Effectiveness of sicilian grand prix on the club level

Second game as mentioned above...Apparently I can't post 2 games in one post.

Lucidish_Lux wrote:

Second game as mentioned above...Apparently I can't post 2 games in one post.

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This 2nd player played it worse than the first guy did. Poor knight placement and then he blindly went after material. Cant believe theyre really rated 2000s from their moves.

Anyways, do club players normally respond 2...g6 after Nc3? I

Know it is mainline but is it common reponse?

It happens. I see ..g6, ..Nc6, ..e6, and ..d6. I'd say ..g6 is the least common among the four.

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I would say the Grand Prix is okay at club level, but I have a bigger issue with the OP.

Why do you want to play 'something anti sicilian?' Is it because you think White can do better than the main line by playing something that is called an 'anti-Sicilian?' If so, you should probably try the main lines first (2.Nf3 and 3.d4 against almost everything, of course not vs 2...a6 where 3.c3 is probably best, or 2...Nf6 where 3.d4 hangs the e4-pawn, or 2...d5 for the same reason)

White gets a big lead in development, often gets a space advantage, and has a much easier time playing for a win than does Black. You don't need to know much theory to play the open Sicilian as White at <2000 level (or <2200 level) while Black is walking a tightrope, where every move could spell disaster once White gets all the pieces out. Just develop your pieces democratically and castle quickly. I like to castle queenside vs Najdorf/Dragon and kingside vs e6-based Sicilians.

Haha!  Very nice! 

I too have had great success, both online and OTB with the White side of the 2.Nc3 Grand Prix. White gets a very dangerous K-side attack, but it has to be timed right; if White pulls the trigger too soon he can shoot himself in the foot, as Blacks counterplay on the queenside is also fast; black normally ends up with a lot of space over there. Here are a couple of wins of mine using this system:

White: Me Black:1789 Chess.com online tournament 1-0

Bc4 is extremely inconsistent in post 34. Black should of course play e6 and complete his development before ideas of b5, but he will have the normal position up quite a few tempi. He later trades his dark squared bishop and hangs e6 for no reason. In the second game, post 35, Qc7 wastes too much time just to avoid normal plans, and black still was fine.

In a game where black knows what he is doing the variation is not that great, and the only way to play at all is this pawn sacrifice, which I consider slightly dubious:

True, black (and white) played some inaccurate moves in the above games, but after looking at the nice games posted by Lucidish_Lux, I thought I would post these because his games reminded me of mine...and the OP might get a good idea for the ideas for White by viewing these 4 games. The similarities:

1. White exchanges the light square bishop for knight. This gives black the 'bishop pair', but that is no advantage due to the closed nature of the game. Note that if black wants to avoid this by playing an early ...a7-a6, White can fiancetto the LSB on g2.

2. White plays Qe1 with a view toward going to h4 in conjunction with the knight maneuver Nf3-g5, as demonstrated in both mine and Lucidish's games.

3. White storms black's castled position with pawns, so it is a good idea for king safety's sake (and to give strength to his attack) to have as many of his pieces on the kingside as possible.

Now obviously this is no automatic recipe for success, but the ideas are easy to learn, and it's a fun system if you like playing for the kingside attack!

In post 8?

Nxe2+ Qxe2 b4. Generally, in the systems where black plays for queenside play instead of d5 he is doing fine if he can meet c3 with b4, as files will have to open there while white does not have much kingside attack.

I think Black is much better in your sideline 31...Qe4+ line and totally lost after 32.Qe6+. White's 26th and 27th plan was awful.

The Tal gambit is very, very strong

Of course black is completely winning before allowing Qe6, and white's 26th and 27th moves seem like desperation (although he will have to give up material to stop the pawn, why sac a knight right back?). But when you've been playing for 5 hrs and you get a completely winning position with black, it's easy to relax and miss simple threats .