Reddit Opening of the Week - The Open Sicilian - Intro
Reddit/chess decided that an "opening of the week" presentation would be a great way for everyone to improve their chess, and this week (Feb. 1st - 7th) will be mine, covering the Open Sicilian.
Follow the discussion here: www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/43yqjz/reddit_ootw_5_the_open_sicilian/
In this video, we talk specifically about the advantages and disadvantages of playing 1...c5, how White's most principled challenge is 2.Nf3 and 3.d4, and then we examine the two most extreme cases: either White uses his lead in development and slight space advantage to smash Black right out of the gates, or Black slowly wriggles out and puts his central pawn majority to use after the critical and thematic ...d5 break.
The games discussed can be viewed with some simple computer analysis here:
L.Christiansen-A.Wojtkiewicz, US Championships 2006: http://en.lichess.org/krZMagiY/black
T.Mangini-M.Najdorf, Mar del Plata 1957: http://en.lichess.org/YjenoX4Q
Cheers!