3 Check Opening Ideas For Black In the French Sicilian: Introduction

What are the characteristics of a good opening for Black in 3 Check? Before I answer this question you first need to understand that the player with the White pieces starts the game with a huge advantage (roughly the equivalent of a minor piece) and with best play White should win every time. This is because White can use their first move advantage to gain one or more of the following benefits:

• A space advantage
• More active pieces
• A material advantage
• An initiative
• A free check
• A safer King

In standard chess these advantages are important but not always decisive. In 3 Check, however, the stakes are much higher and any advantage that one player has is greatly magnified. Even having more space in 3 Check is often a decisive advantage. If White knows what they are doing in the opening then Black will be forced to make some major concession(s) somewhere. This is why Black should often try to give something up (space, material, a check, etc.) in a favorable way. In other words, in a way that gives Black good practical chances.

A good opening for Black in 3 Check is one in which you give your opponent many chances to go wrong. You generally want to avoid playing passive or slow openings. You should develop your pieces quickly, try to obtain some control in the center, and make sure that your King is safe. You want to have active ideas and ways to put your opponent under pressure. With all of this in mind, I personally think that the French Variation of the Sicilian Defense is one of Black's best options against 1. e4. This assessment is shared by other strong 3 Check players such as Super GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (@LyonBeast), GM Jon Ludvig Hammer (@gmjlh) and FM Mike Klein (@MikeKlein).

What are the pros and cons of this opening for Black?

Pros:

• Black blocks the a2-g8 diagonal towards their King by playing e6.
• Black gets decent central control with their c-pawn.
• The c5 pawn also gives Black's Queenside Knight the potential to jump into an active position on d4 in many cases to disrupt White's development.
• Black has many active ideas and traps that even experienced 3 Check players often fall into.

Cons:

• Black can sometimes fall behind in development.
• Black's King can sometimes be vulnerable in the center of the board.
• Black's light squared Bishop can be a bad piece in some lines.
• The d6 square can no longer be defended by a Black pawn and White can try to exploit this by playing e4-e5 followed by maneuvering their Knight to e4 or b5 to get a check on d6 without having to invest significant material.

Here is how the mainline starts: