I haven’t found anything that seems fun, I never like my positions.
What do you guys like to play against the Sicilian with white?
Chess QuestionTo add to this, there is so much variety within the open sicilian; whites can choose positional, aggressive, wild, or any number of lines in the open sicilian with wildly different characters. There will be something against each sicilian that you can find that you like, I can almost guarantee.
Same here. Went through phases with the Alapin, Grand Prix (which was okay) etc but once I started playing the open I have much more fun games. And even at the 1700 level where I am the games are not very theoretical.
YES, seconding this. Open Sicilians are much more fun, regardless of how the game goes. I'm happy to win or lose in an interesting Open Sicilian. I've always had fun.
Do you generally play open sicilian or do you play Bb4+ against Nc6? Because the rossolimo imo is by far the best anti sicilian and facing the Sveshnikov is often uncomfortable, as black has their entire army shoved up your king while you only have the queen side and the weakness on d6.
I play the open Sicilian, although it seems like the top players agree with your take that Rossolimo is best. I agree the Sveshnikov does get uncomfortable and double edged, but that's the fun part :)
What's fun to you? I play the open because it's the most critical test and I typically go into English Attacks whenever possible because opposite side castling is the good shit.
Good white stuff against Sicilian -> crack
Grand Prix Attack, because the name is cool
Well the accelerated dragon is a lot more cool
I find the Sicilian so ugly a setup I always play the Smith-Morra against it. At least the position is dynamic and fun.
Against a well prepared opponent you don't have enough compensation for the pawn.
Smith Morra leads to a more open game and I know exactly where to develop my pieces. No tricks, no funny stuff, but I always end the opening in a perfectly fine position.
I play Smith Morra specifically for the tricks and funny stuff. I’m saccing that knight one way or the other.
That's both the strength and the weakness of the morra. Even when I play one of the rare lines where you really shouldn't sac the knight, you still go ahead and do it, heh.
Which line sacs the knight?
There are a bunch where you move the knight to D5 and then all hell breaks loose. That knight sac is largely the whole point of going into the SM. If black takes, you get open lines down the middle and the black king gets stuck defending and ultimately you almost always get the piece back.
In a lot of the variations where black has a pawn on e6 but hasn't moved d6 yet (sometimes even then), Nd5 is not a fancy move but actually the modern standard plan.
Is a nice example. Marc Esserman has great analysis, this game is awesome because the old engines hated Nd5 but Marc was right in believing in this line, SF gives a good advantage now. Couple years ago engines would give a confident -0.5 in lines like this, and only reluctantly go to 0.00 once you torture the engine enough. Nowadays the engines instantly see allowing a sac like this often gives white an outright good position.
As others mentioned the knight sac on d5. It reminds me of a game I watched by IM John Bartholomew a while back here. It's a pretty good example.
Esserman advocates that you should consider the sacrifice on basically every move where it's an option (especially if the black d-pawn is still on d7).
"Mayhem in the Morra" is one of the most entertaining chess book every written, and you'll learn a lot about attacking play in general from it.
Even when the sacrifice is unsound it is practically extremely difficult to defend against.
It's a thematic move that presents itself in most lines of the Morra Accepted.
Where are you developing your pieces and where are you attacking? I’ve tried Smith Morra and been too slow or not attacking the right spots
check marc esserman YouTube videos
From my experience at the 1600-1700 (chesscom) level you can pretty safely accept the Smith morra because nobody actually knows the theory and it's just a free pawn
Even without knowing much theory white usually gets a very acceptable position. You get two open very strong files for your rooks and lots of opportunities for various pins and discovered attacks against the queen etc.
I play it without knowing that much theory, and I find that I can usually win at least the pawn back without too much trouble. If black falls in one of the few trappy lines I know, the better.
I really need to learn some Alapin theory though.
literally the only reason i play the smith morra is for funny stuff lmao
As black I answer the Smith Morra with ...Nc6, ...a6, and ...d6. End of story. At best you get a drawn game in this line. Go sac your knight and try your tricks against someone else. lol
I have never had any issue there, I just grab the free pawn and challenge white to prove compensation. Most of the time I found they can't. I understand the fun of the gambit, but against a well prepared opponent you are gonna end up minus a pawn for nothing. Of course at club level it's probably not an issue most of the time.
I'll be a buzzkill, but technically the Smith-Morra is a fake opening. You can avoid it by going 3 ... Nf6 and transpose to an Alapin (if you play the Nf6 alapin rather than the d5 alapin). It has the additional benefit of turning a very exciting position into an incredibly boring one, which will be sure to piss off the Smith-Morra hopefuls.
