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What's the problem with 2. c4 against the Sicilian?

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17th May 2008, 09:41am
#1
by Gabriel_dCF
Sao Carlos - SP Brazil
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 125

Sometimes, when I was playing black in the Sicilian, people have played 2. c4 against me:

 

 This move generally leads to a closed game where white lacks initiative and plays in the defensive so I used to consider it a bad move. But yesterday I have experienced it playing against a computer chess program which I've never beaten before, the Rival Chess and suprisingly I've won two games in a roll!

I was so excited I decided to make some research about that move in the Internet and for my disappointment I discovered 1. e4 c5 2. c4 is not even listed between the main variations either of the Sicilian or the English. In addition, according to the Opening Explorer of chessgames.com this opening leads black to win 47.7% of the times, against 24.6% for white.

 What's the problem with this move?


17th May 2008, 09:45am
#2
by ericmittens
London, ON Canada
Member Since: Sep 2007
Member Points: 1876
It transposes to a botvinnik english if white plays d3, or a maroczy sicilian if white plays d4. The problem is that black hasn't committed any of his forces yet so he ends up with variations of these openings more favorable for black than in traditional move orders.
17th May 2008, 09:55am
#3
by Feldmm1
United States
Member Since: Dec 2007
Member Points: 611
I would say that the problem is that it creates a knight outpost on the d4 square, since the pawn cannot kick it out. There probably are more reasons and theory behind why this move is bad, but this is the one that I think of off of my head.
17th May 2008, 09:58am
#4
by ericmittens
London, ON Canada
Member Since: Sep 2007
Member Points: 1876
Usually white only opts for a botvinnik english if black plays e5. That way there are mutual weaknesses on d4 and d5.
17th May 2008, 01:19pm
#5
by Patzer24
United States
Member Since: Jun 2007
Member Points: 11523
Yeah, the only problem with this move is the hole it creates on d4 but many times this will transpose into a Maroczy Bind Sicilian or some type of English opening so it is very playable.
17th May 2008, 01:21pm
#6
by shootfilm
Atlanta, Chicago, New York City United States
Member Since: May 2008
Member Points: 302
I agree. You should look passed the first couple of moves and then begin your database search.  You can reach the desired opening through transposition.
17th May 2008, 01:43pm
#7
by NM tonydal
United States
Member Since: Oct 2007
Member Points: 4868
I've played it before.  One of the things I like about it is that it isn't listed as a main variation (anything to get out of book!).  It's also a handy move (as you say) against a computer:  1) to put the computer on its own early on in the opening; and 2) because it can easily lead to closed-type positions.
17th May 2008, 02:12pm
#8
by cheesehat
Sydney Australia
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 196
If the pawns were on d4, e3 and f4, then it would be a stonewall. Here it is a stonewall but the attention is shifted to the queenside, where is usually black's attacking side. This means that the two sides will attack aimlessly, to a certain degree. White needs to organise his forces to attack the black king but that is hard to do with all the pawns on the queenside and the d3 pawn being a little blockading,while black naturally attacks on the queenside in some lines. Should white attack the queenside instead, he is aiming at nothing, and therefore will always succeed.
17th May 2008, 04:06pm
#9
by ericmittens
London, ON Canada
Member Since: Sep 2007
Member Points: 1876
hahaha....what??!
 
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