Thanks Mnb for that clarification. Yes, it was the idea of playing 2 d3 as a sort of waiting move that piqued my interest and then I chanced upon Palliser's Closed Sicilian and away we went.

I have been trying to practise good training strategies with my son and I have spent the last year getting him stabilised in a set of opening moves (won't call it a proper repertoire) for both White (1 e4) and Black (1 d4 Nf6 and 1 e4 c5) that he is comfortable with and enjoys playing. Then we concentrated on tactics, middlegame and endgame.

I am hoping that if my son's interest continues, he will switch to the Open Sicilian at some point and use the Closed and the Big Clamp as surprise weapons. I am still undecided as to how to approach a basic beginner's Open Sicilian repertoire. I have read various post including Mnb's suggestions. Now I will head over to Michael Goeller's excellent website to check that out (I am a regular visitor but cannot remember this but then my adult memory is very faulty!!!)

[Mnb I just popped over to Goeller's website and could not locate the Open Sicilian repertoire you mentioned. Could I trouble you with a pointer or two?]

Thanks guys. If anyone wishes to provide me with a basic repertoire in Open Sicilian, thanks in advance.

Thanks for these, Paddy -- very useful. I fully agree that it's best to think of the Big Clamp in terms of a strategy, not just an opening. Without wanting to be pedantic about it, though, we can still ask (regarding both the opening line and the strategy, in fact), what conditions have to be met for the term 'Big Clamp' properly to apply?

Daniel King deals with the big clamp in a few games in his book "the closed sicilian".