Open Sicilian. Stop trying to avoid it. At the end of the day, you're either learning the theory of the Najdorf and the Dragon, or the theory of the Smith Morra or the Alapin. You don't avoid playing 1.e4 because you don't want to learn the theory of the Ruy Lopez, the Petrov, the Caro Kann, etc. So why avoid the Open Sicilian just because black has various choices against it. If anything, in the Najdorf white is the one who is spoiled for choice. And against the Dragon there are many ways to gain an advantage via several different plans. Just bite the bullet and play it; stop trying to avoid theory. It's a part of Chess.
Agreed.
These closed sicilian players want to avoid raw calculation by any means necessary. Its not the theory they're worried about. They want to continue playing mediocre chess without putting in sweat to improve their calculation and strategic thinking. Its the same players that love the French and Caro Kan - until they run into sharp lines that is.
Open Sicilian
I love the Alapin. Most players don't encounter it too often and even if they've learned a few moves they often crumble because they're unfamiliar with the position.
For instance, quite a few times in tournaments I've had games that start like this:
- e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 Nc6 6. Nf3 d6 7. Bc4 Nb6 8. Bb5 a6
a6 is a common mistake that gives me a very comfortable position and is a result of someone unfamiliar with the positions that arise from the Alapin.
Most likely though, your opponent just won't know what to do. Sometimes they just go for the dragon or accelerated dragon and give you the ideal center with pawns on d4 and e4. Many times they play 2. d5 and there are some very sharp lines there that I enjoy a lot, especially if they trade on d4 and give you the isolated queen pawn early (which happens surprisingly more often than not).
It's by far my best performing opening otb
Most players don’t encounter it too often
Trust me, as someone who used to play the Sicilian I can comfortably say that the Alapin is even more common than the Open Sicilian mainlines in online Rapid. Playing the Sicilian without an answer to the Alapin (Nf6 or d5) is wild.
What rating bracket are you talking about?
Also I agree that if you play the Sicilian and someone catches you off guard by move 2 you're doing something wrong.
~1500 on chess.com
- Nf3 is over 10x more common than 2. c3 according to lichess rapid database, with open lines being the most common against blacks 2. d6 or 2. Nc6. Even including delayed alapin the open lines are still far more common.
I know what the lichess database says. But I dare you to play the Sicilian against 1. e4. You’ll be surprised how frequently you’ll face Anti-Sicilians and out of those I’d say the Alapin is the most common.
1700 here. Facing a lot more Alapin compare to Open Sicilian. Alapin is the trend now because I think most club players are reluctant to go into Open Sicilian thinking they might walk into Black's plan.
I encounter the Alapin daily. I'm not sure who told you "most players don't encounter it too often." I've played against the Alapin countless times online and OTB. As white you're just playing for a draw. Perhaps, you're "comfortable" with draws.
That said, the master database shows that black wins 50% of games in your line.
Open Sicilians are the most fun IMO, although I’m starting to have some minor interest in the Bc4 Grand Prix Attack.
There is a fun gambit with b4, not completely sound, but as a bit of a surprise if you know the lines, you should be equal.
Can try the closed variation with Nc3.
Then u play g3, fianchetto the bishop, f4, short castle and attack the king
Mayhem in the Morra
- Bc4 against the Classical/Najdorf, allow Sveshnikov lines against 2... Nc6 (I rarely, if at all, venture into the Nezhmetdinov-Rossolimo/Canal-Sokolsky Attack), the Yugoslav Attack basically plays itself against the Dragon and the 5. Nc3 variation of the Kan is extremely effective (although 5. Bd3 is also viable, I just like playing the Knight Variation better).
Used to play the Smith-Morra.
Learning the Alapin now.
Gawain Jones' Grand Prix with Bb5... it's probably outdated now but I'm too lazy to learn too much theory.
The Mengarini with 2. a3
It looks like a silly and unconspicuous move, but black can get in a lot of trouble really quickly after you gambit your b pawn. Off-beat and trappy is just the way I like it, even if engines don't 100% agree.
The problem with such lines is black can simply play d5 and avoid all the risks
Do all people do that? No. Is the position worse for you after exd5? Also no. You basically get to play a Scandinavian with a3 for white and c5 for black.
It's not worse but it's already equal in move 2. The move a3 means black can retreat the queen without tempo loss so I don't fully agree that it's equivalent to a Scandinavian. That being said it's not a losing opening either and a3 is more useful than many people often think.
What do you mean retreat the queen without a tempo loss? After Nc3 you have to move your queen just like in the Scandinavian. The only difference being the c5 pawn preventing Qa5, meaning you should go Qd8. Note that Qd6 isn't as good due to d4, trades and Nb5.
