Hi all. I would like to give a brief introduction to the Sicilian defense
today. After 1.e4 the Sicilian defense 1...c5 is one of the most popular replies.
Black is immediately seeking to unbalance the position and the pawn
structure. What is black doing with the move c5 which makes the Sicilian defense such
a successful weapon and very popular at all levels? Black is
immediately contesting control of the d4 square so White has a few choices here.
On move 2 - there are a number of deviations for white for what is known
as the "Mainline Sicilian". The mainline Sicilian is where white plays Knight f3
followed by d4 so black has a number of replies here. Say d6 is chosen and the move
d4 we have the open Sicilian. So it's called the open Sicilian because open
lines are resulting from this pawn exchange. Also black will usually have
semi open c-file pressure and White has some pressure on the d-file. In many
variations of the Sicilian, White is casting on the Queen side and black on the King
side. And both sides of throwing attacking resources at each other so it
makes for very exciting games. Before looking at some of the main names
of open Sicilian related variations let's look quickly at some of the
deviations that move 2 after Black plays c5. The c3 Sicilian "Alapin variation" has become
popular recently so black needs to know what what he or
she is doing. An early d5 is theoretical there's also Knight f6. Also black may
play e6 to try and tempt White to transpose into a French defense after d4
d5. So you need to know what you're doing when white plays c3. Also there's the
dangerous Smith-Morra gambit which it's useful to to know a line.
Where White is sacking another pawn here so playing an immediate d4 and then playing c3.
And if you take you could be under a lot of pressure. So either take that second
pawn or maybe consider playing d3 giving the pawn back immediately and playing g6
to fight on the dark squares. That's what I prefer doing after this Smith-Morra
gambit offering of c3. I would recommend to just play d3 but there's also other
variations here. The wing gambit is quite dangerous and very good statistically so
White is playing almost like a reversed Benko Gambit. If you take then
a3 and if you take again again you're giving White a lot of pressure so that
could really backfire if you're not careful.
Also after c5 White might play the Closed variation - the "Closed Sicilian"
with Knight c3 so the idea here is often on for example after knight c6
to play g3 and we might have this example move sequence. So the play for
both sides is distinctly different than the open Sicilian. White is often playing
for a later f4. As black if if you ever reach this position try and make sure
you can play f5 in return and keep your control of d4 and maybe often play for
a6 rook b8 b5 expand on the Queen side to try and increase the influence of
this bishop. So these variations need to be understood as important move 2
alternatives if you really want to play the Sicilian successfully because people
won't give you fun by default. They will try and make you suffer. They will want you to
suffer (especially in the British Chess clubs where no one seems to play "Main line chess and we had GM Murray Chandler create the dreadful book on the 2.c3 Sicilian). They'll play obscure variations or
variations which give a small advantage to White with minimal counterplay for
black. Minimal counterplay has always being a priority of grandmasters (especially Russian Grandmasters). They
want to win games in a riskless manner. But anyway let's look at now at the open
Sicilian variations which still remain the most popular. So after Knight f3
let's look first at the hugely popular Najdorf variation. So d6 d4 so black
takes Knight takes d4 Knight f6 so immediately attacking that pawn on e4 so
white usually replies with Knight c3 and now you play a6. So this has been
hugely popular and exponents include Garry Kasparov and Bobby Fischer. They had deep
theoretical knowledge of this variation and things like the poisoned pawn variation
in particular are ultra sharp. The word "sharp" is used you know as an adjective
for positions which require great precision and one move could spell
disaster. So a6 here. Ideas of a6 include preventing an early Bishop b5
check but also maybe later black is played b5 and Bishop b7 putting the
bishop on an interesting and important diagonal. Let's have a look at an example
variation so say Bishop b7 here as a demonstration. So black is exerting more
pressure on that e4 square. There's another idea of this b5. Later black
can often play for a knight outpost on c4 and if white ever takes for the
bishop then you get the bishop pair. So a6 has a number of ideas behind it. It's
a very useful move from a number of perspectives and that is the start of
hugely popular Najdorf variation. The classical variation is black actually
here playing instead of a6 playing knight c6 or developing another knight.
The Scheveningen variation now let's go back to move 1 to make sure we have the
right move order. I'll just paste it in and then rewind it. So d4 takes Knight
takes d4 you play Knight f6 you attack the pawn and now you play the immediate
e6 so you don't play a6. So maybe whites will be boring and try
and play Bishop b5 check and exchange the bishops. If not you later play Bishop
e7 castles and that plan of a6 is often handy with b5 and Bishop b7. Or later you
can play to liberate these pawns in the center with d5 or e5.
White always has to be careful about black doing that. So the Scheveningen
variation because of this flexible pawn center. The Sicilian Dragon variation. Now
this is very interesting. Let's paste the moves in. You have this pawn
structure in the shape like a fire-breathing dragon. This
Bishop is the fire-breathing dragon piece. Let's rewind that and replay it. So
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 d4 you take then you play Knight f6 now after Knight c3 you
play g6 so the bishop is fianchettoed and often you know white is castling
queenside and they can lead to very exciting games where White's trying to
attack you on the H file. But you have to try and generate counterplay against
White's King. The games of Grandmaster Chris Ward are worth looking at. Some
brilliant games there involving sacrifices often on c3 with rook takes
c3. The Sveshnikov variation is one of my favorites. Let's have that variation
pasted in and now rewind so 1.e4 c5 2. Knight f3
now instead of d6 or e6 Black plays now the
immediate knight c6 so after d4 you take the pawn Knight
takes d4 and now you play Knight f6. That's the proper Sveshnikov. If you want
a backdoor Sveshnikov (another way of saying a really inferior version) then there's the Kalashnikov with a major e5 which
could transpose later (into proper Sveshnikov). After Nb5 if you did play Knight f6 and
they did play Knight c3 you can play a6 you've transposed into regular Sveshnikov.
But alternatively you can play more you know uniquely. You can just play
a6 and encourage Knight d6 so the Kalashnikov is a bit of a poor relative
of the Sveshnikov. But anyway so Knight f6 Knight c3 e5,
I fell in love with this variation for many years. So Knight b5. The reason I
fell in love with it is the dynamics. After knight b5 d6 Bishop g5 a6 Na3
believe it or not so the knights are hobbling around. b5 and now White has
two main candidate moves. Bishop takes f6 or Knight d5. You need to know both if
you want to play this. Bishop takes f6 is very dynamic. gxf6 Knight d5 and black
is accepting a terrible pawn structure or terrible looking pawn structure rather with
gaping hole on d5 but you get semi open G file pressure. You've got the two
bishops. There's a lot to play for. It's become very popular at Grandmaster level.
Kasparov has played it with white and black. (Magnus Carlsen has played it in World Chess championships after this video was recorded). A number of
Grandmasters have played this Sveshnikov variation. If you enjoyed this video please come and register at www.chessworld.net - and challenge Kingscrusher for a game :)
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