of the book was very sad on that variation.  I don't think it's the best

book in the world, it's certainly not very packed full of variations.  THe book is called

"sicilian grand prix attack" by james plaskett.  I'm not going to recommend it 

yet though until I see what it says about the lines dzindzi recommends.   

 

ALl that being said, however, I still think it's good to play the open sicilian 

ocassionally as white, if just to get the experience of it.  I can hold my own in 

the open sicilian much better than I could years ago - in which I would just get totally

crushed.  Also if you play the sicilian as black, you will of course have a much

better understanding of it if you also play the open as white.   

Thanks Zenchess! Im still a beginner at both chess and the GPA so any help/analysis is greatly appreciated.. Know any good books on this opening? Iv seen a book about combating anti-sicilian lines for black (anti-anti-sicilian?!) and the GPA was one chapter.. do you think i could benifit more from learning about these openings (their strengths/weaknesses, ways of beating them etc) or should i just stick to the GPA itself? Thanks again

Hey Bob, I looked at your game.  

 

First I would like to warn you that after a6, white cannot stay in grand prix lines

successfully and in the variation you chose after Bc4, black can get good play by

getting d5 in.  I tried this same variation with a4 against John Fedorwicz (gm)

in new york and him and joel benjamin (they were there for the blitz tournament)

both agreed that white would need to play something different like a closed

sicilian after a6.

 

Also I wanted to let you know that after you played Qh4 on move 12, he could have won a pawn and gotten some good play after Nxe4, discovering an attack against your queen.  Watch out for that! =)

 

Actually I was white in this game, I play the grand prix.

5. Bc4 is horrible against a booked opponent, believe it or not.  I'll show you what I 

mean, the lines of which I have found in several grand prix and or sicilian books:

  (btw I used to play this variation exclusively and it's an EXCELLENT suprise

weapon)

Ok welll the variation boards don't appear to be working right now so here are

the variations:

 

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 e6 6. f5 Nge7 7. fxe6 fxe6 8d3 d5

9 Bb3 b5!   (this move b5 is very strong and if your opponent plays it he is

probably booked up and you will have to bail out with one of the 'barely holds 

on' sidelines.  10. o-o     (this castling variation, sacrifcing a piece, was the 

point behind white's play before but now white is in big trouble). 10...c4

11dxc4 dxc4 12.Qxd8+ Kxd8 13. Nxb5 cxb3 14.axb3 Bd7 15.Ng5 Kc8

 

This position and similar positions that can be entered from this variation 

are complicated, so not all is lost if you enter them, but against a good solid 

player you can practically expect to lose.  

 

Turns out that in my game, after Be6, Ng5 is a big mistake.  What he played

in the game was ok but even better is Nb6 and I get into serious development

troubles not to mention he wins his pawn back.  

Instead, I looked up in the database later, Qd3 was played one out of the 3 games

I found in the database for this variation.  

An alternative to exd5 that can also be played is e5, and that is also interesting.

 

I think the grand prix attack is a good choice for players that are not comfortable

in the main lines of open sicilian.  You can learn very few lines of theory in 

the Bb5 variation that I chose and you will probably be more familiar with it

than your opponent.  There are also many ways for black to make positional 

mistakes. 

Never heard of the grand prix attack cool game though it was looking like a draw till you beat him in the end bit.

Just finished this GPA game.. the attack kinda stumbled but theres a nice mate..

http://www.chess.com/echess/game.html?id=5272421

(cant get the board thing working.. so youl have to follow the link)

5. Bc4 is more usual i think... fianchetto-ing (?) the dark bishop is quite solid against it.. being playing the GPA for a couple of months (mostly on this site) .. its devestating against un-prepared oppenents but i need to study it more because good players can put it down fairly easy..  well my version of it anyway!

anyone want a GPA match with me as white?

wow awesome! I really love the play! Great game! But i dont understand why would white want to fight black with a Bishop! I find Knigt quite aggressive on closing games!

it isn't like you beat the grand prix. You both emerged with equal material. In fact, you only really played a better end game than your opponent. But I agree. I hate grand prix attack. I've never won a game against it actually.

Ah, I was just joking, not the end of the grand prix.  Ng5 is flawed, Better moves are Qd3 or Nxd5 or Qe2...position has only been played 3 times in my database.

 I mainly made this blog post to show this game to a couple friends of mine, just a silly little 5 minute game =) 

Good play by black, but is this variation the end of the Grand Prix ? I don't know...