no. black should usually be able to cross your plans with an early d5 or something
Can you get into a Maroczy Bind safely from every variation of the Sicilian?
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I've tried it a few times after seeing Lombardy-Fischer 1960 but as in that game it seemed the time for f3 and playing Nc3 anyway costs as does the usual necessity of keeping the QB on the a7 diagonal or losing a tempo moving the King if 0-0.
In the Fischer game he felt his big development lead was worth a pawn though maybe White could've drew.
Maybe I misplayed it but usually the Maroczy benefit didn't seem to offset the time loss and lack of initiative.
You almost always can with the move order e4 /Nf3 / d4 / c4.
However is does not really lead to an advantage against systems where the bishop is not on g7. So you get an equal position where white has some space but black has counter changes.
I actually found the prins variation: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3!? very effective.
The best variation 5..e5 followed by 6..d5 (from memory) is fairly unnatural and not often played, even if it is you will just have an equal position.
Meanwhile, the majority of people who play 2..d6 do not have good knowledge of the maroczy and just continue their play, assuming it will transpose to an english/yugoslav attack. Upon reaching the maroczy they simply do not know how to acheive the required counterplay and usually get crushed.
Obviously the accelerated/hyper dragon you can get a maroczy, I think 3.c4 is generally accepted as quite good against the O'kelly (2..a6). The big problem I think will be reaching a good maroczy against the taimanov, where black can play for the ..d5 break with ..e6 and ..Bb4 and so on.
Is there a maroczyish variant of the taimanov?
I'm not sure if it's officially classified a Taimanov defense but Fischer-Taimanov 1970 Interzonal maybe was an effective bind.
I had read somewhere that the Black KB on the h8 diagonal was maybe an good spot vs the Maroczy bind. One interesting review game where Black might have had decent defensive possibilities but went wrong badly was Portisch-Reshevsky 73 Interzonal.
GodIike wrote:
I actually found the prins variation: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3!? very effective.
The best variation 5..e5 followed by 6..d5 (from memory) is fairly unnatural and not often played, even if it is you will just have an equal position.
Meanwhile, the majority of people who play 2..d6 do not have good knowledge of the maroczy and just continue their play, assuming it will transpose to an english/yugoslav attack. Upon reaching the maroczy they simply do not know how to acheive the required counterplay and usually get crushed.
Obviously the accelerated/hyper dragon you can get a maroczy, I think 3.c4 is generally accepted as quite good against the O'kelly (2..a6). The big problem I think will be reaching a good maroczy against the taimanov, where black can play for the ..d5 break with ..e6 and ..Bb4 and so on.
Is there a maroczyish variant of the taimanov?
The Taimanov Variation of the Sicilian: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6, followed by 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4.
It would be a paradox if you could, wouldn't it?!
Totally agree with Inyustisia.
Oct 23, 2014
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#9
GodIike wrote:
The best variation 5..e5 followed by 6..d5 (from memory) is fairly unnatural and not often played, even if it is you will just have an equal position.
I disagree on both counts...d5 is a very freeing move that seems the MOST natural to me, and on top of that it IS the most often played. 
White can try 6.Bb5+ followed by 7.Nf5...it seems the strongest test against that ...e5 move, but I'd still rather play as Black.
Jun 13, 2019
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#10
AyoDub wrote:
I actually found the prins variation: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.f3!? very effective.
The best variation 5..e5 followed by 6..d5 (from memory) is fairly unnatural and not often played, even if it is you will just have an equal position.
Meanwhile, the majority of people who play 2..d6 do not have good knowledge of the maroczy and just continue their play, assuming it will transpose to an english/yugoslav attack. Upon reaching the maroczy they simply do not know how to acheive the required counterplay and usually get crushed.
Obviously the accelerated/hyper dragon you can get a maroczy, I think 3.c4 is generally accepted as quite good against the O'kelly (2..a6). The big problem I think will be reaching a good maroczy against the taimanov, where black can play for the ..d5 break with ..e6 and ..Bb4 and so on.
Is there a maroczyish variant of the taimanov?
What is your opinion on the following line? It doesn't look like you can play d5 immediately after e5 here.
Nov 22, 2020
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#12
So... can I play the Maroczy bind against the Taimanov variation? If not please explain why.
Nov 22, 2020
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#13
Kungeggbert07 wrote:
So... can I play the Maroczy bind against the Taimanov variation? If not please explain why.
You can only play a slightly inferior version of it.
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 and now White must play 5.Nb5 first and only after 5...d6 can he play 6.c4.
Playing 5.c4?? is a huge error because of 5...Nf6 6.Nc3 Bb4! Advantage Black! You have to force 5...d6 out of Black first where he can no longer play ...Bb4.
The Maroczy Bind is not playable against all lines. You can play the following:
Prins against 2...d6
Maroczy Bind vs Accelerated Dragon
An Inferior Maroczy Bind vs the Taimanov
5.c4 against the Kan
6.c4 against the Kalashnikov
Otherwise, it doesn't work. For example, the Sveshnikov, Four Knights, Pin Variation, Classical via 2...Nc6, Scheveningen (via 2...e6), etc - It doesn't work.
Nov 22, 2020
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#14
complexanalysis1 wrote:
If I were to give a dumb/not so dumb reason for liking the sveshnikov it's
1.No Maroczy
2.White usually doesn't castle queenside and even if they do they usually played some c4 semi exposing the king.
So if you can get a Maroczy that would be sad for me.
Gaping hole on d5, no thanks!
ThrillerFan wrote:
complexanalysis1 wrote:
If I were to give a dumb/not so dumb reason for liking the sveshnikov it's
1.No Maroczy
2.White usually doesn't castle queenside and even if they do they usually played some c4 semi exposing the king.
So if you can get a Maroczy that would be sad for me.
Gaping hole on d5, no thanks!
Every opening has its weakness and its counterchances. The Sveshnikov is fine but it’s understandable why one wouldn’t want to play with the d5 issue.
Optimissed wrote:
The Kan/Paulsen is superior to the Taimanov.
No it’s really not they are pretty equal Black can hold with best play just fine in both lines and has good counterplay in both lines
there is a move order to avoid the prins vs d6 sicilians. 1 e4 c5 2 nf3 d6 3 d4 nf6!?. i use it myself as i play the najdorf and sometimes the dragon. it does allow other lines but white never gets any positional bind anywhere so i'm fine with it. you can try to be clever as white and go for a pseudo smith morra gambit, starting with 2 d4!? which is annoying for black if he plays d6 types and wants to avoid the prins, but after 2..cd4 3 nf3 e5!? prevents you from getting in nxd4 and f3 and is also good enough to diffuse the entire smith morra. you could then think maybe 2 c4 to insist on a bind, but then black can try to exploit d4 here and he does not have to concede d5.
The easiest way to win is to play better than your opponent
If it doesn't bind, turn up the heat.
Title speaks for itself, but I was wondering if it was possible.
In a lot of Sicillians the black player plays an early Nf6, which usually induces Nc3 to guard the e4 pawn. I was wondering if it was almost always safe to play f3 to guard to pawn, then c4 with the idea of doing a bind transposition.