Because you want to play e5 a couple of moves later and stop your opponent from playing it, harassing your knight on f6. You don't have to play this way though, you can play e6 or Nc6 or g6 etc and that would lead to other variation of the Sicilian.
@M-Mohebi said in #21:
> Because you want to play e5 a couple of moves later and stop your opponent from playing it, harassing your knight on f6. You don't have to play this way though, you can play e6 and that would lead to other variation of the Sicilian.
Yeah, but d6 stops it. If he wants to waste another move (ie f4) then we should just castle and worry about it later!
> Because you want to play e5 a couple of moves later and stop your opponent from playing it, harassing your knight on f6. You don't have to play this way though, you can play e6 and that would lead to other variation of the Sicilian.
Yeah, but d6 stops it. If he wants to waste another move (ie f4) then we should just castle and worry about it later!
@Ayushman_C said in #22:
> Yeah, but d6 stops it. If he wants to waste another move (ie f4) then we should just castle and worry about it later!
f4 is not a waste. It's one of white's main attacking moves. Especially if both sides castle on the kingside.
> Yeah, but d6 stops it. If he wants to waste another move (ie f4) then we should just castle and worry about it later!
f4 is not a waste. It's one of white's main attacking moves. Especially if both sides castle on the kingside.
You play d6 to prepare Nf6 without getting hit with e5 from white
Side point for @MrMara - IMO people can be overly dogmatic about "don't play this opening as a beginner" or whatever, I'm sure there are low-rated players out there playing chess, having fun and winning games with everything from the Grunfeld to the Grob, and it's not like e4 e5 is all plain sailing for black _but_ if you're playing an opening that's noted for being complex and based on relatively subtle ideas (which the Sicilian is) _and_ you keep getting beaten when you play that opening and find yourself needing to research more and more theory just to get a playable position then you _might_ want to look into playing something more straightforward and intuitive.
I think the advice that beginners shouldn't play the Sicilian is absolutely correct. Because you're very likely to lose the game before move 10 if you haven't studied enough, and even if you survive the opening, a lot of the middlegame positions are too dynamic for even an average club player (including myself) to understand and correctly evaluate. You might get positions where there is no stable pawn structure for you to base your evaluations upon. There are positions where one side gets a winning advantage simply because one of the players has lost a tempo. Sometimes the only good move is to sacrifice to open lines for you pieces. It's like everything you have learned from the strategy books is useless.
First thing a beginner learns is the basic opening pronciples, to occupy the center with pawns, develop knights and bishops, castle, connect rooks, attack the center, don't waste time, watch your pieces.
Second thing a beginner learns is how to break the rules. You can let the opponent estabsh a pawn center and then attack it. In the sicilian you usually don't put a pawn into the center, like in other "indian" lines. You will find out that the black player usually either tries to prevent white's e4 or black plays d6 and then Nf6 to not constantly has to deal with the threat of e5 which can be very annoying.
In the sicilian, there are very many lines, and exceptions. Black can try to avoid e5 by playing e5 himself, which leaves a weak d-pawn and a weak square on d5. Note that d6 is not necessary to protect e5 as the white knight went to d4. Nevertheless, even some world class players go for those lines. e5 is played by black after d6 in some lines,as well as after Nc6, or a6. If you play e5 as black in sicilian, you better know what you do.
Also be aware that your opponent usally doesn't know more about the sicilian than you do. He might be playing simple moves. He might be playing passively, without occupying the center with d4. When you play the sicilian for a while you can al east count on your experience. Aferall, games are not decded by the opening choice, but by who makes the last mistake.
I show my students different openings and opening position, knowing and seeing that they don't understand the postion like I do, but it can be interesting and exciting to see something new, something that hadn't come up before. And one or the other might decide to play a differnt line.
Also note that the beginner's play like e4 - Nf3 Nc3 - Bc4 0-0 - Bg5 is not so easy to play either. Once you played your opening moves liek that, you need a plan which is not so easy to find. There are reasons why GMs don't play Nc3 in this line, and beginners usually don't understand that part, so why not something play some opening where you know better how to proceed?