In the Sicilian the equalising move is often d5 and you offer black the opportunity to play it right away. So no it's not like the Scandinavian, also because the c5 pawn makes pushing d4 more difficult right away. It's not a bad move, because black can't punish you, but black has solved all his problems in move 2. Or they can simply play 2.. g6 which is probably better. However if black is greedy and try to grab the pawns on the queen side I agree it's gonna be better for white. There is no refutation to 2 a3 I just find you make black life easier compared to the open Sicilian. But at our level it's probably not a big deal anyway, so if you like it and have good results I am not here to say you shouldn't play it. I would say throwing your opponent out of his usual moves is not a bad idea and I am sure some of your opponents lose time and resources trying to punish you for that move, so I am not surprised it works. I was not trying to convince you to give it up.
Honestly, love the wing gambit, I know it's not amazing technically but most people fail to play well against it and it let's me get loads of centre control
I used to play the Wing Gambit all the time. It's loads of fun despite being pretty unsound. Try to go for that c3-d4-e5 pawn chain with a queen on c2, bishop on a3, leave the knight on b1 for the whole game and batter the kingside. If Black defends accurately, White is screwed materially and positionally, if not, Black's position melts very fast. But I switched to 1.Nc3 as my main White opening and now in case of 1.Nc3 c5 I'm learning the Grand Prix.
Thats fair, I actually took the exact opposite route of you 😂😂 I learned the grand prix attack as an anti sicillian but couldn't properly crack it so am now playing the wing gambit
It is objectively unsound but it detracts the game from what most people are expecting which can be psychologically very effective.
f4
Those siciliafuckers never expect it
The McDonnell attack! This is my play too. If black doesn’t want to play e5 on move 2, I’m never ever letting him play e5 ever under any circumstances lmaooo
f4 does not prevent e5, in fact I would say it allows it. 1. e4 c5 2. f4 e5 is a transposition to a sideline of the King's Gambit, and white can't take the pawn. By contrast, black cannot play e5 against the typical 2. Nf3
That’s very true. I use to be a kings gambit player though, so I’m decently familiar with the positions and don’t mind transposing. Playing f4 is done to take the Sicilian player into territory they’re less familiar with anyway. Perhaps it’s because of my low rating, but my opponents never respond 2 …e5
e5 isn't the best move, just pointing out the logic of "I'm playing f4 to stop e5" isn't sound. You're playing it to take the opponent out of main lines, which is fine, but it's worth acknowledging that you're playing it for meta reasons rather than a strategic reason.
It doesn’t stop an immediate e5, but I play 3. Nf3 against nearly any reply (unless there’s an immediate threat). I’m playing the line for meta reasons, certainly, but it’s a key part of a program in which I go for broke to win the fight for kingside space. My argument (to black) is that they had one chance to compete for the kingside center, and they missed it by playing any Sicilian besides the most aggressive Sicilians.
e5 is playable on move 2, but preventing a later e5 is a big part of my plan. I guess I could have specified that in my original comment
This is one of the first lines I learned as a beginner because I was facing it so often. If black knows what they're doing you've basically handed over the advantage on move 2. The Grand Prix has similar themes but is a much better version for white.
I've been absolutely crushing lately with 2.a3 followed by b5. Black gets absolutely dominated if they don't know the critical lines, and even if they do, at worst you get a standard Sicilian a tempo down. Magnus, Duda, Mamedyarov and others have used it with very decent results.
This is a great shout, cheers.
Smith mora
Alapin, though I play nf3 second move, throws a little somethin into the mix
Open (English, Rauzer, Yugoslav, Nxc6 Four Knights and c2-c4 Kan) and Rossolimo. Tons of fun and very strong.
My best game I had against a 1900 I play often was an Alapin Sicilian with white
Alapin
I'm low enough that players don't really know what to do when taken out of the one or two main lines they've memorized so against tight defensive openings I just start trading immediately, even if the computer thinks I'm worse for it, because I'm confident in my abilities to play end games.
I don't feel like studying sicilian right now ao I play the alapin and try to bring to more familiar e4 e5 positions
alapin every time
Smith-Mora Gambit. I felt same way as you against Sicilian about a year ago until I switched. It gives you initiative and attack against black at the cost of a pawn. It's really easy to play. For reference, I'm in 1500s for blitz on Lichess.
I like to play the Alapin. It’s solid at the lower levels, but can be greatly expanded upon at a higher level.
Nf3 and Bb5 under most cases. Leads to a Rossolimo or Moscow and recommended by Christof Sielecki in his chessable course keep it simple 1. e4
Alapin almost always. felt it gives non Sicilian positions and often fizzles out into minor piece endgames or rook endgames which I enjoy to play a lot.
The maroczy bind is easy to learn and extremely effective against most variations of the Sicilian (especially against the dragon!), you just have to learn a few lines for when your opponents don’t play into it (eg. classical sicilian, sicilian kan, modern sicilian with 5. f3 e5 6. Nb3 d5)
Beware of the Kalaschnikov also, the bind is not extraordinary effective if black knows what to do, mainly fianchetto the king bishop, being ready to sack a pawn and start a steamroller with the e and f and sometimes g pawn.
