best counter for Sicilian opening? - Chess and Board Game Strategy

I'm reading Chess: The Art Of Logical Thinking and have been recently focusing on playing a strong classical style and was wondering what some of the better counters to the Sicilian are?

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10-31-2010 , 10:48 AM

fezjones

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i like the alapin

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10-31-2010 , 01:26 PM

John_Douglas

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The "best" way of countering the Sicilian, according to popularity at the Grandmaster level, is 2.Nf3 and 3.d4.

But for an inexperienced player, 2.c3 or 2.Nc3 and 3.f4 might be easier to play. Experiment with various options in internet games and see what works for you.

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10-31-2010 , 02:27 PM

lastchance

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I like 2.nf3 and 3.c3 a lot. None of that standard complicated sicilian stuff which happens and still fairly playable at high level (from what I've heard). Pretty easy to play, too.

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10-31-2010 , 03:40 PM

jewbinson

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Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 4,248

2.f4 is uncommon, but white has nice plans and white usually gets some good attacks/good positions.

2. d4 3. c3 is the sexy morra-smith gambit and I have a good winrate with it. But it's not classical obv

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10-31-2010 , 08:26 PM

YouKnowWho

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1. d4 IMO.

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10-31-2010 , 10:41 PM

hoyasaxa

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i prefer english/yugoslav attack setups depending on opponents setup. very sharp games that are a lot of fun to play

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11-01-2010 , 06:48 AM

Noir_Desir

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Quote:

Originally Posted by YouKnowWho

1. d4 IMO.

this.

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11-01-2010 , 11:54 AM

John_Douglas

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What are you guys talking about? The Sicilian defense isn't a reason to give up 1.e4. A lot of people switched to 1.d4 to avoid boring stuff like the Russian or Berlin. But I don't know too many 1.e4 players who are afraid of facing the Sicilian.

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11-01-2010 , 12:11 PM

#10

PyramidScheme

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Originally Posted by John_Douglas

What are you guys talking about? The Sicilian defense isn't a reason to give up 1.e4. A lot of people switched to 1.d4 to avoid boring stuff like the Russian or Berlin. But I don't know too many 1.e4 players who are afraid of facing the Sicilian.

Hi! My name is Jarrod, pleased to meet ya

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11-01-2010 , 03:27 PM

#11

airwave16

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the sicilian is the reason to play e4

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11-01-2010 , 07:33 PM

#12

ToTheDeath

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Main lines are good. Most Sicilian players (myself included) love it when White plays some off beat crap like 2.f4 that allows us to equalize easily.

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11-01-2010 , 08:30 PM

#13

cld343

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Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 661

There are numerous moves to play against the Sicilian if you don't like the main lines. As mentioned earlier, it's best to try out many of them and see what positions you like. I mostly play the main lines, but a few times I'll play

2. Nf3
3. d3

with a fine game. I'm very familiar with the ideas and plans though afterward. I don't recommend playing moves to avoid main lines if you have no idea how to continue the game. In this case, the position is changed completely.

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11-02-2010 , 12:23 AM

#14

belgian in TO

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Reaper_Man

I'm reading Chess: The Art Of Logical Thinking and have been recently focusing on playing a strong classical style and was wondering what some of the better counters to the Sicilian are?

You don't mention your current playing strength nor how much time you want to devote to chess, so it's hard to recommend what YOU should be playing against the Sicilian.

However, what's best is pretty obvious: 2.Nf3 followed (against most moves) by 3. d4 is played much more than anything else at the GM level.

"Dismantling the Sicilian" is a great repertoire book built around this approach, but one must be prepared to study it.

Pierre/

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11-02-2010 , 03:32 AM

#15

Cadaz

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I switched 1.d4 to 1.e4 because I hate nimzo stuff. Call me weird

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11-02-2010 , 05:08 AM

#16

Tomukas

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I also switched to 1. d4 a long ago, so I didn't have to learn enormous large amount of variations of Sicilian, Spanish and others.

So I support my fellow Lithuanian - the best way to counter Sicilian is to play 1. d4! instead of 1. e4?

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11-02-2010 , 10:36 AM

#17

bigpooch

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I agree that the best counter is 1.d4!; even Anand switched to 1.d4 awhile ago. If you are so stubborn to play 1.e4, you'll have to play the open Sicilian to expect any sort of advantage out of the opening; and even if you don't get any advantage, at least you'll be playing the "modern game" where there are many pieces on both sides and a lot of play in the middlegame. If you play anything other than 2. Nf3, maybe 2. c3 is not that awful, but you probably won't face the type of complex positions that will help you become a better player.

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11-02-2010 , 10:51 AM

#18

whiskeytown

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Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 8,342

I have had good results playing the 3. Bb5 variations against 2. d6 and 2. Nc6 - in the Moscow you can play for a Marcozy bind -

in both openings you are angling again for a strong d4/e4 pawn center and it plays pretty easy -

vs. 2. e6 I'll play 3. d3 and go for a KIA a la Fischer - there is always a shot of seeing the hyper-accelerated dragon (2..g6) but I almost never see it in practice
rb

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11-02-2010 , 02:57 PM

#19

Reaper_Man

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Reaper_Man

I'm reading Chess: The Art Of Logical Thinking and have been recently focusing on playing a strong classical style and was wondering what some of the better counters to the Sicilian are?

Thanks for all the advice. I've been experimenting a bit and so far I like playing a certain opening which usually looks like e4 e5 kf3 d4 bd3 then castle

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11-02-2010 , 04:29 PM

#20

jewbinson

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Nf3 not Kf3.

Unless King to f3 is some novelty

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11-03-2010 , 07:06 PM

#21

unrealzeal

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opening with the queens pawn instead

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11-03-2010 , 07:33 PM

#22

jewbinson

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1.d4 is a bad move because the semi-slav is solid

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11-04-2010 , 06:15 AM

#23

airwave16

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Quote:

Originally Posted by jewbinson

1.d4 is a bad move because the semi-slav is solid

well the botvinnik has been refuted, so can't be all bad for white.

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11-05-2010 , 02:08 AM

#24

bbarker703

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What kind of rating are you and your typical opponents? Are you looking to deep into theory or looking for a beer and pretzels/speed opening? 2.f4 is a very old line, jazzed up and gained some popularity in the quicker weekend UK games (late '80s or early 90's. But tends to be overexposed. If you're looking to trim back your work, playing under USCF ~1900, or don't mind parity, 2.b3 with or without f4 later is easy to learn. Spassky used it as he got older. You won't rip anyone's head off, but it's a playable line to start.

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11-05-2010 , 10:54 PM

#25

belgian in TO

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Quote:

Originally Posted by bbarker703

If agree with bbarker703. And since 2. f4 d5! is strong (even though lower rated opponents are unlikely to play it or will probably play 3. -Qxd5 after 3. exd5), I'd like to propose another move order: 2. Nc3 followed by 3. f4. This approach is called the "Grand Prix Attack" and is quite dangerous against unsuspecting opposition.

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