You don't need to study theory line, but it is very helpful to know some plans. Like after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nf6 Nc3, you plan to play e6, Be7, 0-0, a6, Nbd7, b5 Bb7, rc8 and attack on the Q-side. The N can come to c5, or b6-c4, many Black ideas in the sicilian are related with b5, d5, sometime f5.
Yes, there are many lines, white can choose, like the Alapin (2. c3) or the Morra Gambit (2.d4), the Rossolimo (3.Bb5). You will find out what you can do in those lines. You can never avoid deviations from what you know by your opponent, it is part of teh game.
Second thing a beginner learns is how to break the rules. You can let the opponent estabsh a pawn center and then attack it. In the sicilian you usually don't put a pawn into the center, like in other "indian" lines. You will find out that the black player usually either tries to prevent white's e4 or black plays d6 and then Nf6 to not constantly has to deal with the threat of e5 which can be very annoying.
In the sicilian, there are very many lines, and exceptions. Black can try to avoid e5 by playing e5 himself, which leaves a weak d-pawn and a weak square on d5. Note that d6 is not necessary to protect e5 as the white knight went to d4. Nevertheless, even some world class players go for those lines. e5 is played by black after d6 in some lines,as well as after Nc6, or a6. If you play e5 as black in sicilian, you better know what you do.
Also be aware that your opponent usally doesn't know more about the sicilian than you do. He might be playing simple moves. He might be playing passively, without occupying the center with d4. When you play the sicilian for a while you can al east count on your experience. Aferall, games are not decded by the opening choice, but by who makes the last mistake.
I show my students different openings and opening position, knowing and seeing that they don't understand the postion like I do, but it can be interesting and exciting to see something new, something that hadn't come up before. And one or the other might decide to play a differnt line.
Also note that the beginner's play like e4 - Nf3 Nc3 - Bc4 0-0 - Bg5 is not so easy to play either. Once you played your opening moves liek that, you need a plan which is not so easy to find. There are reasons why GMs don't play Nc3 in this line, and beginners usually don't understand that part, so why not something play some opening where you know better how to proceed?
You don't need to study theory line, but it is very helpful to know some plans. Like after 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nf6 Nc3, you plan to play e6, Be7, 0-0, a6, Nbd7, b5 Bb7, rc8 and attack on the Q-side. The N can come to c5, or b6-c4, many Black ideas in the sicilian are related with b5, d5, sometime f5.
Yes, there are many lines, white can choose, like the Alapin (2. c3) or the Morra Gambit (2.d4), the Rossolimo (3.Bb5). You will find out what you can do in those lines. You can never avoid deviations from what you know by your opponent, it is part of teh game.
i guess people who say don't play it, assume that you also want to win the maximum number of games. But if you enjoy your games no matter what, and learn from struggling against a new problem that strikes your curiosity as this thread seems to imply I would say go for it. You are on the path of a sustainable chess practice for the rest of you life. Just expecting to win all the time, and improve like that might get you stalling pretty fast, frustrated, and end up not liking chess. keep it up. and keep asking questions about rationales instead of just mimicking what the tree says. And don't accept rephrasing of the SAN code from the opening tree as rationale. it is only a set of turns after all. Saying such move because the other move in the tree leads to this other move and so on until something bad or good, is just repeating the data, not explaining it.
Coz Nf6 is possible after that
There are many, many different variations of Sicilian. It really depends on what you're going for. In a fairly general sense, one of Black's goals in the Sicilian is to try to get a pawn on d5 and it is often considered very good for Black if they can play this safely. However, because White has the pawn on e4 and Black has already committed to c5, this requires some preparation. In many lines in Sicilian, Black often plays to d6 first to gain space in the centre and activate the light-square Bishop since d5 is not yet safe to play. This does block the dark square Bishop, but Black often fianchettos this Bishop anyway so it isn't a huge problem to activate it.
In some lines in the Sicilian, Black aims for a V shaped structure with pawns on e5-d6-c5 which is pretty solid.
In some lines in the Sicilian, Black aims for a V shaped structure with pawns on e5-d6-c5 which is pretty solid.
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