Grand Prix Attack
English/Yugoslav Attack (Be3, f3, Qd2, 0-0-0) against almost everything except the Accelerated Dragon (Maroczy), Hyper-Accelerated Dragon (4. Qxd4) or Sveshnikov (7. Bg5 main line).
I play the main lines.
Main lines, I’m still surprised how many people play the najdorf but don’t know Bg5 theory and get destroyed by a Nd5, Bxb5, or Nxe6 sac.
Well what kind if positions do you like?
Some bs that’s probably not good
Alapin. Other variations are Time consuming
I go for the Open Sicilian with 2. Nf3.
If they play 2. …Nc6 I play the Rossolimo with 3. Bb5 and no matter what Black plays (3. …g6, …e6 or …Nf6) I play 4. Bxc6 and go from there.
If they play 2. …d6 I play the Moscow Variation with 3. Bb5+ and (after 3. …Bd7 4. Bxd7 or after 3. …Nbd7) I will try to build a nice center with O-O, c3, d4 etc.
If they play 2. …e6 I sadly have not found anything better than 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 allowing Black the Taimanov, Kan or Four Knights Sicilian. But I have some tricks. For example, I like to go for an early g4 against the Taimanov which is quite aggressive and dangerous (for both side lol).
If they play 2. …e6 I sadly have not found anything better than 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 allowing Black the Taimanov, Kan or Four Knights Sicilian.
If you want something for blitz and rapid, I can recommend a weird gambit with 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bg5. This is like -0.3 according to the engine but it is not easy to navigate for Black, it is scoring 63% for White at 2000+ on Lichess. Bg5 is played 0.2% of the time in that position so it is unlikely your opponent has ever seen it before. Briefly, the idea is that e6 weakens the dark squares and this often ends up being a problem. A sample line: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 exd4 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Bxe7 Nxe7 6. Qxd4 O-O (6...Nc6 7. Qxg7) 7. Qd6. How is Black going to get rid of that queen? I can tell you from experience that they don't know, either.
Thank you, I might study this line a bit more and try it out. It kind of fits into my preference to play 2. Nf3, but to dodge the actual Open Sicilians. Looks like most master level players have tried 4. …Qa5+, while Stockfish suggests 4. …Bb4+. Even then the Gambit seems to be sound. The Lichess database also reveals, that a shocking amount of over 8700 players hung their Queen while premoving 4. …a6 lol
I'm kind of annoyed that nobody has hung their queen to me like that yet tbh. I feel like I'm due. Qa5 and Be7 are definitely the moves I see most and I'm happy to see either of them. Qa5 has many fun ways for Black to go astray and the worst case of this line isn't that bad. If I played myself in this line Black would be slightly better and I may be the world's foremost theoretician in this line. I haven't got a chance yet but I'm fully intending to play this in OTB classical.
Sadly, no Nc6 or a6 premove is going to happen in classical OTB, but I wish you a dirty win in online chess. I assume most of these games happend in Bullet anyways, but in Blitz and 10+0 Rapid there is a chance.
I actually had the chance to try the line once already (in online rapid). After 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Bg5 my opponent went f6 which looks ugly 5. Bc1 (I remembered this move from my very quick preparation beforehand) e5 6. c3 d5 7. exd5 Qxd5 8. cxd4 e4 9. Nc3 Bb4 10. Nd2 Bxc3 (according to Stockfish only Qxd4 would’ve kept him in the game, although it’s already significantly worse for Black) 11. bxc3 Nc6 12. Bc4 and I got a dominant position.
The Kan is extremely annoying because there is not really a special line against it and it's very flexible. Though sound development should be ok but attacking is difficult.
I can’t think of the exact variation name, but I pretty much just play Be3, Qd2, castle queen side and then push all my kingside pawns lol.
I actually really like playing against the Sicilian, as I used to play it as Black.
I divide my response along three major lines: The Dragon, the Nadorf, and the Classical (Surprisingly popular).
These are some of the games I use as basis:
Najdorf: Fischer vs Sherwin, 1957
Dragon: Short vs Watson, 1986
Classical: Fischer vs Benko, 1959
YOu should be able to find them. Honestly once you get past the fear of learning the theory it's great. It's an incredibly fun opening, and very satisfying to win as White!
Grand prix
Alapin variation or closed sicilian. Avoid main theory because i'm a noob
Nf3 and depending on the response:
d6 -> d4
e6 -> d3
Nc6 -> either Bb5 or b4 if I wanna get crazy games
other moves -> depends on my mood, but mostly d4.
