@SpiderUnicorn To whom exactly... dude as much as you hate @staples13 to argue on this forum (or any forum) you have to articulate your thoughts into one post, not seven incoherent phrases. That, would count as spam. And hate to break it to ya, but mods wouldn't be too happy.
I agree. This nonsense has to stop. People like that make the image of Chess players not look so good!
Alapin Sicilian: Black doesn't need to capture on d4. c3 pawn is still on c3. WOW! Novel discovery!! Nobody knew that before!!!
In my opinion the Sicilian Defense is busted. It loses by force.
The opening move of the Sicilian Defense violates just about every opening principle. It fails to develop a piece, fails to put a pawn in the center, and fails to open up a bishop for development. It allows white to immediately open up the center and to do so with greater development. The Sicilian Defense has nevertheless remained popular despite all of this for one reason and one reason only; in order for white to open up the center it comes at the cost of having to trade its D pawn for black's C pawn. This is why the ideal response to the Sicilian is the Alapin Variation 2. C3! It says to black no you can't have my center pawn. Now white is ahead in both development and control of the center , and black has absolutely no compensation.
You don't believe me? Look at the game explorer then. I have played 581 games here on chess.com using the Alapin. I have won 68% lost 26% and drawn the other 6%. That is a score of 71%. No other opening is capable of scoring 71%. But to prove all this let's look at some games. First, we have a 3 minute no increment blitz game I played. Look at the massive advantage white immediately gets both in piece development and in center control. Both are problems which stem from black's first move.
Here's another 3 minute no increment blitz game I played. Notice how easy white's development is and how black's position is already completely unplayable by move 10.
Finally, I'm sure you want to see a master level game so here we have Deep Blue vs. Kasparov (1996). For a little historical context this was the first match between them and Kasparov annihilated Deep Blue +3 -1=2. Deep Blue's lone victory came as you might guess playing the Alapin Variation. Kasparov faced a horrible position straight out of the opening and Deep Blue wasted no time converting it. Notice that the most powerful chess player of all time got destroyed playing against a computer much weaker than him.
After 2. C3 black is in my opinion lost. White refuses to allow black to exchange its c pawn for white's d pawn giving black no compensation for white's lead in development and center control, which ultimately always proves decisive in the end.
I'd like to close by saying that of course black can always play differently than in the games shown, in which case he merely loses differently.
So, is that the Alapin pawn move to c3 for white?
Uh, yes.
true
Alapin Sicilian: Black doesn't need to capture on d4. c3 pawn is still on c3. WOW! Novel discovery!! Nobody knew that before!!!
That’s actually not true. As I demonstrated in my detailed analysis of why 2.d5 loses black has no good way to hold onto his pawn except by taking on d4 and the second he does that white wins due to his superior development and center control
Okay guys so I analyzed the alapin for several hours and I have decided that yes, the Sicilian sucks.
Allow me to demonstrate:
So you can see, according to the best possible moves by black, it is inevitable that black loses their queen by like move 3 or something.
Thank you for considering.
In my opinion the Sicilian Defense is busted. It loses by force.
The opening move of the Sicilian Defense violates just about every opening principle. It fails to develop a piece, fails to put a pawn in the center, and fails to open up a bishop for development. It allows white to immediately open up the center and to do so with greater development. The Sicilian Defense has nevertheless remained popular despite all of this for one reason and one reason only; in order for white to open up the center it comes at the cost of having to trade its D pawn for black's C pawn. This is why the ideal response to the Sicilian is the Alapin Variation 2. C3! It says to black no you can't have my center pawn. Now white is ahead in both development and control of the center , and black has absolutely no compensation.
You don't believe me? Look at the game explorer then. I have played 581 games here on chess.com using the Alapin. I have won 68% lost 26% and drawn the other 6%. That is a score of 71%. No other opening is capable of scoring 71%. But to prove all this let's look at some games. First, we have a 3 minute no increment blitz game I played. Look at the massive advantage white immediately gets both in piece development and in center control. Both are problems which stem from black's first move.
Here's another 3 minute no increment blitz game I played. Notice how easy white's development is and how black's position is already completely unplayable by move 10.
Finally, I'm sure you want to see a master level game so here we have Deep Blue vs. Kasparov (1996). For a little historical context this was the first match between them and Kasparov annihilated Deep Blue +3 -1=2. Deep Blue's lone victory came as you might guess playing the Alapin Variation. Kasparov faced a horrible position straight out of the opening and Deep Blue wasted no time converting it. Notice that the most powerful chess player of all time got destroyed playing against a computer much weaker than him.
After 2. C3 black is in my opinion lost. White refuses to allow black to exchange its c pawn for white's d pawn giving black no compensation for white's lead in development and center control, which ultimately always proves decisive in the end.
