One Fixed Structure, Eight Competing Plans: Rossolimo Doubled Pawns with GM Evgeny Romanov
When Black recaptures 4.Bxc6 dxc6 in the Rossolimo, the pawns on c5 and c6 are doubled for good — and that one permanent feature sets the terms for everything that follows. White holds the better structure, Black the two bishops, and unlike most Sicilians the theory thins out quickly. What's left is a contest of plans. In Middlegame Understanding – Rossolimo Structures – Part 2, GM Evgeny Romanov works through that contest one plan at a time.
A course built on plans, not theoretical lines
Romanov's starting point is that concrete variations matter less here than in almost any other Sicilian. The doubled pawns fix the position early, so progress comes from knowing the plans rather than recalling moves — which is why the course is organized around eight of them instead of around opening lines.
He is also honest about where the balance actually sits. He points out that several of these plans hand Black the easier game in practice, and notes that White has lately moved away from the sharp long-castling lines toward quieter setups with short castling. What you get is a strong grandmaster's working assessment of who stands better and why.
Eight plans over one structure
Each chapter takes a specific pawn structure with its unique plans and follows it through model games. The doubled c-pawns stay constant; what changes is how each side tries to use them:
- a4 — squeezing the queenside: White grabs space and lays siege to c5, pushing on to a5 with Be3 and Qd2–c3; b4 stays available as a pawn sacrifice to rip the queenside open.
- a3–b4 — opening lines: White tries to open the queenside and hit c5 or a7, while Black storms the other wing with f5–f4 and g5–g4 — often the easier side to handle.
- f4 with the central exchange: White leans on the f-file and pushes e5 with Ne4 and Ng4 against the weak squares; the bishop's retreat to e3 or g3 hinges on whether ...Qg5 or ...g5 is in the air.
- e5 — the cramping pawn: the pawn on e5 restricts Black’s pieces and hands White the e4 outpost; Black hits back with ...f6, ...f5, or the ...c4 pawn sacrifice to free the bishops.
- c3 and the d-file: with the file open, White's d-pawn turns into a target; White chooses between the b4-idea, the d4 break (which tends to favor Black's bishops), or a restrained d3.
- Opposite-side castling: White castles long and pushes the kingside pawns, yet here White struggles to create real threats and Black's queenside play is convincing, leading many to switch to short castling.
- ...f6 and the knight reroute: Black sends the knight toward f7 and plays on the kingside with the f- and g/h-pawns; White answers by advancing the a-pawn to undermine the doubled c-pawns.
- ...g5 — the early storm: Black throws the kingside pawns forward to open a file and attack, sending the king to safety on the queenside; the advances loosen the light squares, and White looks to the e5 break in reply.
The technical scope of the course:
- 8 typical structures arising after White captures on c6 and Black recaptures with ...dxc6
- 8 chapters, each covering one structure through several model games
- 26 test positions
- Video instruction
- Multilingual PGN (English, German, French, Spanish)
Where it sits, and where to go next
This is Part 2, devoted to the ...dxc6 recapture. Its companion, Part 1, takes on the other branch — where Black recaptures with ...bxc6 — and the two together cover the full Rossolimo middlegame from both sides of the trade.
Whether you reach these doubled pawns as White, hunting the c5 weakness, or as Black, banking on the two bishops, the hard part has always been knowing which plan the position calls for. Work through the eight versions of the pawn structures and the 26 test positions, and the doubled-pawn structure stops being a puzzle to solve over the board and becomes a map you already know how to read.
INTRODUCTION BY GM Evgeny Romanov
SAMPLE CHAPTER
SAMPLE VIDEO