Questions tagged [sicilian-defense]
The Sicilian Defense is the opening given by the moves 1. e4 c5, and it is one of the most popular replies to white's 1. e4.
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How do I face the Sicilian wisely?
When I play the open Sicilian with White, I have this constant unjustified urge to “do something” and “do it immediately or Black will take over”! I am good enough of a player to know this is stupid! ...
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Why do some common openings move a pawn in front a bishop prior to moving the king's or queen's pawn?
I've seen several people do this and assumed it was a beginner's mistake (since I'm a beginner myself and I play on the chess.com app usually only against other players within 25 points of my rating), ...
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Does anyone know the history of the Moscow variation of the Sicilian defense? It's now referred to as the Canal Attack
The variation starts 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+. It is considered an anti-Sicilian, and though I can find the theory behind it, I'm having a hard time tracking down any history. I checked the Oxford ...
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Alapin Sicilian 4th move after 2... Nf6 3.e5 Nd5
[FEN ""]
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5
According to some databases I have looked at 4. Nf3 is clearly better than 4. d4. Actually d4 loses more than it wins. For example the lichess.org masters ...
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In Alapin Sicilian 2... Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.cxd4 e6 what is the best plan for white?
What is the best reply after
[FEN ""]
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.cxd4 e6
I understand that this is definitely not the best move for black. Consulting some databases, I see that this move ...
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Opening name change of one game at Chess.com
Here are the first few moves of a game that I played at chess.com and the name of the openings is shown by the system:
c4 (English Opening) c5 (English Opening; Symmetrical Variation)
Nc3 Nc6 (...
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(black) why the pawn H6 is not good move in this position?
(My turn[black])
I want to attack the g5 knight, so I up the pawn at H6, but the chess engine evaluate 3.4 to 1.3 my winning points. Instead engine recommended pawn D6, pawn D5, king H8 is better move....
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Why does black play ...e5 in this variant of sicillian defense?
[FEN ""]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. h3 g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. Bc2 e5
In this position the move e5 blocks the diagonal for white's bishop on c2 but it seems that it also blocks our ...
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This variation in Open Sicilian: why give back the exchange?
This is my first foray into the Sicilian from the perspective of black.
So I'm messing around with the open Sicilian on my engine, in particular 4 ...Qb6 5 Be3 Qxb2.
In this variation, apparently even ...
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What are the 18 moves?
Last week New in Chess' book of the week was Zlotnik's Middlegame Manual by Boris Zlotnik. Zlotnik was Caruana's coach during his youth when he was living in Spain and Caruana wrote a foreword for the ...
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Is it a good idea for white to play the Botvinnik system in the Sicillian defense?
After 1. e4 c5, the following line is not popular:
[fen ""]
[startply "3"]
1. e4 c5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 d6 6. Nge2 e6
Is there any reason that this line is not ...
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Should I get into the Najdorf?
I'm a ~1500 rated player on Chess.com's scale (highest rating is 1420 or so, but rapidly growing so we'll say 1500). A few months ago I participated in an invitational tournament against another ...
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Resources to learn the Open Sicilian
As per the title, I'm looking for resources to learn the Open Sicilian. In particular, I would like to understand general themes and pawn structures instead of memorizing precise moves. For the record,...
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Hikaru on chess960: Have there been more Najdorf or Dragon games in the past decade?
From Wikipedia:
Hikaru in 2014 on chess960: (emphasis added)
I think chess960 is great as it is simply pure intuition and understanding without theory or computers. In my opinion, a lot depends on ...
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Why taking the knight on d5 in Alapin Sicilian is not so good for white
I'm going through some preparation of the Alapin Sicilian.
Studying the opening I reached this position:
rnbqk2r/pp2bppp/3pp3/3nP3/2BP4/5N2/PP3PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 2 8
In which I wonder why it isn't ...
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