wcywing wrote on 01/20/09 at 18:18:18:



Yes I have it.  Its a very good one. Tiviakov know what he is talking about and I also heard his Maroczy video is very good too.

Alapin is a good choice of course. As Collins says in his book:

"Many claims c3-sicilian doesnt guarantee an advantage...Good! But the open sicilian does not guarantee an advantage either."

I think it is a practical weapon where white can play on his territory most of the time. And its a good psycological weapons also. We sicilian players just have to be arnest : "WE HATE IT!!" I dont play it myself and never will probably because it is something that belongs to my "enemies".I prefer the Bb5 sicilian.

F22 wrote on 07/16/09 at 22:10:05:


I'm not sure why 2.Nf3 followed by 3.c3 would be more accurate than 2.c3; Black can play 2...Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 or 2...e6 3.c3 Nf6 to transpose to variations more commonly reached via. 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 Nc6/e6.

For what it's worth, the 2...d5 variation was also = with best play the last time I checked the theory.

As Collins said, white also doesn't get an advantage in the open Sicilian.

I like the positions in the c3 Sicilian for both colours. As somebody who primarily uses it with the white pieces I have to admit that most of the main lines are totally equal - and even the weird stuff like 2. g6, 2. - b6, 2. - e5 or 2.- Qa5 is not as bad as it seems at first glance. The good thing is that white usually gets to choose which kind of equal position is played though, because he knows more about the dozens of tricky sidelines in the c3 move order labyrinth. I consider this a psychological weapon.
The c3 Sicilian is a safe opening with relatively low risk even against a prepared and 100 points stronger opponent. And if black allows himself a small inaccuracy he can find himself in trouble surprisingly quickly.

GM Tiviakov seems to disagree - and proves his point, as his score after 2.c3 is 68%.

What do you think of this variation for Black : 1.e4 c5 2.c3 g6!? for exemple 3.d4 cxd 4.cxd d5 5.e5 and now Nh6,Bg7 or maybe h5!? to play à la Gurgenidze with Nh6 and Bg4 or Bf5.

Can you give the line ? after 1.e4 c5 2.c3 g6 i dont see how to get a plus for White.

Is it Dzindzi's recommandation for White ?

I've been looking at the transpositional possibilities after 2 ...Nf6 3 e5 Nd5 (and 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 c3 Nf6 4 e5 Nd5). Heck, it's complicated! Coming back to the Sicilian as I prob. am, I'm minded to play the 2 ...Nf6 3 e5 Nd5 4 4 d4 cd 5 Nf3 Nc6 6 cd (6 Bc4 e6 7 cd d6 transposes) d6 7 Bc4 e6 8 0-0 Be7 9 Qe2 0-0 line, since it looks quite solid, can be played equally after 2 c3 and 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 c3, and I don't think White can profitably avoid it. But what are the other possible transpositions? On 5 cd I assume I can play 5 ...e6 aiming for 6 Nf3 Nc6 (6 Bc4 d6; 6 Nc3 and now which is safer, 6 ...d6 or 6 ...Nc3?).

But, already on move 4 I could try ...e6 or ...d6 in answer to 4 d4 -- where can I find theory on this? I've no idea what happens after 4 ...d6; on 4 ...e6 though I can meet 5 Nf3 with 5 ...cd (is 5 ...d6 OK too?) and 5 Bc4 with 5 ...Nc6 (are 5 ...d6 and 5 ...Nc7 reputable?). Is there (assuming Black wants to play the ...e6 line I mention) anything to gain or lose by delaying ...cxd4?