Openings · B56–B69

Sicilian, Classical

5…Nc6 — develop a piece, keep every Sicilian structure available, and choose one later.

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6played as Black

Play it through on the board below.

Practise the line

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

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h8
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a
Your move 1 of 50/5
  1. 1.e4c5
  2. 2.Nf3d6
  3. 3.d4cxd4
  4. 4.Nxd4Nf6
  5. 5.Nc3Nc6

White is answering…

The idea

It is the least committal of the main Sicilians. Black can still head for a Dragon with …g6, a Scheveningen with …e6, or the Boleslavsky centre with …e5, and the choice can wait until White has shown a plan.

White's most testing try is 6.Bg5, the Richter-Rauzer, which pins the knight and prepares Qd2 and long castling. From there the game is usually a straight race between an h-pawn and the black rooks on the c-file.

Common mistakes

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

Never choosing a break

After 10.f5
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
  7. 7.
  8. 8.
  9. 9.
  10. 10.
The mistake
Making sensible moves — …e6, …Be7, …O-O, …a6 — and leaving the plan for later.
Why it costs
Flexibility is an asset only while it is being spent. Black's counterplay is …d5 in one move, or …Nxd4 and pressure down the c-file, and a Sicilian that plays neither is just a cramped position with a hole on d5. Meanwhile f4–f5 arrives on schedule.
Instead
Decide by move eight which break you are playing and let the developing moves serve it: …Bd7 and …Rc8 for the c-file, or …a6 and …Qc7 with …d5 in mind.

Kicking the bishop to solve the pin

After 10.h4
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
  7. 7.
  8. 8.
  9. 9.
  10. 10.
The mistake
Playing …h6 to make the bishop on g5 declare itself, in a position with the kings on opposite wings.
Why it costs
The pawn on h6 is a hook. h4 and g4–g5 now have something to open lines against, and the tempo Black spent on the question has been paid straight into White's attack. In the Rauzer …h6 comes with …g5 behind it, or not at all.
Instead
Get on with …Bd7, …Rc8 and …Qa5 or …a6 and …b5. The pin is annoying; the open h-file is fatal.

…d5 into a pawn on f4

After 10.e5
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
  7. 7.
  8. 8.
  9. 9.
  10. 10.
The mistake
Playing the freeing break the moment it is legal rather than the moment it works.
Why it costs
9.e5 answers it: the knight on f6 is chased, the centre closes on White's terms and the space Black was trying to win is handed over with a tempo. The break has to come with the knight traded on d4, or with …Bb4 or …Qc7 adding weight to it first.
Instead
…Nxd4 and …Bf6 or …Qc7 first, then …d5 with the pieces behind it. The move is right; the move number is the whole of the theory.

What the engine says

After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6, these are White's six best moves according to Stockfish, with the bar showing White'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. Bc4+0.5
  2. Bg5+0.5
  3. Nb3+0.3
  4. Bb5+0.3
  5. h4+0.2
  6. f3+0.2

The engine's main line from Bc4: Bc4 Bd7 Bb3 e6 Be3 Nxd4 Qxd4 b5.

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

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