Plans in sicilian/IQP

Most openings books (at least those I encountered) fail miserably when it comes to explaining plans, not variations. That's what I can take with me when I play a game: I want to know what plan to follow in a certain position, where I should put my pieces, whether I should go for a queenside or kingside attack, or maybe I should defend.

For instance, in the following position, what should White do? Alternatively, what are Black's ideas? It's Black to move, obviously.

I would be a little less pessimistic than Estragon here, as white still has some development advantage, and black's queenside may prove slightly exposed. It's true that if white doesn't threaten a quick d5 push or doesn't put pressure on the queenside, black will probably be better.

Specifically, after a Qd7 retreat, I would consider h3 trying to get the bishop pair, and after Qa5, Be3 followed by Qb3, or Bd2, or an immediate Qb3.

As for white's piece position, ideally, it would be Qb3 and Rfd1, Rac1, but probably we have to adapt to the circumstances

IQP typical plans are widely explained in the chess litterature, there's even a whole book dedicated to them !

What is an IQP?

Thanks RR... learned something new...

Well, nothing went wrong in White's play. Here are the opening moves:

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.Be2 e6 7.O-O cxd4 8.cxd4 Nc6 9.Nc3

As you can see, there is nothing to prevent Black from playing the active Bg4 and then e6. As for rooks on the open files, there was simply no time for such a thing. Surely, after h3 Black will simply retreat his bishop to h5. OK, Qb3, Rc1, Rfd1 but the problem is, if Black doesn't play passively, White cannot push d5. That's what I knew was the main idea behind IQP.

You say that, after Bg4, White should not allow IQP? Well, he then might lose the right to castle and the endgame might be quite difficult to play. True, 6. Be2 was considered an inferior move by Kasparov.

Babs: IQP means isolated queen pawn. In the first diagram, White's d pawn is isolated. In short, the side with IQP should look at a d5 push and should not exchange minor pieces. If White pushes d5, he will have an easy game and a slight advantage. On the other hand, if Black manages to exchange the pieces into an endgame, then White is worse and probably losing.

Pushing d5 is the primary aim in IQP positions, but it's not the only plan available ! White can also try to build a kingside attack, taking advantage of the extra space he has in the center and the e5 square for his pieces. Another plan is to try to infiltrate the queenside, and especially the c5 square...

Look at an opening database, this position is very well known. Play through some games, including some of each of these categories.

• both players high rated
• white win
• black win
• draw
• white high rated, black not, white win
• black high rated, white not, black win

Ya it is a IQP postition, but isn't thought very highly of since what white usually has going for him in IQP is activity but black seems to have that covered for him.

A fantastic opening series if you want ideas from the openings is John Watson's e4/d4 books they are fantastic but targeted at mainly 1800+. Being a die hard e4 player I switched to d4 after reading them (who knew that d4 was so interesting?)

I would add miniature games and long games (for endings) to ozzie's excellent piece of advice. They show what are some common traps/mistakes to avoid in the position

There are pros to having an IQP?

When you say Isolated Queen's Pawn do you mean no other pawn is backing it up?

Sorry, just trying to understand exactly what that lingo means.

when you say pros to having an IQP, I would guess those pros would be because part of the master plan for better positional play for an upcoming attack, or possibly defence, but more so attack... just like with a Sac or exchange... Yes? No?

Thanks for the explanation Catalin, I only just saw it...

Later today when have some more time, I will study all said here properly... 1st thing I see white can't move d5 in either of the diagrams, so I assume you meant white should have moved d5 or should still try to move d5 as soon as possible?

Looking at this game I would be moving a3 to stop black's knight advancing?

hicetnunc, here and now in Latin (not French), as I'm sure paulgottlieb knows but just for the benefit of others without a classical education. It's late at night here and it's St. Patrick's Day also so I won't attempt to comment on the position given, I just wanted to point out the series of videos on IQP by IM Danny Rensch on chess.com available to diamond members which some of the posters in this thread are.  I haven't viewed then yet but his rook and pawn nendings videos are very good, so these might be helpful.

I didn't say it's popular, I only know that I can't play the normal Sicilian due to the hundreds of critical variations and subvariations. I know that Black gets an easy play and has no opening problems, I was just wandering if someone knows a clear plan of action for White. I don't. In the games I looked at White is stuggling a little bit.

In 2008 Sergei Tiviakov said: "Objectively speaking this move (2...d5) is worse than 2...Nf6. After 2..d5 White gets a slightly better position in all lines no matter what Black plays".

For the Alapin, I just studied his games. The Na3 thing is cool. So, why don't you change your inferior 6.Be2 with 6.dxc5!

Here's his game in this line (in 2004):

When looking at this type of position, it is also good to look at other IQP style positions. Look at the Tarrasch, the Semi-Tarrasch, the Nimzo-Indian. Look at the Caro-Kann Panov-Botvinnik attack.

After you get a feel for the plans on both sides, you can better look at the Alapin. Maybe black has a lot more piece activity in the Alapin than is usual on the side without the IQP. Maybe not. Maybe there are some tactical ideas only in the Alapin which make black's position a little awkward. You know, the perennial "if I could only untangle my pieces..." but you never get a chance to.

I saw an NM beat an FM on the white side of the Alapin in a position rather like this one (without the dxc5 lines). It looked quite easy. Almost made me want to take up 1.e4!

To back ozzie's suggestion, I remember when the 2.c3 Alapin variation emerged (in the early 80's) and GM Murray Chandler wrote one of the first book on it, you could read comments such as : and now, we have a typical Semi-Tarrasch position on the board, which is considered slightly favourable to white...

IQP has its own microworld in the whole chess realm.

My experience with this type of position is White is better if the Black bishop is on c8. White can generally whip up enoughof a kingside attack to force Black to move some pawns in front of his king. Then a well timed sacrifice leads to mate or win of material.

With the Black bishop on g4 it's a completely different story. Black has an extra defender on the kingside so White can not successfully attack there.

I've had your position several times and have not been able to find a good plan for White. I think 9. ... Qa5  10.Qb3 Qb4  11. Be3 is worth a try but haven't had a chance to play this yet..

I'd suggest that, with the bishop on g4,  7. 0-0 is a wasted tempo. White should be developing his queenside.