Best Sicilian Opening
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What is the best Sicilian Opening. Trying to find good openings.
For white, Open Sicilian
For black, Sicilian Najdorf
There are many good Sicilian defences depending on your preference though. Some just have a different style.
There are also many good Open Sicilian lines other than those I showed.
The Alapin is very dry. If black knows what they're doing then they easily equalise and white has nothing to play for. It's not a very interesting line.
It's certainly playable but...the best? Definitely not.
LOL
Are you an Alapin fan? Lol.
doom variation
lines are e4 c5 a4
Arjun1516 wrote:
doom variation
lines are e4 c5 a4
Otherwise known as the Arjun Special. a4 for Arjun!
juicer52 wrote:
The alapin can certainly be equalized against which is why GM’s don’t play it. However, the person who asked is rated 600 and GM Naroditsky recommends the alapin even up to 1800. As well, I don’t believe I thought of any position as dry at 600. Although that may just be me.
But he said "What is the best Sicilian opening?" not "What is an easy Sicilian opening for beginners?" In which case, yes the Alapin is an ok opening if you really don't want to learn the Open Sicilian.
The best Sicilian opening for white is the Open Sicilian.
I know Naroditsky recommends the Alapin and that's kind of a pet line of his.
I wouldn't take any rating bars placed by anyone literally though "Don't play this until you're 1500" "Don't play that until you're 2000". If you enjoy learning an opening then you can start whenever you want.
Andras Toth, a chess coach I respect a lot, also recommends the Alapin for anyone who really doesn't want to play Open Sicilian but encourages that players move on to the Open Sicilian as soon as possible.
Ultimate-trashtalker wrote:
Open Sicilian is a lot of work actually.One for najdorf,dragon,taimanov etc
It's more to learn, sure, but really not that much more difficult. It's way more worth it anyway because it's more aggressive, fun and interesting. It's white's absolute best challenge to the Sicilian so has the best winning chances.
Against Najdorf you just have to pick one variation that you like, 2 if you like variety (it can also be fun to have a couple of different options).
Against Dragon you play Yugoslav Attack and it's worked out to be pretty good for white. Alternative options are Classical and Levenfish.
Against Taimanov you just pick 1 line as well. Be3-f4 is a decent line, Be3-Qf3, g3, etc.
We are talking about this (Alapin):
vs this (Classical Najdorf):
These are both on move 10 of the game. Take your pick.
For white, the closed sicilian is a less theoretical choice than the open and still very very playable. The KIA is also an option (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d3 and the line continues in the KIA setup) if you play the KID as black. However, these obviously lack the objective advantage the open sicilian brings, in exchange for less theory to memorize. With black, basically any e6 sicilian (Four knights, Taimonov, Kan and more) has fairly low theory in comparison to the dragon, najdorf, Sveshnikov etc. The best objectively is the Najdorf but naturally so much more theory is involved.
owenthetendy wrote:
For white, the closed sicilian is a less theoretical choice than the open and still very very playable. The KIA is also an option (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d3 and the line continues in the KIA setup) if you play the KID as black. However, these obviously lack the objective advantage the open sicilian brings, in exchange for less theory to memorize. With black, basically any e6 sicilian (Four knights, Taimonov, Kan and more) has fairly low theory in comparison to the dragon, najdorf, Sveshnikov etc. The best objectively is the Najdorf but naturally so much more theory is involved.
KIA is better suited for ..e6 Sicilians, not ..d6 Sicilians.
juicer52 wrote:
The alapin can certainly be equalized against which is why GM’s don’t play it. However, the person who asked is rated 600 and GM Naroditsky recommends the alapin even up to 1800. As well, I don’t believe I thought of any position as dry at 600. Although that may just be me.
I know some folks even > 2200 who play the Alapin exclusively, it probably is equal but they know how to play the positions much better than their opponents do.
You can also play the Open Sicilian better than the opponents do and it's more fun. Open Sicilian is by far the most fun Sicilian. If you enjoy learning the game of chess and you like to attack then it's worth it. It's the most testing and dangerous for the opponent.
Smith Morra is also quite a fun and dangerous opening but is ultimately unsound.
Alapin is dry and simple... for the opponent as well. Remember that the question is What is the best Sicilian Opening?
Whether you like the Alapin or Closed Sicilian for your style is subjective. They are not the best. They are much more dry and passive. Black has found easy paths to equality against both of these openings and it shows in the results.
The best Sicilian Opening for white is the Open Sicilian. The only others which are about as respectable are the Rossolimo/Moscow variations. This is like the 2nd main line. It's more for positional/grinding type players though.
Ultimate-trashtalker wrote:
Some stupid amateurs think playing equal positions are as if playing refuted gambits and think that a + 0.6 is huge.Seriously if u guys know so much about chess then why are u guys amateur?
Are you calling me stupid?
You just get riled up and start insulting without considering what I actually said. I didn't say Alapin or Closed Sicilian were bad or refuted but if all it gives white is an equal position then it clearly isn't the best.
