A)*H@QFOIF@J !#(*(!

Can someone please help me with the Alapin from the black side? I hate, HATE this opening

My most recent loss:

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Satan"]
[Black "Swingdoc"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "B22"]
[PlyCount "51"]
[EventDate "2009.12.07"]
[SourceDate "2009.12.07"]

1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 Nc6 6. Nf3 d6 7. Bc4 e6 8. O-O
Be7 9. Re1 O-O 10. Bb3 f6 11. exd6 Qxd6 12. Nc3 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Na5 14. Bc2 b6
15. Qe2 Bd7 16. Bb2 Rac8 17. Nd2 Qc7 18. Bd3 Bd6 19. h3 e5 20. Ne4 exd4 21.
cxd4 Bf5 22. Nxd6 Bxd3 23. Qe6+ Kh8 24. Nxc8 Qxc8 25. Qxc8 Rxc8 26. Rac1 *

Noooo, was about to go to bed and I see this thread title!

I'd start with this:

Just ignore the game beyond the opening. It was a sim game against a not particularly strong opponent, but Kasparov's opening play this game really opened my eyes. Actually conceding a tempo as black where you end up with a thoroughly blockaded isolated pawn and instead of dealing with it in any way whatsoever, relying on the dynamic potential that it offers your position. I've studied a ton of ideas in these sort of positions lately. Many times black can actually simply let white 'safely' capture the pawn, but the piece activity black gets ends up being more than enough compensation.

The positions are very fun to play and offer a ton of chances for active and dynamic play.

I know I'm terrible, but...

I think if you're going to play that f6 move, it becomes super important to play kh8. Maybe 19...kh8 followed by d5? your position certainly looks ok to me up till that point.

2...Qa5!? is better than it looks and should annoy most Alapinists. IMO it should suit the creative Kan players more than Dragon or Najdorf players. For instance Romanishin and Movsesian have played it repeatedly with success.

Personally I like Murey's 2...b6 and later g6 very much, but I admit that it's borderline. Players who have experience with the Modern Defence might like it.

I just was about to go to bed but I want to answer to this thread first.

I have played 2.c3 for some time now, and I have had very good success with it. The fun starts when I play 2. c3 and see the annoyed look on Villain's face.

The move 2... Qa5 that Heron proposes is mostly crap in my opinion. Sure, White can't play 3. d4 but it places the queen rather early on a square of doubtful value. I surely am not annoyed when I see 2..Qa5, but delighted. It's like a psychological victory that Black avoids the main lines. It reminds me of a fun game I played this year against a better opponent:
1.e4 c5 2.c3 Da5 3.Sf3 Sc6 4****4 e6 5.0-0 b5 6.Lb3 c4 7****2 Sf6 8.d4 cxd3 9.Dxd3 e5 10.Lg5 Le7 11.Td1 0-0 12.Sbd2 Td8 13.Sf1 Lb7 14.Se3 Sh5 15.Lxe7 Sxe7 16.Dd6 Sg6 17.Sxe5 Sxe5 18.Dxe5 Sf6 19.Sc4 Da6 20.Sd6 Db6 21.Lb3 Tf8 22.h3 Lc6 23.De7 Sxe4 24.Lxf7+ Kh8 25.Sxe4 1-0
Okay, Black could have played better, and my 4. Bc4 is not best either (4.d4!), but I just love the position after my 20th move.

Speaking from White's point of view, the line I want to see the least is 2..Nf6 and then the main line 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 d6 6. Nf3 Nc6 or 6...e6. That doesn't necessarily mean it is best but it is the hardest Black setup to play against (for me personally, I don't know about what's considered best theoretically). And yes I know about the 5. Nf3 / 7. Bb3 option.

I love playing against 2...d5 because the resulting positions suit me. In principle however, it should be fine for black as most often the game ends up in an IQP position where White's pieces aren't placed optimally.

I am also not really convinced about 2..e6 as this gives me the option to transpose to an advance French which I am fine with playing; and of course playing the exd5 lines is also totally fine for White.

To summarize, I usually am very happy with the positions I get with 2. c3. Surely, theoretically 2. Nf3 is probably better, but I don't play against grandmasters, so the most important thing for me is getting into positions I like and know what to do in. And with regards to this aim 2. c3 is the nuts.

Joe Gallagher's Beating the Anti-Sicilians is my go-to reference for when White avoids the open Sicilian.

Against the Alapin he recommends 2...Nf6 or 2...d5.

quite a bold leap there by Joe!

Heh. he goes in depth with each line of course, it's a great buy if you play the Sicilian regularly.

Great book in my opinion too.
Funny to see people using ut as main reference even though this book is almost 16years old now!

yep, a bit dated but i don't think that matters too much if you're playing below national master level.

Not sure I like 10. ... f6...
But then again 10. Bb3 is weird.

