Which Sicilian?

Hi

I like the Vienna opening for white, but which of the following would be good to deal with Sicilian by black?

a3, b3 or Alapin (c3)? unless I missed something (which is entirely possible) :-)  Thanks 

You missed a lot of options:

2.Nc3 - the start of the Closed Sicilian (3.g3), Grand Prix Attack (3.f4), Tiviakov Variation (2...Nc6 3.Bb5), Carlsen Variation (3.d4) or transposition to the Open Sicilian (3.Nf3 and 4.d4)

2.f4 - The McDonnell Attack, an inferior version of the Grand Prix Attack because of the Tal Gambit (2...d5! 3.exd5 Nf6!) White can try 3.Nc3, the Toilet Variation, but it is hardly an improvement.

2.Nf3 - This can lead to many possibilities. The Kings Indian Attack (2...e6 3.d3 - 3.d3 is vastly inferior against other 2nd moves because, like the Colle and Catalan, it relies on White dominating the light squares with the black bishop blocked by his own e-pawn - hence why the other case where the KIA is common, besides the 2...e6 Sicilian, is in the French Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d3 d5 3.Nd2 etc). The next possibility is 3.c3, Against 2...e6 or 2...Nc6, it is a direct transposition to 2.c3. After 2...d6, it is a totally different ball of wax due to tactics involving checking the Black King. It is in no way superior to the Alapin, just different problems must be avoided by Black. The next are the lines with 3.Bb5. Those are the Moscow Variation (2...d6 3.Bb5+) and the Rossolimo (2...Nc6 3.Bb5), the latter of which is said to be the best for White out of all the Anti-Sicilians. Then there is 3.d4, leading to the Open Sicilian, which is White's best response, and the sole reason I retired from the Sicilian in 2014 and switched to the Petroff as my backup to the French in 2014 as and as my primary weapon in 2024.

As a Vienna player, one that typically prefers open positions more than an Italian or Ruy Lopez player, the Open Sicilian is your best option. Your Ruy Lopez or Italian player might do better with the Rossalimo against 2...Nc6 and the Open Sicilian against 2...d6 or 2...e6, avoiding the Sveshnikov Sicilian.

Thank you for your reply and advice. I was aware there were many more options, but tried to narrow it down :-)

again pardon my ignorance & thank you for the patience… which one of a3, b3, c3 could be transposed to an open Sicilian? I’m trying to pick my next course on Chessly :-)

I’m confused - Can you clarify your question some more?

What exactly are you looking for?

Are you trying to play with the White pieces?

Or are you trying to play with the Black pieces?

Nothing you have said makes any sense to me.

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You said you play the Vienna opening.

The Vienna Opening is played as White against 1…e5

Are you asking what to do with the White pieces against the Sicilian?

Or ???

I don’t know how a3, b3, or c3 are involved in what your talking about.

The Open Sicilian often requires a D pawn trade.

I will show you an example.

In this example, I will play d6 for Black on move 2 which is a common move.

Black can play other moves on move 2 and the position can still reach the Open Sicilian just so you know.

This time I will play different move for Black.

Even though Black move is different, these positions are still considered to be Open Sicilians because the board is more open.

I’m playing with white, Vienna, but if black responds with a Sicilian I can’t forge ahead with the Vienna - so just looking for an effective response:-)

You need a lot more than just the Vienna and a line against the Sicilian. You've got the Caro-Kann and French as well, along with inferior defenses like the Pirc, Modern, Alekhine, Scandinavian, etc.

Thanks; the b3 Sicilian can transpose to deal with the French apparently. I actually quite like Scandinavian :-)

The closed line to the Vienna in the Sicilian is the Grand Prix Attack.

You could play it.

The other lines you mentioned are all side line stuff.

You could play them if you wanted to.

Are you trying to play something to surprise your opponents?

Essentially yes, looking for something easy(ish) yet surprising :-) 

The only way to counter the Sicilian in fun way is the open Sicilian! If you want Vienna vibes then Grand prix is the way to go! alapin is a great choice too. I would recommend to stay away from Closed Siclian and b3 whacks.

