05/05/2018, Building an Opening Repertoire: Alapin Sicilian
In our chess lesson on 5th May we reviewed the Alapin Variation of the Sicilian Defence, which is characterized by the opening moves 1.e4, c5. 2.c3. The opening is a good choice for enterprising 1.e4 chess players who seek to avoid the long theory of the Open Sicilian (2. Nf3) or the slow build-up of the Closed Sicilian (2. Nc3).
The principle responses to 2. c3 are 2. ..,d5 and 2. ..,Nf6, since they challenge White’s intention to occupy the centre with 3. d4. Both moves result in unbalanced positions offering chances to Black, especially when White fails to maintain the initiative.
For 2. .. d5 we reviewed the main line and for 2. .. Nf3 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nf3 Nc6 we reviewed a gambit variation with 6. Bc4 and an exchange variation with 6. cxd4. The moves of each line are given below.
During the lesson an illustrative game was discussed for each line and here are the links:
2. .. d5, Deep Blue vs Kasparov 1996 (1-0)
2. .. Nf6, (gambit), Ragger vs Jones 2007 (1-0)
2. .. Nf6, (exchange), Sveshnikov vs Kasparov 1979 (0-1)
