by Sergei Tiviakov, Video running time: 3 h 15 min.

The Maroczy System of the Sicilian Defence is one of the modern openings where Black attacks the white centre mainly with pieces. After the moves 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.c4 Nf6 the pawns c4 and e4 secure White a space advantage in the middle, however, it is exactly these central pillars which may easily become targets of the black counterattack. Sergei Tiviakov has been applying this system with Black in his tournament practice since 1991 and is considered one of its greatest experts. His explanations make it easy to understand the black set-up where recognizing typical recurring piece maneuvres is far more important than concrete knowledge of variations. The Maroczy System can be learned within the shortest of time, and due to its solidity it is best suited to score good results even against strong opponents.

Born in Krasnodar (Soviet Union), Sergei Tiviakov was a member of the Smyslov School and gained the titles of World Youth Champion at U16 and U18 levels. In the PCA-World Championships, he reached the candidates‘ matches in 1994; in the same year he represented Russia in the Chess Olympiads. Although he has considered himself a professional chess player since 1989, Tiviakov also finished his degree in agricultural economics. Since 1997 Tiviakov has been living in Groningen and he has become a naturalised citizen of the Netherlands. With his new home country he won the title in the European Teams Championships in both 2001 and 2005 and was victorious in the championship of the Netherlands in 2006 and 2007.

System requirements: Pentium-Processor at 300 Mhz or higher, 64 MB RAM, Windows XP, Windows Vista, DVD drive, mouse, soundcard