Switching to Sicilian, but which Sicilian?

who mentioned the four knights italian?

its eh after e4 e5 nf3 nc6 nc3 nf6 bc4 nxe4 and white doesnt even get the boring game he wants

if you mean the setup where white goes e4 nf3 bc4 d3 nc3 bg5 0-0 and black mirrors then yeah thats just equal

Samuel what do you think of the Alapin? I’m curious because it’s actually my main weapon and I have a pretty good score with it OTB

i agree, and a lot of Sicilian players won’t play e6 d5 because they won’t want to transpose into the French!

I'm not too fond of the Alapin personally, to be honest. However, I think it's probably the best practical choice for white if they really don't want to play the Open Sicilian. Other anti-Sicilians don't really contest the d4 square like the Open Sicilian, but the Alapin does. Especially at lower levels, a lot of people respond with 2. ...Nc6 or 2. ...d6 and *white* gets a much better position immediately.

I think some of the lines can be quite passive, dry and drawish. As black, I prefer 2. ...d5 as it gives some more active, open play. 2. ...Nf6 is technically the best though.

Fair enough, I do think it’s the best anti-Sicilian. From a pure logistical standpoint, the reason why white plays nf3 is to play d4. C3 does the same thing but it wants to take back with a pawn and keep two center pawns! The only drawback is that it blocks the knight from coming to c3, which is why open Sicilian is the main line and not Alapin

I meant to say white gets a better position after Nc6 or d6.

I mean, d6 is a perfectly legitimate move actually. It allows us to play d4, but the idea is to play Nf6 and d6 controls the e5 square. Many grandmasters have played like this and it’s not that of a bad option

But white still gets a very nice position of course, as an Alapin player, I am not scared of it at all 👍

I would feel silly to go d6 then d5.

D6 Sicilians can be a waste of tempo or a weakness in certain cases.

I’m talking about the Alapin in this case 👍

So am I.

Ah I see, well black isn’t really going d5 in this case

It’s an option at the club level.

Do you mean this? Dxc5 is also an option that I play btw

White gets everything he wants. I would rather be white in this case.

some analysis on the topical line

i have negative idea why black wants to play d6 here

It’s not the topical line, actually e5 is terrible for white because of de, de, qxd1 and ng4. That’s the whole reason black went d6, to prevent e5 👍

This is one of the reason why I took a break from d6 Sicilians; there are stronger responses over d6 against anti-Sicilians.

You must factor anti-Sicilians and transpositions when choosing a Sicilian to play especially when anti-Sicilians are played a majority of the time in clubs.

You cannot play d6 on auto-pilot either. In this case, d5 or Nf6 works and keeps things in Sicilian territory; not French.

@Chuck639

This depends entirely on the variation. Saying that d6 can be a waste of a move against certain anti-Sicilians is just the same as e6.

The KIA, b3 and c4 are all much more effective against 2. ...e6 where e6 can be a wasted move. In d6 Sicilians, all these variations can be adequately responded to with e5.

I've seen that d6 is actually playable against the Alapin but it gives white much more of an edge than Nf6 or d5. Nc6 can be played as long as black follows it up with d5, transposing into a Barmen Defence line.