To play open sicilian you need either a coach or some good resource to follow learning by yourself is very hard there, alapin is great Naroditsky has a whole speedrun on that.

Alapin Sicilian is good if you want to keep some of the Vienna principles in hand as is Gran Prix Sicilian. 2. Nc3 lets you play the Closed Variation and this takes away a lot of Black's pet replies. You can fianchetto the Bishop on g2 and attempt wing play with a later f4 push.

I play the Closed Sicilian & Grand Prix depending on how my opponents play.

However, you are rated a lot lower vs. me so you could try to play only the Grand Prix.

I don’t think many people know how to counter it correctly at lower levels so you can get a lot of wins.

Down the road when your rating gets higher, you will need to mix in another line.

Much appreciated everyone :-)

I’ll look into the open Sicilian & Alapin/ Grand Prix stuff

in the meantime I was surface level studying the b3 variant…. So switching to the Alapin/ Grand Prix variants instead?

I’m also not good at time constraints, so just slowly but surely gaining knowledge & confidence in daily games, and unrated rapid games. Thank you again for the advice & patience :-)

For the record, so we are on the same page, Their are 3 types of openings in chess.

1 - Openings which start off with White winning (Which requires Black to neutralize the opening)

2 - Openings which start off Equal (Which neither side are winning and position is fairly even)

3 - Openings which start off with White losing (Which are often considered undesirable)

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If we are being honest, Their is only 2 lines against the Sicilian were White is considered winning from the start of the opening are the Open Sicilian & Closed Sicilian.

Those 2 openings give white a small edge and Black has to play carefully to neutralize the edge.

If Black doesn’t, Than White will start off winning in opening. The white advantage will gradually increase thru middle game. Black will be forced to resign in the end game.

White started off winning and carried the win all the way thru that is what makes those lines so challenging for Black side players.

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Now, if you don’t want to play Open or Closed Sicilian, It’s okay!

I’m not trying to be a buzzkill.

The Open & Closed Sicilian have Theory because Black side players don’t want to get smoked.

So the Black side players study to know what to do which in turn forces White side players to study because knowledge is power. Letting your enemy know what to do while your clueless is bad idea.

For the above reasons, Players often try to play stuff which isn’t very challenging or to put it simply they play openings which are fairly even.

(Option 2) as I said before - They are trying to skip the opening and play easy stuff to avoid opening theory and see if they can just win/out play their opponents in the middle game.

BUT their is a draw back - You don’t have the same gusto! You don’t have the Clout!

It’s all bark, but very little bite.

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Now, personally, I recommend to beginners to start off easy with option 2.

Yes! The lines are more bark vs. bite, but it is easier!

Start off easy and work yourself up!

I find most unsuccessful chess players don’t do the above philosophy.

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The way I tell people is like this:

Your end goal will be to know either Open Sicilian or Closed Sicilian.

Your beginning & intermediate goals should be with easier stuff.

It seems to me like you are trying to do a similar approach which I think can help you in long run.

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The only thing which I might change based on what you said is your pairings.

The Grand Prix pairs better with the Closed Sicilian long term.

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If you want to play Open Sicilian, You might want to consider the Delayed Alapin, Smith Morra, or maybe even the Delayed Bowlder Attack.

I don’t think the Alapin(2.c3) or Synder(2.b3) pair with Open Sicilian very well.

Truthfully, The Bowlder Attack is considered an option 3 choice.

It’s not considered the best, but it can be super deadly.

It can also give you the Open Sicilian feel without the Theory.

The Bowlder Attack is like a weaker Bobby Fischer line.

The Bowlder Attack is a Meta Beginner line.

High level it’s not considered good, but it is very popular in Club level.

I would play the Delayed Bowlder Attack which is slight improvement I think.

Again just trying to give you options.

d3. Can go into many lines, Open, Closed, Traditional, etc.

Hello there! I am Ryan,nice to meet you! I have played sicilian for over 3 years now and although all lines are fascinating,the one line that strikes me the most is the hyperaccelerated dragon,the lines are very complex and sometimes goes book till 9-10 moves. The Taimanov is good for the open sicilian.