Openings · B23–B26

Sicilian, Closed

2.Nc3 — no d4, no Open Sicilian, and no twenty moves of theory to remember.

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3played as White

The idea

The Closed refuses the trade that defines the Sicilian. White keeps the pawn on d2, plays g3, Bg2, d3 and f4, castles, and attacks on the kingside with pawns. Black takes the queenside with …Rb8 and …b5–b4, and the game becomes a race between two wings.

White's race is the slower one, and it ends at a king; Black's is faster and ends at a rook. That is the whole strategic content of the opening, and understanding it is worth more than knowing lines.

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.Nc3

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.

Developing instead of attacking

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.f4 e6 7.Nf3 Nge7 8.O-O O-O 9.Be3 Rb8

The mistake: Reaching the setup and then playing sensible moves — Rb1, Qd2, Rae1 — in the hope that a plan turns up.
Why it costs: The attack in the Closed is made of pawns. f4–f5 and g4–g5 are what open lines at Black's king, and the pieces come after them. Without those pushes White has volunteered for a position with less space and a bishop staring at his own pawn on e4.
Instead: Be3 and Qd2, then f5 or g4 depending on where Black castled. Choose the pawn break before move ten, not after the black rook reaches b2.

Answering the queenside with the queenside

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.f4 Nf6 7.Nf3 O-O 8.O-O Rb8 9.a4 a6

The mistake: Meeting …Rb8 and …b5 with a4 and Rb1, defending on the wing where Black is faster.
Why it costs: It is a race, and a4 does not advance White's half of it. Black spends the same tempo on …a6 and comes again with …b5; two moves have been traded, the attack is two moves later, and b4 has been given to a black knight for good.
Instead: Let the queenside happen. h4 and f5 are worth more than the exchange Black is winning over there — the bet of the whole opening is that the attack arrives first.

The old Grand Prix bishop

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 e6

The mistake: Playing the Grand Prix Attack with 5.Bc4, the way it was played in the 1980s.
Why it costs: …e6 and …d5 build a centre and hit the bishop in the same two moves, so White's attack has to restart from a square further back. That is exactly why practice moved on from it.
Instead: 5.Bb5, hitting c6 before Black can gain time on the bishop — the modern move order, and the one that keeps the attack pointed at the king.

Where it fits

The Sicilian, Closed 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.