The Sicilian closed in 3 check
The closed Sicilian is very common in 3 check therefore you will probably encounter. Let’s analyze this position.
What are white’s strengths and weaknesses here?
- White can play a quick e5 push, gaining space
- He has a free check
- He has quicker development
- A safer king
- White does not have great control of the d4 square
- He can play very actively and flexibility
What are black’s strengths and weaknesses?
- In the main lines he will have lots of space
- In some cases he can make his knight jump to d4, which can be strong
- Decent control of the center
- He will require white to play very accurately to gain an advantage
- He isn’t controlling the d6 square so he is vulnerable to Nb5/Ne4 ideas
- He will have slower development
- A passive position
This is a great example of how strong black’s space advantage can be
*in reality stockfish says this gamed sucked by me*
What went wrong for white?
- He allowed me to extend my pawns too far
- He was too passive
- He sacrificed the extremely strong knight for my queen for which I had no intention of using
- He didn’t pay attention to his king safety
Here are a couple of games featuring the closed Sicilian with me as white and black
