The Fighting Lowenthal Sicilian — Reopening a Closed File
A verdict nobody rechecked
Some openings are not refuted so much as inherited as refuted. The Lowenthal is the textbook case. For decades it was called dubious, then written off as refuted outright, and most players believed that and moved on. GM Baadur Jobava's starting point is that nobody went back to check the evidence with modern tools — and that when you do, the picture changes. The engine era, so often the executioner of romantic systems, turns out to be the Lowenthal's best defence attorney.
That is the leitmotif running through all nine chapters, including the famous engine "refutation" with 13.Be2 that keeps most players away from the variation entirely. Jobava's conclusion is stated plainly: Black holds, all the way down to a draw the opponent will never find over the board.
What makes this course different
The Lowenthal arises after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 a6 6.Nd6+ Bxd6 7.Qxd6 Qf6, and this is where the central practical argument lives. With 7...Qf6 Black offers the queen trade, and the whole game reduces to one question: where does the white queen go? There are six answers, and each gets its own treatment.
That structure is the selling point. For Black, the workload is small and clearly defined. For White, every one of those six replies is a decision he has never had to weigh before. The line is not obscure — it is unstudied, and the burden of proof falls on the side that must solve it in real time.
Jobava, one of the most inventive attacking players of his generation, is the natural author for a repertoire built on unfamiliar terrain. GM Pier Luigi Basso supplies the analytical rigour that keeps the material sound — because a surprise weapon is only worth playing if the analysis survives contact with the engine, which is exactly where the Lowenthal was assumed to fail.
Map of variations
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5
- 5.Nb3, 5.Nf3, 5.Nf5, 5.Nxc6 — White’s fifth move alternatives → Chapter 1
5.Nb5 a6
- 6.N5c3 and other sixth moves → Chapter 1
6.Nd6+ Bxd6 7.Qxd6 Qf6 — the queen trade offer, and the six retreats:
- 8.Qxf6 — the exchange; Black keeps the game alive rather than settling for a draw → Chapter 2
- 8.Qa3 — eyeing the a3-f8 diagonal → Chapter 3
- 8.Qc7 — the trickiest; greed can leave the queen trapped → Chapter 4
- 8.Qd3 — natural-looking, but not the best → Chapter 5
- 8.Qd2 — a deep engine try → Chapter 6
- 8.Qd1 Qg6 — the main line and the critical test, including 13.Be2 → Chapters 7–9
What you get
- 9 Chapters
- 20 test positions
- Memory Booster
- To Go Version of every chapter
- Video instruction
- Multilingual PGN availability (English, German, French, Spanish)
Completing the picture against 1.e4
This course answers what happens after White commits to 3.d4. If White declines the Open Sicilian and meets 2...Nc6 with 3.Bb5, the Rossolimo, GM Jobava has covered that ground in Anti-Sveshnikov Sicilian — Top-Level Repertoire for Black. Together, the two give a 2...Nc6 player a coherent answer to White's main choices.
Start playing it
The Lowenthal is risky, it is sharp, and — contrary to what you were told — it works. Six variations to learn — and an opponent left thinking on move eight. Add it to your repertoire and let White prove the old verdict.