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How To Crush The Sicilian In 3 Check: Introduction

How To Crush The Sicilian In 3 Check: Introduction

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TenThousandDays
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White's first move gives them a decisive advantage in 3 Check. This means that with correct play you should always be able to gain some kind of tangible advantage in the opening stage of the game as White and then you can try to convert this advantage into a win. If you don't obtain one or more of the following advantages as White within the first 10 moves then you've done something wrong:

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

    In this series I will demonstrate how to crush the Sicilian Defense. The Sicilian is the most common opening that you will encounter in 3 Check so knowing how to beat it is very valuable. However, I won't cover the specific variation that I myself play as Black. I don't want everyone to know how to beat me. wink.png

One of the main drawbacks of the Sicilian Defense for Black is that they can no longer cover the d6 square with a pawn. This is not an issue in standard chess but in 3 Check White can exploit this weak point by playing e4-e5 followed by maneuvering their Knight to e4 or b5 to get a check on d6. In other words, White can get a check for free and there's nothing Black can do about it. However, as White you need to follow up actively, otherwise Black will get strong compensation in exchange for the check.

The following game is a good example of what can happen if White plays passively after going for the check on d6:

What went wrong for White? They never put Black under any pressure and instead let them gain space and complete control in the center. Did White's check on d6 end up being useful? No. This goes to show that getting a check (or sometimes even 2 checks) is useless if you sacrifice control and play passively. Black used their pawns and pieces in the center to restrict White's pieces and this made it impossible for White to get additional checks. To prevent Black from gaining this control White needed to act immediately in the center instead of playing 8. Be2.
Note how White's light squared Bishop was very badly placed. It was never able to cause Black any problems because it was in a passive position. Not only that but it was also in the way of White's other pieces. It blocked the e-file for White's Rook and blocked the d1-h5 diagonal for White's Queen. Ideally White would like this Bishop to be on d3 where it is pointing aggressively towards the Kingside and where it won't be in the way of White's other pieces. In the follow-up blogs to this series I will show how to accomplish this.