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

Play it through on the board below.

Practise the line

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

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Your move 1 of 20/2
  1. 1.e4c5
  2. 2.c3

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

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.

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level: named traps and the errors every coach corrects.

Being scared off d4 by the pin

After 8…Nxd4
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
  7. 7.
  8. 8.
The mistake
Holding back the d4 break because 8…Nxd4 looks as though it wins a pawn through the pin.
Why it costs
It does not. 9.Nxd4 Bxe2 10.Nxe2 takes the bishop back with the same knight, and Black has given up a knight for a pawn; the engine rates it winning for White. The pin on f3 looks as if it holds d4, but the knight it pins is the piece that does the recapturing.
Instead
Play d4 once you have castled, and count the captures on d4 and e2 before trusting a pin. In every Alapin line the d4 break is the point; …Bg4 is a reason to calculate, not a reason to wait.

Hanging on to the d5 pawn

After 4…e6
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
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. The engine still rates the position about level, so it is not lost; but White has spent a move to reach a position where Black's pieces are the ones with somewhere to go.
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

After 4…d6
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
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.

What the engine says

After 1.e4 c5 2.c3, these are Black's six best moves according to Stockfish, with the bar showing Black's chance of winning. The whole list sits within 3 percentage points of win chance: none of them is a mistake, and the choice is about the positions you want to play.

  1. Nf6+0.2
  2. Nc6+0.2
  3. d5+0.2
  4. e6+0.3
  5. g6+0.4
  6. e5+0.5

The engine's main line from Nf6: Nf6 e5 Nd5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 cxd4 cxd4.

Stockfish 18, depth 24. Scores are in pawns from White's side. Another engine or depth will move individual numbers a little; the picture does not change. How we check.

Where it fits

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

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