Sicilian Defense

Because it doesn't equalise — it changes the rules. Against White's pawn in the centre Black replies not with a mirror but with a wing pawn: the centre and the space go to White deliberately, and in return the position stops being symmetrical. Later the wing pawn is traded for a central one and the fight splits across the board — White looks for play on the kingside, Black on the queenside. Among masters it is the most frequent answer to White's first move.

Covered in the lesson: Sicilian Defense: Introduction →

Yes, if you learn it as a map of answers rather than a list of long variations. The Sicilian gives Black a game of their own from move two, and that game does not fall apart when the opponent leaves the main road. And they leave it constantly: more than half of amateur games sidestep the main continuation. That is why this course is built around those sidesteps — one lesson and one ready answer for each.

Covered in the lesson: Sicilian Defense: Introduction →

It is when White pushes the pawn to c3 on move two. The pawn attacks nothing by itself — it backs up a future advance into the centre, so White ends up with two pawns side by side there. The variation is named after Semyon Alapin, one of the strongest masters of the late nineteenth century. This course answers with a piece, not with pawns: the knight comes out with a threat, White chases it forward, the knight lands in the centre, and then Black undermines the overextended pair.

Covered in the lesson: Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation →

In the Closed Variation White does not open the centre: the pieces come out slowly while the forces gather for an attack on the king. Waiting loses — the assault arrives before Black has anything to set against it. The plan: the bishop goes to the long diagonal via the fianchetto and rakes the queenside, the rook steps onto the b-file, and the pawns advance to drive White's knight off c3. Whoever gets their flank moving first dictates the game. Smyslov and Spassky both played this with White.

Covered in the lesson: Closed Variation: Fianchetto →

An early push of the f-pawn: instead of preparing quietly, White shows at once where the blow will fall — the rook and queen get their lines and the mass rolls towards the black king. The name comes from the English weekend Grand Prix tournaments, where it was played en masse in the eighties. Black's reply depends on move order: if White has already developed the knight, Black puts the bishop on the long diagonal to hold the centre and shield the king. Otherwise Black strikes in the centre at once.

Covered in the lesson: Grand Prix Attack: d5 Break →

Black's answer to the most direct push of the f-pawn: Black strikes in the centre with a pawn straight away and gives it up for a while. The rule works wherever White has not developed the knight to c3 — nobody defends the central square, so the blow goes in immediately, with no preparation. Do not grab the pawn back with the queen: the knight comes first, or the early queen becomes a target and White gains tempo attacking it. The pawn comes back; the lead in development stays.

Covered in the lesson: Grand Prix Attack: d5 Break →

The Smith-Morra is a pawn sacrifice on move three: White gives up material to get the pieces out ahead of Black and attack first. This course accepts the pawn and defends with move order rather than counterattack — knight to c6, then the pawn to e6, then the king into safety, the sooner the better. Not one spectacular move, and that is calculation, not modesty: White needs a target and Black refuses to provide one. The attack runs out of steam; the extra pawn stays.

Covered in the lesson: Smith-Morra Gambit: Accept and Defend →

The Italian master Giulio Polerio analysed the wing-pawn reply as early as 1594, but gave the opening no name. The name stuck two centuries later: in 1813 the Englishman Jacob Sarratt fixed the Italian phrase for a 'Sicilian game' in English, and why the game was named after the island nobody really knows. The opening was long considered dubious — Tarrasch called it not entirely sound. The turn came in the forties with Botvinnik, Boleslavsky, Najdorf and Bronstein; later Fischer and Kasparov made it their main weapon.

Covered in the lesson: Sicilian Defense: Introduction →