I play the open Sicilian with an f3 setup, i love the Yugoslav attack against the dragon
Grand Prix!!
When I want to win, I play the Smith-Morra Gambit. There’s less to memorize because the ideas are always the same, and sometimes intermediate players don’t know what to do and collapse quickly. When I want to have fun, I play the Open. It stays fresh and makes you think.
I'm around 1700, same here I don't want to learn all the Sicilian lines so I always play Grand Prix Attack, easy setup and usually leads to a dynamic and imbalanced game with a lot of attacking chances for white
There are extremely dangerous black lines against it. At some point you will have to study them or you are setting yourself for troubles. I don't think there is a way to avoid theory in the Sicilian, it has been studied too much.
I don't know what you consider fun, having played Sicilian with black for many years some white answers stand out:
Closed Sicilian: White doesn't play d4 (right away) and goes for a position with closed center, with Nc3, g3+Bg2 etc. – usually white will seek the initiative on the King side pushing the pawns forward: f4, g4 etc. looking for a breakthrough. Black seeks counterplay on the Q-side or by a breakthrough in the center. Usually in Sicilian black's great joy is the half-open c-file and the c4 square, so with this approach you get another kind of play. Question is, if you like it?
Sicilians with c3 (to keep 2 center pawns after black's cxd4), when white plays this against me, it usually transitions into French, because I'll usually play e6 and d5, but there are many other ways for black to play this.
All the variants with Nb5+: usually gives simpler positions with fewer pieces where you will have to grind for the advantage, so again the question is, if you are comfortable playing in that kind of positions.
I used to play the Smith Morra but had a lot of issues getting enough back for the pawn. I started reading through Bobby Fischer’s My 60 Memorable Games a while ago and more or less try to copy his setups.
I have very much enjoyed the Stomp the Sicilian repertoire on chessable.
It's the open sicilian with a focus on lines where you play a quick c4. Prins against Najdorf, Maroczy against acc. dragon, 3.c4 and slightly delayed d4 against 2...e6 and 11.c4 against Sveshnikov.
A lot of focus on explaining the structures in dedicated pawn-structure chapters and example games.
I switched from Rossolimo to this 2 years ago and have had an easier time to understand the plans.
I play the portsmouth because it feels neat. I do terribly in it, but I like it
Smith-Morra Gambit.
For me its pretty fun, full of tactics, check it out
Alapin bc I’m a Gotham viewer
Open Sicilian, it's the most fun and objectively the best. You really only need to know when to Maroczy, when to Yugoslav, and a line against the Najdorf to cover almost all Sicilians until you're quite highly rated. I find the Open Sicilian to be chess in its purest form, double sided attacking chances with lots of imbalances.
"Theory" isn't as scary as it's made out to be. Just jump in, it's way more fun than playing the boring Alapin in 25% of your games and you have better winning chances.
I play Caro-Kann, i don't find myself well with the sicilian. Now it is very very fun because if i want to have chaos i do, and it is mostly theory
I like the delayed alapin 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Be2 Nc6 (if Nxe4??, 5. Qa4+ has won me two tournament games) 5. d4
open and then I play f3 g4 idk what it's called but opposite side castling is pretty common, if they fianchetto you can root it out with bishop to h6 covered by your queen.
It's a kind of yougoslav I would say
Rossolimo
Closed sicilian
Pry open the H file, Sack, Sack, mate! ~Bobby Fisher
Grand Prix Attack is very fun to play
open Sicilian! the best part of playing e4 is the wild attacking games with lots of sacrifices. im most comfortable against the d6 Sicilian, ive looked at the yugoslav attack against the dragon, the English attack against the najdorf/scheveningen, and the Richter rauzer against the classical.
against the e6 sicilians i just wing it, but i see them pretty rarely. against the nc6 sicilians I like the rossolimo because it always was painful to play with black, and if an opening annoys me with black I play it as white haha.
f4 and hope for the best
as a Carabinieri with black
this is a very funny joke
Grand prix for me is the most fun, attacking and tactical chess i play overall
Eng attack against najd against dragon yugoslav but without bishop on c4 against e6 sicilians some fiancheto maybe some mainline against four nights take on c6 then bd3 against nc6 sicilian rossolimo against hyper accelerated dragon or o kelly alapin
The Wing Gambit. It appears to be objectively not a good option but at my rating (950-1100) that doesn't really matter. It throws people off the opening the play every time.
Open sicilian. Against najdorf I like Be2. Against dragon I like Juguslav. And other variations that are less popular I just improvise 👍
I picked up Timothy Taylor's "Slay the Sicilian" years ago where he recommends a more positional approach to playing the open Sicilian usually involving setups with Be2, knights on b3 and c3 and a pawn on f4. My main weapon vs the najdorf is still approaches involving 6. Be2 which I quite enjoy. And I really enjoy similar systems vs the dragon. However I've been a little unsure about how I want to play vs nc6 and e6 Sicilians. Against nc6 sicilians I've tried the open, the rossolimo and Nc3 but I'm still unsure what I want to focus on.
