How to counter Sicilian Alapin variation as Black

The only thing that is a joke are, as usual, ThrillerFan's patzerish claims.

Strong players never say things like "The Alapin is a joke," or "The French Exchange is garbage." This is entirely the specialty of people whose life ambition is to be a big frog in a very small pond

I have in front of me a book by former FIDE World Champion Alexander Khalifman. It is titled "Squeezing the Sicilian - Alapin Variation".

If the opening is a joke, then it is a very long one, as the book is 450+ pages thick, and it does not have either full games, or exercises. And of course it's not the full Alapin, either, but rather a white repertoire.

"How to counter Sicilian Alapin variation as Black"
How to counter Anything in chess? you go to Lichess 

https://lichess.org/analysis#explorer

Insert the moves, and see what the best move is... (against the Alapin, it's 2...Nf6 - an Alekhine Opening style, but This time, the 3.e5 push is Forced)

Unless the best move totally isn't your taste (or other reasons). So you go to the Second best.

Technically, I am right. Which is also something.

Or you just see a video about it:

https://chessopenings.com/sicilian/?videoId=sicilian_c3

Minute 7:35 and forward, is about 2...Nf3

Old thread but I play 2...d5. It can lead to wide open games or closed, French positions. However, on 3. e5 d4 is what I'll normally play as I'm not a huge fan of the French. I've had pretty solid results with it in club play as well as online over the years.

Giri recommends d5 against the Alapin and McDonnell Attack. I’m sure he knows what he is talking about as well.

Try this sometime

Definitely

The Alapin gives white a small but reliable edge and a more stable game than some of the open variations. I know a strong player (2250 FIDE) who plays 2. ...Nf6 but he's very patient and he also knows the variations perfectly. Lacking both of those attributes, I play 2. ...d5 to try to win. It's rather more unbalanced doing it that way and white gets a not-so-good IQP in the main lines. (Some IQPs are good)

There are several different pawn structures in the 2..d5 lines, and as far as I'm aware White can not be forced into the IQP lines, even though they are just about playable for both sides. For example there are very sharp dxc5 lines.

d5 is nice....the op won with it..mating in 1.

Now you might object to it because the back and forth nature of the game...its true the move before mate, white was way ahead. But was all in the plans...black was just fooling around no doubt, and then execute white. So there you have it....d5 it is!

Yes, I couple of years ago I was getting a lot of practice as black in the Alapin against someone who tried a lot of variations and methodically tried to improve on them. The result was that I built a repertoire for black. I much prefer playing with the c8 B on d7 than on g4 (it's only a target on g4 and I get more aggressive positions with the B on d7) so I play an early e6 but one thing I learned was always to meet d4 with Nc6, to make it harder for white to recapture with a piece. So usually Nc6 should be played early, then e6, then Nf6 and then Be7. Also, if white offers a Q swap, sometimes black is far better to avoid it. Another thing is that if white obviously knows what they're doing and is playing good moves, black should never decentralise, for instance by playing Nb4 to blockade the IQP, before black's development is complete. Normally I like to make provocative moves but not in the Alapin. White has too many tactical possibilities.

Then play 2. ...a6 like I do. Far higher percentage of anti-Sicilians. Either less players know the 2. a6 lines or maybe they buy the baloney about 2. ... a6 3. d4 being better for black. It isn't.

I dunno. White can hold a tiny edge. I used the Alapin as a drawing weapon when a draw against a 1700 FIDE was a great result for me. When I became stronger and needed to win 90% of my games against 1700s, the Alapin wasn't good. Later on, when I wanted to beat 1800s every time, I was using the English opening. When my tournament results started to decline because I was getting tired after four long games, I played 1. d4 with great success at first. Quite simply, d5 and Nf6 aren't the only systems against the Alapin. There's too much for white to learn, with too little potential gain, compared with the open Sicilian or the KIA imo.

Not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet, but I use 2. e6 3. d5 to transpose to a French and I seem to have a pretty good score against the Alapin.

I suppose you shouldn't play it as white unless you're familiar with the French. Most Sicilian players play the Sicilian because they prefer it to the French, for one reason. I always thought that it's far harder to win by transposing to the French, if white actually knows it.

Evgeny Sveshnikov, Eduardas Rozentalis, Sergei Tiviakov, Duško Pavasovič, and Drazen Sermek are the names who are associated with "Alapin Sicilian". The "joke" comment of the opening is somewhat debatable and an insult to these masters.

In any opening, if a player knows what he is doing he will probably win the game. 

My main opening agaist 1.e4 is sicilian. I have lots of victories and defeats playing the against alapin. In my level of play alapin is no joke. I also play alapin as white. 

To answer the post, maybe accelerated dragon or dragon family is worth a try against alapin.

Enjoy the game of chess! And stop the hate. 

The Alapin is just as strong a continuation as 2. Nf3. It's slower and more positional but it has its share of tactics. I personally would never play a Dragon-like setup against it because I want to win rather than scramble for a draw. After all, if black plays g6 very early, white then has absolutely no reason to play d4 and weaken the diagonal. If black leaves it late then white is already dominating the centre and may be able to launch a quick attack. I believe it's playable for black but I've seen some pretty terrible losses with it. I just play 2. ...d5, which is easily the best way for black to try to win.