This is my weapon against Sicilian and I think it's pretty popular. 3... g6 I answer by Bxc6, then d3, h3, O-O, etc. with following Nh2 and f4. For some reason many players don't find a good plan for black and get under attack.
Bb5 Sicilian
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There have been several books and a video that has spurned a great deal of interest in the b5 Sicilian lately. The only thing to do is to look up a few games and learn a few good plans. Since I play 2. ... d6, I can't help you.
Oct 7, 2008
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#4
Given the popularity and success of the Sveshnikov, the Bb5 lines became a very popular counter at the higher levels and it trickled down. In addition, Bb5 is a valid sidestep from ML Sicilians that black will know better than white (at club levels) thus you can expect to see it frequently. I play it, semi-regularly, depending on my mood and current opening experiment. I find it gets a higher percentage of draws and isn't really dangerous for black. If you see it as black you may be disappointed you don't get to play your line but you can be happy that a least half a point is most likely in your pocket.
Oct 7, 2008
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#5
3 Bb5 gets pretty good marks on the game explorer, hmm..... I think I'll avoid 2...Nc6 from now on untill after d6.
thanks for pointing this out.
unless you have a better idea for black.
Oct 7, 2008
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#6
The best idea is to know how to play against Bb5. Knowing what your opponent likes to play is second. If he doesn't play Bb5 you don't have to worry about it. I've played the Sveshnikov twice so I'm no expert but I think if you've played 2...d6 you can't easily back into and need an other line like the Najdorf, Dragon, etc.
This is my weapon of choice against the sicilian . Its best if you know all the theory ( there are actaully many sound gambits in this syestem that white can adopt) then black easily falls into a worse position if he is careless buts its also good for a begginer who wants to get his opponent out of book and have roughly equal ( if not greater ) with having to read a book of his own
Back in my tournament days, 10-15 years ago, I used to like to play the Sicilian Sveshnikov. Since I've started playing again, though, I've not had an opportunity to play it, because every single game that's started 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 has continued 3.Bb5.
Has that become the anti-Sicilian system of choice over the past decade? I used to see the Grand Prix attack all the time from people looking to avoid the main open lines, but I've yet to re-encounter that. Conversely, I think I've seen Bb5 more in the past few weeks than I did in years of playing back then.
How do you Sicilian players like to play against it? I've chosen a more-or-less mainline Rossolimo (3... g6) for my current Online game; seems to share characteristics of the Accelerated Dragon but with the bishop on b5 instead of c4. The e6 systems look potentially appealing as well. What do you find works?
Also, how often do you find you encounter this system? Is it all the rage these days, or am I just (un)lucky?