A Bust to the Sicilian Defense

There is no "best move" in this theoretical position from Najdorf Poisoned pawn: Black is dead lost.

Actually, I do have some experience in that line from CC, which is rather pleasant: I won both games without effectively playing a single non-obvious move- just copypasting previously played games.

Black's fatal mistake is the natural 20...Rd8.

Black's correct course is known since some years ago: 17...Qd5! (luring the white pawn to c4 before taking at d4 does help Black in the resulting positions, although 17...Bxd4 isn't really a mistake) 18.c4 Bxd4 19.Rxd4 Qa5+ 20.Rd2 0-0 21.Bd6 f5! when Black has a perfectly good compensation for the exchange. The presence of the pawn at c4 will halp him to exchange in in the process, and at the very worst get a pawnless ending an exchange down, which is quite easy to hold.

Thks @prfen, I definitely need to prepare better. And of course I do know this variation with Qd5 and f5, recently(in 2019) played by MVL against Giri. I don't completely agree that that endgame is easy to hold, as it is much, much easier to play as white. In the only game where I played this, I drew, missing several (I think 3) +1 continuations. Anyway the hole point is that Open-Sicilian types of positions are much easier to play for the cpu.

Here’s a 2 minute 1 second increment “bullet” game I just played. Black played fantastic and  made almost no errors after 1. c5, but was still helpless to stop the Alapin onslaught 

Black can survive the Alapin only if white blunders, which doesn’t happen often since white’s moves are more obvious and easy to find 

Your opponent did not play fantastic. But nice job trying to refute the Sicilian. Peace?

He made no blunders, mistakes, or inaccuracies (other than 1. c5 until the last couple moves at which point the position was such that your average 7 year old would be able to convert it against Kasparov 

The Kopec System (if you are conscious of the fact that your opponent regularly plays 2.d5):

6.h4 prevents the bishop responding out of sheer vexatiousness, and albeit the white bishop manoeuvre is deemed an inaccuracy, it should set you up for excellence what with numerous potential attacking diagonals. Kopec system may not completely refute the Sicilian Defense (but honestly, for every opening, there will exist a way to temporarily set the opponent off, who can retaliate and onwards goes the Hamiltonian cycle; it's like Ulam's claim about propositions in social sciences that are true and non trivial). Another gameplay which has become increasingly common is the one portrayed below:

This one leads to more complications for white, but nonetheless, if moves are played correctly, white should hopefully be able to secure a positional advantage.

2.d5 brings about complications for white, and thus, I take back what I previously mentioned about the Alapin being exceedingly effective. The majority of players will employ this move you will discern, and it will mostly be an even game with black been given the latitude to attack more freely.

No apparent idea as to whether this was mentioned previously, but the Wing Gambit is a most intriguing method when it comes to defeating the Sicilian. If black accepts the pawns, then it is quite likely that white will be better off, albeit the response 3.b3 can put Anti-Sicilians off this gambit.

"... d5 and nf6 do provide much stiffer resistance than any of black's other responses. ..." - staples13 (August 27, 2018)

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/a-bust-to-the-sicilian-defense?page=2

“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

Black didn't play fantastic and you still have to provide a refutation to ....Nf6

I have the feeling that @staples13 never answers the critical questions, always say "white's position is much easier to play", "Black can only survive if white blunders" while not being even close to giving a refutation( I've never seen someone here just writing one move and 1-0 as a refutation) and providing a bunch of blitz games where your opponent played terrible.

Please stop continuing this topic. My headaches are getting more severe.

Sicilians players are not so bad at defending against it. Your "if you are master level please feel free to ignore the question" is justified ; in master games, the percentage of drawn games, won games and lost games by both sides are almost equal.  Consider that Magnus, who had a plentiful of 2600+ GMs that helped him prepare for his WC Match, does play the Sicilian. Do you think that he didn't think about 2.c3 ? of course he did.To me, that is sufficient proof that the Alapin does not refute the sicilian. 

I’m a fan of the wing gambit. Admittedly 2. b4 is inaccurate because it gives black drawing chances, but it leads to a very fun game with a slightly superior position for white 

Peace 

Show how black can equalize please