Suggest a good weapon against the Sicilian

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Avatar of The_Hungry_Champion

I hate it when my opponent plays the Sicilian just because I don't know how to deal with it and I am taking part in a tournament and I really want to learn something good against the Sicilian. Suggest some ways I can improve my play against the Sicilian (I currently p lay the Alapin against it).

Avatar of ConfusedGhoul

Sicilian players are prepared against anything, so surprise them the best way and play the Open! There is no way they would expect it

Avatar of Kesarling_UT

The best weapon - ask for draw! (Or just threaten, LOL.)

Avatar of The_Hungry_Champion
Kesarling_UT wrote:

The best weapon - ask for draw! (Or just threaten, LOL.)

--_--

Avatar of The_Hungry_Champion
Kesarling_UT wrote:

The best weapon - ask for draw! (Or just threaten, LOL.)

You can't offer a draw before 20 moves in a tournament and my opponent won't accept it and if I threaten, I just get banned from chess.com

Avatar of tygxc

Alapin is good against the Sicilian. GM Sveshnikov believed it to be the best response to the Sicilian, as it does not trade a central pawn d4 for a wing pawn c5.
You can also play a delayed Alapin: 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 c3 Nf6 4 Be2 Nc6 5 d4. The tactical point is that pawn e4 is indirectly defended by Qa4+.

Avatar of BigSplat2018

If you learn the Morra Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3), that can be a pretty good weapon. The principles are clear: B@c4, Rs on c1 and d1 to control the files, etc., so there's not a lot of memorization of variations. I've been playing the Sicilian for years, and good players can still get strong attacks with it against me if I'm not careful.

Or 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6/Nc6/g6 3.f4, the Grand Prix Attack. Again, it's a little bit off-book, and the principles of playing it are pretty clear (B@c4, push f4-f5 to weaken the Black kingside…checkmate shall surely follow!).

Avatar of A-mateur

You can try the Closed Sicilian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_Defence#Closed_Sicilian:_2.Nc3) with 2.Nc3 and 3.g3 (or 3.f4).

It works very well against weak players that play the Sicilian without understanding it (for instance, putting their queen on c7 in the Closed Sicilian on the first moves, as if the c-file was opened as in the Taimanov variation), but against stronger players, a badly managed attack with f4 can turn into a disaster quite rapidly. 

 

As it has been said, the soundest choice is certainly the Open Sicilian, but there's a large amount of theory.

 

Alternatively, maybe you can try 2.Nf3 and 3.Bb5 against 2...Nc6 and 2...d6, and 3.b3 against 2...e6 (but honestly I never played 3.b3 in this situation, it just seems to be a playable and interesting move). 

Avatar of Sekada

I'd definitely suggest Smith-Morra Gambit

Avatar of Morfizera

smith-morra, wing gambit, rossolimo, closed sicilian, even grand prix

Avatar of Thatsucks

One way to piss off a sicilian player is to play 1.d4

Avatar of sndeww
ConfusedGhoul wrote:

Sicilian players are prepared against anything, so surprise them the best way and play the Open! There is no way they would expect it

LOL This was funny, because it's so true. I remember when I played c5 back around 1300 level. Everybody played everything except 2.Nf3! and 3.d4!

Avatar of sndeww

to the OP, though - if you've been playing the alapin, stick to it. if you don't like it, learn the open.

Avatar of RussBell

Fighting the Sicilian With The Grand Prix Attack...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/fighting-the-sicilian-with-the-grand-prix-attack

Avatar of Hedgehog1963

1. d4

Avatar of Sack_o_Potatoes

Do open

Avatar of darkunorthodox88

closed, rossolimo and the carlsen sideline is worth considering (1.e4 c5 2.nc3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.qxd4 nc6 5.qd2! intending b3-bb2  0-0-0 and allowing for f3

Avatar of XxThe_DestroyerxX

Pumpgun, and blast the opponents brain off then he definetely wont win against you(this message requires a OTB game)

Avatar of SwimmerBill

Get Tim Taylor's book 'Slay the Sicilian'. He gives a coherent attack scheme as white in open Sicilian based on Karpov' s repetoire [updated & simplified]. What I like is that he has a skill in explaining the ideas in  a way where they 'stick' in your head.