Sicilian Defense

Answer not with a mirror, but with a strike from the side

Sharp play
Asymmetry

Interactive Opening Board

5.Nc3

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Black

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White

5.Nc3

Speed:

Moves

(9 plies • 5 moves)

5.Nc3Tabiya

The knight covers e4 and completes development. Now Black reaches a fork: …a6, …g6, …e6 or …Nc6.

1–5moves
#WhiteBlack
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1.e4 The king's pawn takes the centre and opens the way for the bishop and queen.

1…c5 Black does not copy White but hits d4 from the side. This is where the Sicilian begins.

2.Nf3 The knight prepares d2-d4 and watches over d4 and e5 at once.

2…d6 The d6 pawn shores up the centre, frees the c8 bishop and leaves f6 for the knight.

3.d4 White opens the centre, ready to trade a d-pawn for the c-pawn and keep the extra space.

3…cxd4 Black accepts the trade. The wing pawn is gone, but a half-open c-file has appeared.

4.Nxd4 The knight lands in the centre. This is the start of the Open Sicilian.

4…Nf6 A hit at the e4 pawn: White has to defend it while Black develops.

5.Nc3 The knight covers e4 and completes development. Now Black reaches a fork: …a6, …g6, …e6 or …Nc6.

Defining move

1…c5! — a strike from the side

The move that sets the Sicilian apart from every other answer to 1.e4

After 1…e5 Black builds the same chain as White and the game mirrors itself. The c5 pawn breaks the symmetry: it hits d4, prepares to trade for a central pawn and opens the c-file. White cannot calmly build a big centre, and Black gets a plan of its own.

Tabiya

The Open Sicilian

The position from which the whole Sicilian theory grows. White has a knight on d4 and a pawn on e4; Black has a pawn on d6 and a knight on f6. Now Black chooses the character of the game: …a6 leads to the Najdorf, …g6 to the Dragon, …e6 to the Scheveningen, …Nc6 to the Classical system. Four moves, four entirely different worlds.

The centre

A central pawn against a wing pawn

White keeps the e4 pawn, Black the d6 pawn. Black gets the central majority (d and e pawns against one), White the queenside majority (a, b, c against a, b). So White usually attacks on the kingside while Black presses along the c-file.

Key squaresd4d5e5

Outposts

d4White's key knight
From here the knight bears on b5, e6 and f5. Black tries to trade it off, White to keep it.
d5The hole in the centre
Without a pawn on e6 the d5 square is weak. A white knight on d5 can be very strong, which is why Black so often plays …e6 or …d5.

Thematic breaks

d5Black
The freeing strike …d6-d5
Trade off the e4 pawn and take away White's central edge.
What follows: The centre opens and Black equalises. That is why White does everything to prevent it, or attacks first.
g4White
The kingside pawn storm
Drive Black's pieces from the kingside and open lines towards the king.
What follows: The game becomes a race: while White storms, Black must create counterplay on the c-file in time.
b5Black
The …b7-b5 thrust
Push White's pieces back, win space and attack if the White king has gone to the queenside.
What follows: Both kings come under fire, and the more accurate calculator wins.

White’s plan

Develop quickly: Be3, f3 or f4, Qd2, then castle, often long.
Attack on the kingside with the f, g and h pawns.
Keep Black from the freeing …d5, and strike first when it is being prepared.

Black’s plan

Use the c-file: put a rook on c8 and press on c2.
Counterattack on the queenside with …a6, …b5, …Qc7.
Choose the structure to taste: …e5 with a hole on d5, …e6 with a flexible chain, or …g6 with a bishop on the long diagonal.

History

The Italian Giulio Polerio left the first written analysis of the move in the late sixteenth century. The Sicilian was taken up seriously in the La Bourdonnais–McDonnell matches of 1834. It found a second life in the middle of the twentieth century, when Soviet masters, followed by the Argentine Miguel Najdorf, Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov, made it Black's main weapon against 1.e4. In 1985 Kasparov won the last game of his match with it and became world champion.