If White plays 6.Bd2 instead of the main move 6.e5 I think the following line looks good 6...Bxc3 7.Bxc3 Nxe4 (And now Black has two central pawns to White's zero) 8.Qg4 Nxc3 9.Qxg7 Rf8 (so White got a g pawn for his e-pawn and lost his bishop pair, seems like a good trade to me) 10.bxc3 (and doubled pawns) and 10...Qa5 Black hits c3 and has the initiative for the moment at least. If White tries Nb5 which threatens to check on d6 and protects the c3 pawn by unblocking the long diagonal for the Queen, then Black should play d5. If White then plays the superficially tempting Nd6+ anyway, then after Ke7 Black actually gets some slight advantage, because the knight is attacked by the king and semi-trapped, and note of course any check from the queen on the d8-h4 diagonal just loses the knight, so the knight should take on c8 after which Rxc8 puts another attacker on the pinned c3 pawn.
Sicilian pin variation why not just Bd2
Thanks Dolphin that's very clear and helpful. It seems to be a position with lots of attacking lines but good to know I'm on the right track at least,
Regards
Nikhil
99.99% of the time, counter-intuitive as it may be, White should actually recapture with the pawn on c3, not the Bishop, even in scenarios with a Bishop on d2. It has to do with control of certain squares and dark-square issues for Black.
The Sicilian Pin Variation is one of those lines that will always work against lower rated opposition, but you start facing anybody respectable (i.e. over 2000 over the board), and you will be looking at some really weak positions for Black.
You're welcome and good luck with your chess.
I agree with Thrillerfan that in most cases White should recapture with the b pawn on c3, however because White didn't play e5 this wouldn't work in the above scenario at least, as both the e pawn is en prise and when the knight captures it the bishop will be hit. Before White can think about refuting the Pin they need to know to play e5 on move 6.
When I wrote to Sicilian Pin expert Cakeovic here a while ago asking about the Pin, he told me this line was the critical test 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. e5 Nd5 7. Bd2 Nxc3 8. bxc3 Be7 9. Qg4 O-O 10. Bh6 Black should play g6 and hope to give up the exchange. The bishop pair and queenside pawn weakenesses of White give compensation. I saw in one correspondence game of Cakeovic that he drew against someone higher rated with him in this line in the endgame. Also you can try the idea IM Andrew Martin discussed on his youtube video of 6...Ne4 after e5. I believe the video was called "The Unexplored Sicilian" though I'm not certain.
Cakeovic pointed me to the following recent game and seemed to think it was important. http://chesstempo.com/gamedb/game/3583528/ply/11
I don't think you'll need to worry about the viability of this opening for some time yet. One of the benefits of playing something like the Pin at beginner/intermediate level is that you don't need to study too much theory yet as it's a rare variation. Most of your opponents at this level aren't going to have a clue what to do and end up giving Black equality in the opening with their favorite move 6.Bd3 or something similar. So then you free up your study time for tactics and endgame.
Hi Dolphin,
Thanks a lot, I'll look into those lines out of interest but yes so far I've rarely reached 6.e5. I've still got a long way to go before I start playing decent chess :).
Nikhil
I think this is bad for black.
The Sicilian simply never ceases to amaze me, that's why I call it The Sicilian Labyrinth. GM Yasser Seirawan has a video in his teaching series, and I must admit that after all of these years, I'd never heard of The Pin Variation, and have never seen it played on any level even once. Seirawan doesn't even mention the 6.Bd2 variation. Why? Because allowing the capture of the e4 pawn AND the shattering of white's queen side pawn structure are just too much for white to surrender, in the opening; the grapping of the g-pawn and black losing king side castling privileges, is not compensation enough. What Dolphin 27 and ThrillerFan said above, are both correct, but I'm thinking of adding it to my repertoire anyway. Here's the link to Seirawan's video, enjoy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvipCjxqGiM
Hi all,
I've been trying to follow the Sicilian pin variation as a beginner and have had some helpful comments here in the past. But there are still some very simple responses by W after which I struggle to see what my advantage as B is. For e.g, what if W just blocks by Bd2. I normally carry on with the exchnage but have just been fortunate enough not to run into Qg4 as I have no idea what to do after that. But bakcing up to the position below, whats the correct play by B?
Thanks
Nikhil