Karpov was a champion of the Be2 against the Najdorf, check his games!
Karpov is actually the main player featured in "Slay the Sicilian" each chapter begins with one of his games!
Ah, well it makes sense he was insanely good against it (well against anything). But his approach to the Sicilian is very cool, with clear and easy plans to follow.
Grand Prix attack! Gotham Chess has a good video on it.
Well, I play the English so no need to deal with the Sicilian, heh.
The Morra is plenty fun IMO.
Open Sicilian obviously, I like to play chess.
And I play the advance against the French, not the exchange obviously.
I’ve moved to Monte Carlo vs the French. I found the advance got boring after a while and because it’s pretty similar to the panov against the caro so it’s comfortable if I play both.
Grand Prix and Alapin are both fun. Grand Prix gets less fun against players who are above 1800, in my experience, but your results may differ.
Open Sicilian
I play the Open. It’s hard not to like the positions you get in the open because they are generally so interesting and exciting. There is a lot to learn, and knowing concrete moves is critical in many lines, but once you get a bit of a handle on the positions by studying lines and looking at master games, they become quite intuitive.
As a Sicilian player I HATE when someone plays 2 c3.
I play an immediate d5 against it. That makes for challenging games. You don't play in the center? Right then I take d5.
I like Nc3, the closed Sicilian. Surprised more people aren't mentioning it, a lot of Sicilian players don't expect it and it leads to a solid structure with natural moves for white. Can very quickly turn ugly for black if you aggressively push pawns on the kingside. Great Finegold video on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FxltnLnsPs
What do you consider fun? Do you like getting logical position with understandable middle games, open positions with good pieces and sacrifices, or critical theoretical positions where you basically are always slightly better, but the positions are really complex.
If you like the first option, the alapin is great. You are playing to get a big center, and if black doesn't play one of the two main options then they will likely just get a bad position. In the two main lines, black equilizes, but it isn't so simple. The middle games are rich and interesting, but overall very strategic.
If you like the middle option, the Smith morra is great. If they decline the gambit, then you end up playing one of the two main Alapin options. If they accept, you get a really open game with strong ass bishops and so many different sacrifice ideas. If you want to play a Sicilian like middle game without having to play the open sicillian and all its theory the Smith morra is the best option.
The last option leaves the open sicillian, easily the best and most critical of the three. The biggest practical problem with the open sicillian is that there is so many different set ups black can take and each has to be treated almost entirely separately. If you play the open sicillian, I would highly recommend playing the sicillian as black and trying a few different set ups, since the best way to learn how to best handle the set ups as white is to see what makes you uncomfortable as black. Overall this is my favorite to play as white, I also play the Sicilian as black and have tried a few different lines, so it's easier for me to punish certain mistakes since I've spent a lot of time studying the sicillian in general. The sicillian is complex and the most fun I've had playing chess.
Open. I don’t have anything particularly out of the ordinary against the Najdorf, but I usually play the Levenfish against the Dragon.
b3 is based and breaks all dragon Sicilian players. I also dislike the Sicilian, but this moves gets them out of theory and is fun.
Azeri Sicilian (2.Nc3, 3.Bb5)
e4 c5
Nf3 Nc6
b4!!
Makes for some very exciting games
Black can just take and play e6 and no issue. Granted they have to know it.
Open Sicilian is super fun especially if they go for the accelerated dragon
Alapin is the safe bet
Smith Morra is a lot of fun
Alapin
Alapin. Smith-morra looks losing but what do I know?
It is objectively inferior if black knows how to play they can just accept it, never return the pawn and have a perfectly sound position. But IF they know
Alapin. Folks dont know it :)
The Yugoslav attack. It either ends in a vicious checkmate, or you just die. Keeps it exciting.
Alapin
smith morra master race.
buy esserman’s book and go from there. You can check his (slightly unhinged youtube vids too).
If you want to avoid a lot of theory in the open Sicilians, and just play chess, I would look at some of Karpov's games against the Najdorf. Essentially, go Be2, castle kingside and go for things like f4 f5 etc. An alternative is g3, but that is very passive in my opinion and you are just hoping that your opponent does not get a good grip of the game.
