2...e6 is for those who like to play the positional sicilians for black and avoid the sharpest lines. In eg Najdorf, Dragon and Sveshnikov white can choose sharp or positional lines. In Taimanov, Kan and other 2...e6 sicilians there are much fewer really sharp lines.

I don't consider 2...e6 an "offbeat" sicilian. Take a look at the list of top players who have used it in the last 5 years! In my database, since 2005, about 1/4 of all Sicilian games played between +2600 opponents have started 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6.  Sure, many of them use it as a transpositional tool, but that makes it even more main-stream! This is hardly an "offbeat" system!

I know that feeling about 2...e6 open Sicilians, but it's not so easy to explain. If you're very well-prepared they should probably be easier to meet than the Najdorf or Sveshnikov. But if you're not, the positions in the Kan and Taimanov are calmer, more strategic and White's best plans are less obvious so it's easier to start "drifting".

The flip-side is that the Kan is a great weapon for winning with Black against lower-rated opponents, which you can confirm from any database. The absence of well-known forced draws also helps in that respect. And as a bonus 2...e6 even avoids the Bb5(+) Anti-Sicilians, which can be tricky to get winning chances against.

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 09/07/10 at 06:53:17:


Well, the first post discussed offbeat lines vs the open.

Meat wrote on 08/31/10 at 07:13:16:


I don't want to take this thread too far afield and I apologize if I wind up doing that but I too have wondered why people say the Open Variation to the 2...e6 variation is unsatisfying?  I am curious.  I play Bb5 variations and try to transpose into a c3 variation when I see e6.

Experts vs. the Sicilian covers all lines, including the off-beat lines (however note that this is a repertoire book: they choose a line for you to play as White).

I second the comment regarding the SO Acc. Dragon book. It devotes a chapter to the hyper-Acc., but of course you wouldn't buy a whole book only for that. It is a very good book though that covers lines for both Black & White!

I agree that would be interesting. However, the starting out accelerated dragon book covers the hyper accelerated dragon to a good extent.  So maybe covering a line like the 4 knights would be good. I think the last book to cover this was "meeting 1 e4" by Raetsky  and that was over ten years ago.