Quote:
I learned, that Black has even a wider choice than in the Open Sicilian ...
That is the problem I find with it. Black has a number of options to prepare a variety defences because White almost always has the same setup with
Nf3,
Bc4,
0-0,
Qe2 and
Re1. The order of the moves may change depending on what Black does.
Therefore Black players need only prepare one defence to the Smith-Morra (most popular seem to involve
...a6 often with
...Qc7) whereas White needs to be prepared for a number of possible set-ups by Black.
There are lots of tricky traps and tactics. Black only has to be aware of the dangers in the systems he chooses. White needs to be aware of tricks in all possible Black choices.
Most S-M players, for example, fall into the
Siberian Trap the first time they see it. Of course once you've seen it, it is easily refutable. But it is the breadth of knowledge required by White that lends the S-M to a lot of required study. (Curiously most Morra players choose the opening to
avoid studying because the first moves are almost always the same and/or many Black players get surprised and err early in the opening giving White the illusion that he knows what he is doing
)
I would say that to use the Smith-Morra as anything more than the occasional surprise, it probably requires
more study than the open Sicilian. However it requires less
ongoing study as the theory is not rapidly evolving.
Once you start to study it you will find that after getting past all the opening tricks and tactics, Black still has a number of positional problems to solve.
It's not as simple as avoiding mate in the first nine moves, simplifying, then queening your extra pawn.
Mahlon
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Smith-Morra (Read 33242 times)
