Alapin usage rates on chess.com have soared 75% since this thread began as it’s becoming harder and harder to justify playing the Sicilian defense as Alapin theory has taken great leaps forward. Congrats to everyone who has contributed
A Bust to the Sicilian Defense
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staples13님이 썼습니다:
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.
I have EXCELLENT RESULTS with the SICILIAN!!!!! IT'S THE BEST OPENING EVER! I ALSO HAVE GOOD RESULTS AGAINST THE ALAPIN, MY FRIEND. SEE THE FOLLOWING GAME!
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/3886195706
Jul 26, 2019
0
#944
ChessBoy513 wrote:
staples13님이 썼습니다:
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.
I have EXCELLENT RESULTS with the SICILIAN!!!!! IT'S THE BEST OPENING EVER! I ALSO HAVE GOOD RESULTS AGAINST THE ALAPIN, MY FRIEND. SEE THE FOLLOWING GAME!
Your stats against the Alapin are not good
staples13님이 썼습니다:
ChessBoy513 wrote:
staples13님이 썼습니다:
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.
I have EXCELLENT RESULTS with the SICILIAN!!!!! IT'S THE BEST OPENING EVER! I ALSO HAVE GOOD RESULTS AGAINST THE ALAPIN, MY FRIEND. SEE THE FOLLOWING GAME!
Your stats against the Alapin are not good
I won the game though.
rychessmaster1님이 썼습니다:
My refutation: 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Qa5!! this prevents 3. d4 and black is winning
Finally someone understands it.
Jul 26, 2019
0
#947
I bet OP also refuted the French, Caro Kann, Grunfeld, Slav, QGD, Grunfeld, Nmzo, Benko gambit, and Benoni
I am going to use the Alapin in my next otb game. Should be decent quality with both of us being A players.
ChessBoy513 wrote:
rychessmaster1님이 썼습니다:
My refutation: 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Qa5!! this prevents 3. d4 and black is winning
Finally someone understands it.
But then black’s most powerful piece is sidelined AND black still has no center pawn, while White can develop easily.
IM pfren wrote (September 4, 2018):
Both 2...Nf6 and 2...d5 are fine against the Alapin, and some players may also like 2...e6 or 2...g6.
Jul 27, 2019
0
#951
GM_Kenny_Ji wrote:
I bet OP also refuted the French, Caro Kann, Grunfeld, Slav, QGD, Grunfeld, Nmzo, Benko gambit, and Benoni
Let’s try not to be ridiculous please
Jul 27, 2019
0
#952
HolographWars wrote:
I am going to use the Alapin in my next otb game. Should be decent quality with both of us being A players.
Good luck fine sir, But you won’t need luck
i have a 100% win percentage with this thanks.
Says a low rated player about an opening the world champion plays
kingofchessman wrote:
Says a low rated player about an opening the world champion plays
I am not attacking the actual soundness of the Sicilian or Alapin. I just think, by looking at these games, that players sub 2000 would have a hard time defending while White’s game is easy to play.
Jul 28, 2019
0
#956
dawson_632 wrote:
i have a 100% win percentage with this thanks.
Brilliant game. Thanks for contributing
staples13 wrote:
dawson_632 wrote:
i have a 100% win percentage with this thanks.
1 e4 c5 2 c3 Nf6 3 e5 Nd5 4 Nf3 Nc6 5 Bc4 Nb6 6 Bb3 g6 ...
Brilliant game. Thanks for contributing
How does White reply to 6...c4 ?
However, as a statistics teacher, I can offer a contribution that points out a flaw in the OP’s reasoning.
The OP has conducted a sample; he has played a finite number of fast-paced games, as white, which started as 1. e4 c5 2. c3 .... He is inferring that the results of his sample provide statistical evidence about a population of interest: all chess games that begin with 1. e4 c5 2 c3 ....
One necessary condition for conducting inference about a population is that the sample must be a simple random sample (SRS) from the population of interest. This means that every game in the sample was equally likely to have been included in the sample as any other game in the population. Since the sample only includes this one player’s games that started as 1. e4 c5 2. c3 ..., there is no way this represents a simple random sample from the population of interest (all chess games that start with 1. e4 c5 2. c3 ...). Therefore, the results of this sample CANNOT be used to infer ANYTHING about the population.
Instead, the OP is demonstrating the euphemism, “Garbage In, Garbage Out.” His Sample is “garbage,” in terms of the fact that it does not represent the population of all Alapin games; therefore his conclusion is “garbage,” in that the results of his sample CANNOT be used to infer the results of Alapin games as a whole.