I mean, it sort of depends what line black goes for and what I feel like. Sometimes a closed Sicilian of some kind (usually the Grand Prix Attack for me) is a nice, lesser seen but still solid, way to combat black. I’ll also play the Alapin Sicilian, albeit rarely. Against the Najdorf, I like the English Attack. Sometimes I’ll try for the main line or the Fischer-Sozin. Against a Dragon, I really like the Yugoslav Attack. I feel like I get consistent advantages there. And the Smith-Morra Gambit is also a really fun opening. Lots of tactical possibilities, especially in faster paced games, and white honestly has pretty good compensation for the pawn. I rarely feel like I’m a pawn down in that gambit.
This isn’t really getting into all the other lines. If black wants a Taimanov or a Kan, or if he wants a Najdorf or a Sveshnikov, and you go for the open Sicilian, you can’t really stop that from happening. Hell, if black wants a Nimzowitch Sicilian as a surprise weapon hoping you don’t know the theory, you can’t really stop it. It’s pretty daunting to get into all the theory. So, if you want to just bypass the lines that have been analyzed to death (no one would blame you), then go for a closed Sicilian, the Alapin, or the Smith-Morra. All three can be fun.
I would say the one that most forces black’s hand is the Smith-Morra. After 2. d4, black has to capture because the whole point of the Sicilian is that if white plays d4, you capture it. And after c3, black should really just take the pawn. But, realistically black has a few options. Like I said, best is just the obvious dxc3. Black is up a pawn in material. However, white has opened lines for his bishops and gets a knight on c3. With ample active development opportunities and space in the center, white has good chances to gain a strong position over black, who after the third move, has no pieces developed, no pawns in the center, and no open lines for the bishops. But, at least he has a pawn. Playing d3 doesn’t make a lot of sense for black because although you’ve made white’s development slightly more uncomfortable, you’re still undeveloped with worse development prospects, have less central space, and you’re not even up the pawn anymore. The other pretty solid option for black is Nf6, and that’s just getting into an Alapin. There’s still attacking possibilities, though.
If we go through just a very natural development for both sides (1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 Nf6 4. e5 Nd5 5. cxd4 d6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Bc4 Nb6), you could play the very interesting, though slightly dubious, 8. Bxf7!?. The whole point is that after 8. …Kxf7 9. e6, black’s king is getting hunted. If Bxe6, just Ng5. Black can either give up the bishop by hiding his king on g8 (and blocking his rook in, but a safe king takes priority), or he can try to hang onto the bishop with Kf6. But then the king is in the open, and it’s very easy for black to get himself into trouble, especially if white has done some home analysis of the position with a computer. Or, instead of Bxe6, the immediate Kg8. But then white can play moves 10. d5 Nb4 11. Nc3. The correct move here is just for black to sacrifice back the knight for the d5 pawn with 11. …N6xd5 12. Nxd5 Qa5!, but that’s not so intuitive. And if black decides to sac back for the knight and then makes the mistake of recapturing your knight on d5, he gets himself into a lot of trouble after Qxd5. Now white has this angry fire breathing dragon in the center of the board that can’t be kicked out, black can’t move his bishops, all of his remaining pieces are not only undeveloped, but incredibly difficult to develop. Who’s really playing down material? I would highly recommend studying this (depending on your skill level), because the initial line that I gave is incredibly natural if black declines the gambit, which means you’re likely to see it. But I guarantee they haven’t looked at Bxf7 because the move looks ridiculous. The point is, even if black decides to play it boring and decline the gambit in the most solid way, there are still ways to shake things up and get a really fun, dynamic, attacking game. So long as you know your lines, you’ll have good chances even in dubious positions.
If I’m playing blitz or rapid, I’ll go with smith morra gambit.
You generally get a very comfortable attacking position at a minimum, and can often get the pawn back. Black needs accurate play to keep the edge which is a tougher task with time pressure taken into account.
open Sicilian unless they play 2... Nc6; in that case I'm playing b4 to go into the Portsmouth Gambit
Scotch gambit
Smith Morra or Alapin
I play 1.d4 so I don't have to deal with that shenanigans
I played the Alapin for a long time, but now I like the open Sicilian. The Alapin isn't as fun when your opponent knows all the theory to it.
I’m ~1000 on Chess dot com, and I like the Smith Mora Gambit. At my level people don’t play the Sicilian often (maybe 1/15 games,) so I didn’t want to dedicate a lot of time to learning answers for it. Right now I’m trying to develop my skills with e4, e5 and some opening as Black. The Mora looked really fun and I understood the basic concepts by watching a few videos. It catches people off guard and is good if you like tactics and aggression. Just keep the pressure up. A lot of people melt cuz they don’t know what to do. If I ever rise to a rating where the Sicilian is more common I might learn a “real opening” for it but at my level the Mora is fun.
