How do i play against 2...Nc6 Sicilians?

Hi everyone  Recently (otb), I've been having some trouble in the 2...Nc6 Sicilian

and I was wondering if you guys have any recommendations. I think the main problem is that i spent a lot of time on the 2...d6 sicilians, and didnt really look at this line. I also keep forgetting the theory, so otb i just play it like a 2...d6 sicilian, when there are some obvious differences in the position and structure. Thanks in advance  Also, I was thinking of trying the Rossolimo ........ does anyone know if that is a good opening to play against the 2...Nc6 lines?

awesome, thanks!  

I was just struggling when I was playing against (Accelerated) Dragons, since in the 2...d6 lines, Black doesnt really have the option of playing d5, (since it would be a waste of tempo to go d6-d5 in two moves) while in the 2...Nc6 lines, Black hasn't moved their d-pawn and can go d7-d5 in one move. Against the (Accelerated) Dragon in the 2...d6 lines I also try to get a sort of Yugoslav set-up, and against the Najdorf, I use the aggressive line with Bg5 (shown below) 

Do you have any suggestions against the 2...Nc6 Dragon and Najdorf? Thanks so much for all the help!

How about an anti sicilian against all these? I've been having fun and some success with the kopec system (3. Bd3). Its off beat and i think not so well studied, and looks like a move that black should punish... But there's actually some method in it and o usually end up with strong control of the center.

There is no such thing as "2...Nc6 Najdorf", and Dragons starting with 2...Nc6 is the Accelerated Dragons, plus a very rare line (semi-accelerated dragon):

"... There is no doubt in my mind that if you really want to test the Sicilian then you have to play the main lines of the Open Sicilian. The problem is that there are just so many of them ... and keeping up with developments in all of them is a substantial task. ... as you become older, with other demands on your time (family, job, etc.) then it becomes more and more difficult to keep up with everything. At this stage it may make sense to reduce your theoretical overhead by adopting one of the 'lesser' lines against the Sicilian: 2 c3, or the Closed Sicilian, or lines with Bb5. ..." - GM John Nunn in part of a 2005 book where he discussed a 1994 game in which he had played 2 c3.

I have never seen the term "semi-accelerated dragon" in a book, but, after some chess.com discussion,

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/i-m-trying-to-learn-an-opening-please-help

I did some searching and found reference to two Dragon lines about half-a-century ago:

#1: 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 Be2 g6

#2: 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6

There was also the "accelerated":

#3: 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 g6

I wonder if #2 was ever called "semi-accelerated". Of course, it now seems to be viewed as the ordinary Dragon.

Awesome, thanks so much for the feedback, everyone  @EiXen, I'll make sure to try out some anti-sicilians, next time I play against a Sicilian. Maybe I could try an Alapin, too

The semi-Accelerated Dragon starts with 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 g6.

Viewed as inferior back then due to 6.Nxc6, but it ain't that simple.

The name goes way back, probably before the first edition of David N.L. Levy's book "Sicilian Accelerated Dragons" which was published at 1975.

I've had problems with it too. I've changed to 3Bb5. White doesn't have to play d4 at all. With Bb5 you can get a way different game, there are a lot of times black will play e5 at some point which leads to similar e4 e5 positions although black's structure is different with a pawn on c5. White can also prepare d4 with c3, especially after black goes bg7. Note though that if black doesn't play Nc6 but instead plays d6 or e6 which is also common, bb5 isn't the best move in my opinion.

After 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 (or d6 or e6), the traditional view seems to be that 3 d4 is the best move. See, for example, the GM John Nunn quote that I posted above, about 1 day ago. However, after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 (or d6), 3 Bb5 seems to be a very respected alternative (known as the Moscow variation in the case of 2...d6 3 Bb5+). However:

"... Those who are following the Kasparov vs. ROW challenge, will certainly remember that Kasparov chose 3 Bb5+ after 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 ... this system is not universal ... White can use it only after 2...Nc6 and 2...d6 and therefore needs to have something else against Black's alternative second moves. However, many games start with either 2...Nc6 or 2...d6 and thus 3 Bb5 is very important. ..." - Alex Baburin (1999) https://web.archive.org/web/20140715021926/http://chesscafe.com/text/baburin05.txt

Thanks for the extra info. Was there a name for 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 Be2 g6 ? Maybe the decelerated dragon?

This is why I said Bb5 isn't so good when black plays d6 or e6, only after nc6. I think it's still good against d6 (d6 is the most played according to chess.com database) but it's best against nc6 in my opinion.

i find it odd that nobody mentioned 3.Nc3 with the idea to follow up with 4.d4. this will usually transpose to other open sicilians and imho the exceptions (3...Nf6 and 3...e5) should give white a pleasant position.

but doesnt that just transpose into the position i asked how to play against?

This is (by transpostion) a perfectly normal Dragon, Classical variation.

3...Nf6 is an exception. after 3 Nf6 best is 4. Bb5 which is an improved version of the 3 Bb5 line 

Improved under what sense?

3...Nf6 is a fine line vs the Rossolimo. Either 4...g6 or 4...Qc7 (I prefer the latter) are entirely viable lines.

Stop studying nf3 

Do you want me to play a Smith-Morra? xD