I'd like to close by saying that of course black can always play differently than in the games shown, in which case he merely loses differently.
The Sicilian defense is quite sound. Its hypermodern. You claim white is more developed, e4 c5 c3, yet white has just made one more pawn move. Extraordinarily common. Black fights for the d4 square with his pawns and pieces thus stoping white from getting a large center. e4 c5 f4 is what I find to be most fun, as it develops a larger center. The Sicilian is valid, no question. Plus, the Alapin breaks opening principles as well. It takes away the c3 square for your knight, thus if black doesn't exchange in the center, your knight is put on a worse square. Not only that, but it makes the pawn moves in a row. I don't play Sicilian usually, but on Lichess, where I like to experiment, I play it with great success, yet I Still like the Scandinavian better. Lastly, the Sicilian losses by force? Thats naive, if that were true, then white would win no matter what if they play a certain line. Such is not the case. You have even lost against an opening which losses by force!
To everyone who claims that staples13 has lost games with an opening against which he claims to lose by force,
With a 75% win rate, I’ll play it forever!
Alapin Sicilian: Black doesn't need to capture on d4. c3 pawn is still on c3. WOW! Novel discovery!! Nobody knew that before!!!
That’s actually not true. As I demonstrated in my detailed analysis of why 2.d5 loses black has no good way to hold onto his pawn except by taking on d4 and the second he does that white wins due to his superior development and center control
Well let's see. For masters: 33% win rate for white, 34% Drawing rate, 33% win rate for black. How is white in a winning position? Black can still win ya' know. It's not like a certain opening is guaranteed to win you the game dumdum
Okay guys so I analyzed the alapin for several hours and I have decided that yes, the Sicilian sucks.
Allow me to demonstrate:
So you can see, according to the best possible moves by black, it is inevitable that black loses their queen by like move 3 or something.
Thank you for considering.
LOL this is what @staples13 would show when he rambles "the sicilian is refuted!!" as a refutation.
ma boy, the title to this pointless forum is already wrong, as you have already mentioned, you have lost 26% of your games with the Alapin, that proves that it is not a refutation to the Sicilian, m'boy
Well, i would play the Alapin any day if it gave me a 74% chance of a win!
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"Both 2...Nf6 and 2...d5 are fine against the Alapin, and some players may also like 2...e6 or 2...g6." - IM pfren (September 4, 2018)
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/a-bust-to-the-sicilian-defense?page=6
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... As I demonstrated in my detailed analysis of why 2.d5 loses ...
"staples13 ... U showed your own analysis, with some nonsense and bad moves from black which don't prove anything. U just proved u lack some objectivity and skill to assess moves/positions." - IM pouncin (September 26, 2018)
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/a-bust-to-the-sicilian-defense?page=12
ma boy, the title to this pointless forum is already wrong, as you have already mentioned, you have lost 26% of your games with the Alapin, that proves that it is not a refutation to the Sicilian, m'boy
Well, i would play the Alapin any day if it gave me a 74% chance of a win!
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Okay, 74% WIN RATE. Still playin it all day every day.
Challenge some good(over 2000) players and then post the games and we can talk. In your level it doesn't matter what you play as long as you don't blunder something.
I've destroyed many many players rated 1900-2000 using the Alapin. These experts fail to equalize against the Alapin just like the beginning players . Look at game #2 in my original post. He is rated 1928, but his position is completely lost by move 10.
Here's another 3 minute no increment blitz game against a very strong player. Notice how easy and natural white's development is while black struggles to find any good developing moves. Black's problem stems from his very first move which accomplished nothing.
Yes weak players struggle against the Alapin, but strong players struggle against it to because with best play in my opinion black loses to the Alapin.
A 3 Minute Game. If you did the same thing in in rapid 45|45 your ass would get kicked.
The good thing about Alapin is that it forces Black to play positions he doesn't want to play. In higher levels that is irrelevat , Sicilian defense players are well prepared against Alapin and all have their pet lines. In lower levels though it is significant as most will study 99 hours Najdorf or Dragon and 1 hour everything else.
But it's not Alapin. In lower levels every Sicilian line that is not Sicilian works.
2.b3 ,2.Na3 even 1.a3 and 1.b4 are all perfectly fine , especially in blitz.
You would play 1. f3 and win in a 3 min game. you could play any opening and still win in blitz.
@SpiderUnicorn To whom exactly... dude as much as you hate @staples13 to argue on this forum (or any forum) you have to articulate your thoughts into one post, not seven incoherent phrases. That, would count as spam. And hate to break it to ya, but mods wouldn't be too happy.