Usually, i play the english attack, its fun
I like the Grand Prix not super known so you can catch people and not complete garbage if they know what they’re doing
Open Sicilian
Open sicilian. Grand prix against girls
Open sicilian. Grand prix against girls
Open Sicilian. Be2, Be3, or Bg5 against the Nadjorf depending on how I feel that day. I like to go to war against he Sicilian. Against the Taimanov I like Qf3 lines. Against the Dragon a quick Be2 and h4 and let all hell break loose. There are others like the French Pin variation, the Kan and the Kalashnikov but I don't see them nearly as often and at some point they start to blend in.
Open
You see the Sicilian and you move a pawn to the third rank. Doesn't matter which, White isn't worse and it's a position. Nowadays the first few moves aren't so relevant, because the stupidity of your worst-possible decision will be offset by its improbability and thereby disrupt the enemy's preparation.
Or so I tell myself when I play 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bd3 g6! and call it good.
grand prix is the only one i really play as white, though i do know theory as i play sicillian as black
Open Sicilian. It remains the most agressive and most dangerous for blacks. Though of course the Sicilian is no joke amd White must be careful. But open sicilian, then I try to emulate the Karpov approach : solid and steady development. I find rapid attack exposes you to very dangerous Black counterattacks. Don't underestimate the black f pawn or the a and b pawn.
Caro-can defence when i always fcked up so bad
In blitz and rapid, wing gambit. My biggest ever win over the board was against a 1950 ish rated player (FIDE) where I played the wing gambit.
In classical, open sicilian.
- d4 works 100% of the time against the Sicilian.
Mengarini Sicilian or delayed wing gambit are my favourites they always lead into fun positions
Big time maroczy bind fan, slow and positional might not be fun but the ideas are easy to understand and there is not the typical crazy Sicilian play
I like the b3 system. You'll fianchetto your dark bishop on b2. If black plays e5 you put your light bishop on c4, otherwise it will go to b5 and trade on either c6 or d7. Knights go to c3 and f3 (usually after f4), usually castle kingside, but in some positions can go queenside with a quick d4 to follow.
Around ~2000 FIDE, playing open sicilian where unironically my theoretical knowledge sometimes ends on move 3. So what? Develop your pieces onto sensible squares and just play the midgame. I'm aware this is amazingly unhelpful but it shows that you don't necessarily have to go for a specific line to have a good game.
Here's a few ideas that might be helpful for you:
If you want a game for three results without too much theory, an early Nd4-b3 followed by Be3/f3/Qd2/0-0-0 is always an option.
Grand Prix is much better than its slightly dubious reputation but nowadays I feel everyone and their sister has a line that equalizes easily against it. However if you're fine with the resulting positions you can absolutely play it.
Maroczy is very solid against d6 setups by black, somewhat less so against e6 ones. That said it doesn't offer much in terms of dynamic winning chances and if you play the second best move even once chances are it immediately equalizes into a drawish position.
English attack is fun against Najdorf but requires fairly significant knowledge to play properly.
Yugoslav attack and Richter-Rauser are fairly straight-forward and intuitive. If you're the attacking type these might give you good chances to play for a win.
Alapin is a decent choice since most black players at this level have no clue how to play against it. It is less aggressive than other lines but gives you a comfortable setup whereas black is the one trying to prove he has counterplay.
b4 gambits are considered bad but are surprisingly decent. The best lines for black all leave you with a small disadvantage according to the engine but leave a lot of opportunities for tactical strikes. Depending on the opponent this may or may not be a good choice.
I've found I can avoid all the most tricky Sicilian lines with 1. d4 😉
I always play the Alapin Sicilian Defense. Objectively decent and it comes with traps that even 1800s sometimes fall for. This one's my favourite!
- e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3 d6 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 Bg4 $2 6. d5 Ne5 $4 7. Nxe5 $3 Bxd1 8. Bb5+ $1 Qd7 9. Bxd7+ Kd8 10. Nxf7+ Kxd7 11. Kxd1 Ke8 12. Nxh8
The “Magnus” lines with Nc3 and d4 are a good time — a bit less theory intensive than the Open but still quite spicy. Levy’s Chessable and Gawain Jones’ Coffeehouse Repertoire cover it thoroughly.
I dont play e4, but everyone that I've talked to that plays the Sicilian hates the moroxy bind
You can't play an effective Maroczy bind against all the Sicilian lines
I play Grand Prix attack. Most of the lower rated players don't know how to deal with closed Sicilians
I don't play 1. e4 often, but if I do I'll usually play the Alapin against the Sicilian.
I play simple alapin sicilian
I don't play 1. e4, but if I did, I'd play the Smith-Morra/Alapin
Can try the closed variation with Nc3.
Then u play g3, fianchetto the bishop, f4, short castle and attack the king
I have tried all the major Anti Sicilians as white because I was scared of learning all the theory involved with the open Sicilian. At some point, I decided to learn the open Sicilian and haven't looked back because of how much fun it is.