But what do I know, I play 2. ... e5 vs. 2. c3.

2...d5 is by far the strongest continuation imo, and this is coming from an Alapin player. (The Kasparov game has a delayed d5 but the same concept is achieved where white is basically not even trying to contest d5, unlike most Sicilians) Basically you're looking for a closed french-esque position where white is conceding a big advantage by switching up the move order. It's the same concept as a line in the Scandinavian, where white doesn't "accept" by playing 2.e5?! (1.e4 d5) and black's 2...Bf5! practically equalizes. After 3. d4 e6 white is looking at a closed french without the advantage of black's problem bishop. Going back to the Alapin, black has an opportunity to seize even more control if white opts to push past with 3. e5 d4!, although these positions tend to get much sharper. The Alapin is essentially a very weak opening (i've seen 2. c3 labeled with a ?!) but I mostly play bullet these days so the surprise value is huge, although black's 2...d5 is usually a good indicator that black isn't surprised at all.


+1, although my style suits 2... nf6 more than 2... d5 :P

Sry Chump, but i don't think you really understand the opening.

Saying that 2....d5 is clearly best because black is better after 3. e5? makes no sense. It may or may not be better than 2....Nf6 but no good player would ever go 2. ...d5 3.e5 . Both Nf6 and d5 nicely exploit drawbacks of 2. c3 (in the first case the loss of tempo white would incurr chasing the Nd5 with c4 compared to an Aljechin, in the second the unavailability of c3 for the white knight).

Also the Alapin is not a weak opening with a huge surprise factor, it's a solid opening where white doesn't try for too much theoretically, but gets playable positions, can hope for an initiative and avoids mainline sicilian theory.

Here's your problem right here. I heard he's tough to beat.

Well, I don't believe i've ever played the opening at a time control slower than 3 0, so you're probably right.

However, I didn't say 2...d5 is clearly best BECAUSE white will always play 3.e5, rather that 3.e5 illustrates the worst of a number of poor but somewhat natural responses that white can play, making it a strong forcing move... Although the same CAN be said for 2...Nf6 as well... Lol, ok i'll grant you that my it might not have made the most sense, but NO sense is a little harsh.

no offense meant. Your post did contain some interesting points, and you do run into people allowing good frenches a lot, most notably after 1.e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. e5?!

Really interesting alapin going on in the London event with Magnus on the black side right now. GM Howell seems content to try to draw against Carlsen with white. It'll be nice to see Carlsen's technique in this position:

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Be3 Be7 7. dxc5?! Qxd1+

It looks like David Howells wet dream came true (He finally managed to get the draw.)

I think 2...Qa5 is pretty interesting.

As far as beating the anti sicilian books go, there are a couple of worthy additions that come to mind since Gallagher's book:
Rogozenko's (Gambit 2003) and Palliser's (Everyman 2007).

While Palliser is a great author, always does a solid job, and his book is the most up to date (that I know of), there is one major anti sicilian line missing from his book: the Bb5 lines.

In the book he says it's due to space constraints , which I'm sure that's a valid reason, but I think it has more to do with the fact that a couple of years earlier he wrote a book on the Bb5 lines.
It's always pretty awkward when an author has to take the other side of the line he was advocating.

Used to play it, 3. Na3 and 3. g3 pwned me, though.

Wow, thanks for all the responses. I looked through my most recent serious games in the Alapin and I realized that a huge part of my problem is time trouble. Just getting through the opening normally costs me a huge chunk of my time. I've never seriously studied the Alapin because it hasn't been that trendy in my local player pool but times they are a changing.

That realization suggested that simply learning a line, any line, will probably improve my results tremendously. So I've decided to go with Nf6, d6, e6 lines. Once I've learned a bit more I'll post a repertoire outline here in case anybody wants to use that for themselves.

2 ... e6 was definitely my 2nd choice. I do like the positions a lot and will look at this more later. I really like Yury Shulman's playing style and he uses this defense with great results. He does, however also play the French so I'm sure he's perfectly happy with any transpositions.

Any reason to avoid 2. ... Nf6? (Especially if you play 3. ... Nf6 vs. the Smith-Moron like I do.)

No. It is probably the most played option. I just don't like the positions white can near force with a small static center and very solid position. I find it's practically impossible for white to avoid a dynamic and unbalanced position in the 2. .. e6 lines.

But I think it depends on what you're aiming for and what positions you like playing. For example, I would definitely play the french at least occasionally if not for fact white can do a good job of killing the game with the exchange variation.

Exchange French is scary? I used to play it, scored 8% with it in high level games. It's awful.

Just, rare that someone is okay with the Sicilian yet likes the closed positions of the French.

I like imbalanced positions. The 'normal' frenches are extremely imbalanced, as is the sicilian. The french exchange is extremely balanced.

If you scored 8%, I would not necessarily blaim the opening.