sicilian defense question

so when i go into the sicilian defense why is it white move d4 on there 3rd move, swapping pawns. i saw on another post someone asked why and someone respond if white doesnt do this they will lose, so will someone explain what i do if white does not do this so i can exploit it... when i watch good players play white always plays d4 on the 3rd, but when i play people they dont. what do i do with this opening they have left me??? thanks

lol, that someone was either joking or doesn't understand chess.

I suppose you mean that white plays 2. Nf3 followed by 3. d4 (so called open Sicilians). This is indeed probably the most common way to play. The logic is quite simple: since 1... c5 for black doesn't really help his development white is going for fast development and open positions where the development advantage is most telling.  So, 3 d4 opens the way for c1 bishop and after 3. cxd4 4. Nxd4 the knight also gains excellent central square and the centre is more open.

However, this is by no means the only way for white to play. There are whole variety of other respected setups (sometimes referred as anti-Sicilians) to choose  from. Some of these anti-Sicilians are actually very dangerous. Since there exists such a vide variety of possible setups it's very difficult to give any general guidelines for handling them all: for example the Grandprix Sicilian (2. f4) requires completely different type of handling than the Alapin (2. c3).

 I also wonder at times if it isnt a mistake. I find it ironic though that Larsen would question anything, given the rather questionable openings he himself was fond of.

LOL...... That was Larsen's Houdini game.... I think he had several such miraculous escapes in his career.

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1106678

One of Larsen's most brilliant games...

ya there in that game, why does white always do that as there 3rd move???? what can i do to exploit white if they dont, it is obliuvlly the best move since all the chess master games have white do that.

ya there in that game, why does white always do that as there 3rd move???? what can i do to exploit white if they dont, it is obliuvlly the best move since all the chess master games have white do that.

Your question has already been answered, but since you ask it again I guess I'll give my own answer:

After 1. e4 c5  2. Nf3 Nc6/d6/e6, 3. d4 may be white's best move, opening up room for whites pieces, but it's certainly not white's only good move, meaning that you just can't exploit any other move that white makes.  There are a couple good ones in c3 or Bb5 - just look in online databases/read a book/find information from another source to see how you should continue so you could get a good idea on how to take the advantage if white plays a poor move.

As for second moves, there are a lot of moves that white can make which are decent.  You just have to know how to respond to each of the anti-sicilians.