Openings · B22

Sicilian, Alapin

Answer the Sicilian with a big centre instead of a theory duel: 2.c3 prepares d4 and refuses the Open Sicilian entirely.

1.e4 c5 2.c3played as White

The idea

2.c3 says the game will be about pawns on d4 and e4 rather than about the Najdorf. Black's two serious answers, 2…d5 and 2…Nf6, both lead to positions with an isolated white d-pawn or a small space advantage — ordinary chess, played on a board where your opponent's Sicilian preparation is worth nothing.

That is the point of it for a club player: one system against the most popular defence in chess, and structures that recur so often you learn the plans rather than the moves.

Practise the line

You play White; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded.

Your move 1 of 20/2

1.e4c5
2.c3

Your move. Drag a piece, or tap it and then its square.

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level. Each is ordinary opening theory — a named trap, or the error every coach corrects — not a statistic, and not drawn from anybody's games.

Playing d4 into the pin

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.Be2 e6 6.O-O Nc6 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nxd4

The mistake: Making the d4 break while a black bishop pins the knight to the queen.
Why it costs: 8…Nxd4 works because 9.Nxd4 Bxe2 wins the piece straight back with the pawn attached. The break was right, the moment was not: the bishop on g4 has to be dealt with first.
Instead: h3 first, or Be3 before d4. In every Alapin line, …Bg4 is the move that decides when d4 is playable.

Hanging on to the d5 pawn

1.e4 c5 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Nf6 4.c4 e6

The mistake: Meeting the modern 3…Nf6 by defending the extra pawn with 4.c4.
Why it costs: 4…e6 opens the position while White's own pawns block his pieces, and after 5.dxe6 Bxe6 Black has three pieces coming out and White has none. The pawn on d5 was never keepable; trying to keep it costs the game.
Instead: 4.d4 cxd4 5.cxd4 Nxd5, an ordinary isolated-pawn position, or 4.Bb5+ Bd7 5.Bc4, which fights for the pawn without blocking anything.

The Alapin without the d4

1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nc6 3.Nf3 e5 4.Bc4 d6

The mistake: Treating 2.c3 as a developing move and never getting round to the break.
Why it costs: The pawn on c3 does nothing except support d4. Without it White has played a move that neither develops nor fights for the centre, and Black's …e5 takes the square the whole idea was built around.
Instead: Play d4 early, even at the cost of a trade: 3.d4 cxd4 4.cxd4 d5 5.exd5 Qxd5 6.Nf3 is the position the opening exists to reach.

Where it fits

The Sicilian, Alapin is a variation of the Sicilian Defence, whose page covers the ideas this one takes for granted.

Try it on one of your own

The board above is for the line itself; this is for a game you played. Paste a game in this opening, or pull one from chess.com, and every move is graded against what the engine would have played. Open the board, read how the grading works, or go back to the other openings.