I'm working on a repertoire against the Sicilian, playing the Closed Sicilian, Grand Prix Variation. However, this opening yields the worst results of any opening I play. I believe this is because I am not very good at finding the attacking ideas. I think that it could be appropriate to change openings, or learn to attack better in this opening. If anyone has any suggestions or is willing to help, I would greatly appreciate it.
After playing/studying/watching many games with this variation, you should be able to find the common attacking ideas. The Grand Prix is easily stopped if black is aware of the variations (the same could be said about most variations).
is a good reference.
I, along with many others, would gladly give advice to any chess question you would post.
is a good reference.
I, along with many others, would gladly give advice to any chess question you would post.
@jonesmh Thank you for the response, and that's a great study, but I think I'm looking for some more general ways that I can improve my play in this opening. I know that there are often tons of sac lines, but I never know which ones to calculate. By the way, I don't think my problem is that I haven't looked at enough games, I purchased a course on this opening by GM Roman on iChess where he went through about 25 of his games in the opening and described what to do in certain situations.
My problem, honestly, is that unlike most other openings where I can easily find the common themes, I have not been able to create a simple set of "rules". The sacrificial lines require concrete calculation obviously, but I play other such lines in other openings and the play just comes naturally. I think I probably either need to talk 1 on 1 with another Grand Prix player, or I need to find an opening that I better understand and just accept that I wasted $20.
My problem, honestly, is that unlike most other openings where I can easily find the common themes, I have not been able to create a simple set of "rules". The sacrificial lines require concrete calculation obviously, but I play other such lines in other openings and the play just comes naturally. I think I probably either need to talk 1 on 1 with another Grand Prix player, or I need to find an opening that I better understand and just accept that I wasted $20.
At your level you should not worry about openings.
' I think that it could be appropriate to change openings'
This is cetrainly wrong. If you lose, then it is not because of the opening. Changing opening will not change that.
Here is an example of strong play
' I think that it could be appropriate to change openings'
This is cetrainly wrong. If you lose, then it is not because of the opening. Changing opening will not change that.
Here is an example of strong play
I would venture to disagree with @tpr here -- learning openings, middlegames, endgames, and everything in between is all part of your job as a player of any level. You have a limited amount of time at the board: go in well enough prepared that you're in a position where you have some idea what to do.
That said, I'd like to try to dissuade you from playing the GPA. It's not because I don't like the opening (I'm happy to see it as black and consider it inferior as white), but because it sounds like you're having a problem I've had in certain openings as well.
It's fairly well established that players tend to have preferred styles, even at the highest level. Sometimes your preferred style will change over the course of your career (I'm a more aggressive player than I used to be, for instance), sometimes it remains constant. Alongside this style go certain openings. Except...that's not true in all cases. Even if you're an aggressive player, you simply might not "feel" the GPA. Natural GPA players (including, I would venture, players at your level) know when to push f5 and sac a pawn for a promising attack. It just makes sense to them on an intuitive level and they don't need to calculate every line to feel comfortable and make strong moves.
It sounds like maybe the GPA just doesn't fit with your style. As I mentioned, your style may tend toward aggressive kingside attacks. But we all know that there's a big difference between a kingside attack in the King's Indian and a kingside attack in the Traxler.
So my advice would be to look around. Browse games in the open Sicilians first. Not only do they tend to be some of the most beautiful, rich positions in chess, but white usually has an easy enough time picking a weapon against each Sicilian.
For example, the Najdorf:
1.e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cd4
4. Nd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6
Black gets to choose *which* variation of the Sicilian (the Najdorf), but you get to pick from a host of radically different 6th moves. In many ways, you are the one that gets to choose how much you want to invest in an aggressive or positional line, not black.
There are other anti-Sicilians you could play also. The Alapin (2. c3) tends to give rise to positions where white is the aggressor. It can serve you well until you reach 2200+. The Rossolimo (1. e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5) tends to be positional, although some variations feature aggressive play from white.
All in all I'd say look through games of your favorite players and see what kinds of positions they choose to play against the Sicilian. If your chess hero plays a particular line, it will motivate you to play it more. And you're more likely to share stylistic elements with a favorite player as well. Once you find a few lines that look like friendly positions you're comfortable with, you can start building a repertoire around that. It can be far from perfect to begin with, but you'll be less frustrated with your losses and most likely more genuinely interested in your own chess games from an emotional and intellectual standpoint.
That said, I'd like to try to dissuade you from playing the GPA. It's not because I don't like the opening (I'm happy to see it as black and consider it inferior as white), but because it sounds like you're having a problem I've had in certain openings as well.
It's fairly well established that players tend to have preferred styles, even at the highest level. Sometimes your preferred style will change over the course of your career (I'm a more aggressive player than I used to be, for instance), sometimes it remains constant. Alongside this style go certain openings. Except...that's not true in all cases. Even if you're an aggressive player, you simply might not "feel" the GPA. Natural GPA players (including, I would venture, players at your level) know when to push f5 and sac a pawn for a promising attack. It just makes sense to them on an intuitive level and they don't need to calculate every line to feel comfortable and make strong moves.
It sounds like maybe the GPA just doesn't fit with your style. As I mentioned, your style may tend toward aggressive kingside attacks. But we all know that there's a big difference between a kingside attack in the King's Indian and a kingside attack in the Traxler.
So my advice would be to look around. Browse games in the open Sicilians first. Not only do they tend to be some of the most beautiful, rich positions in chess, but white usually has an easy enough time picking a weapon against each Sicilian.
For example, the Najdorf:
1.e4 c5
2. Nf3 d6
3. d4 cd4
4. Nd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 a6
Black gets to choose *which* variation of the Sicilian (the Najdorf), but you get to pick from a host of radically different 6th moves. In many ways, you are the one that gets to choose how much you want to invest in an aggressive or positional line, not black.
There are other anti-Sicilians you could play also. The Alapin (2. c3) tends to give rise to positions where white is the aggressor. It can serve you well until you reach 2200+. The Rossolimo (1. e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5) tends to be positional, although some variations feature aggressive play from white.
All in all I'd say look through games of your favorite players and see what kinds of positions they choose to play against the Sicilian. If your chess hero plays a particular line, it will motivate you to play it more. And you're more likely to share stylistic elements with a favorite player as well. Once you find a few lines that look like friendly positions you're comfortable with, you can start building a repertoire around that. It can be far from perfect to begin with, but you'll be less frustrated with your losses and most likely more genuinely interested in your own chess games from an emotional and intellectual standpoint.
I beg to disagree with #5.
Anyway let us look at an example
Here white plays 5 Bd3, which blocks pawn d2 and thus hinders development of Bc1.
The most logical move in the spirit of the grand prix attack here is 5 Bc4.
I would also like to point out that the grand prix attack does not need to be an attack.
It originates from English weekend tournaments with short time control.
One of the best grand prix attack players, Julian Hodgson, played it in a positional way, usually with Bb5 instead of Bc4.
Anyway let us look at an example
Here white plays 5 Bd3, which blocks pawn d2 and thus hinders development of Bc1.
The most logical move in the spirit of the grand prix attack here is 5 Bc4.
I would also like to point out that the grand prix attack does not need to be an attack.
It originates from English weekend tournaments with short time control.
One of the best grand prix attack players, Julian Hodgson, played it in a positional way, usually with Bb5 instead of Bc4.
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