Openingtrainer Sicilian

In this lesson we will discuss the most beautiful opening in chess. This is the Sicilian, named after the Italian island of Sicily. The Sicilian opening arises after the initial moves 1.e2-e4 c7-c5. What is striking is that Black does not immediately place a pawn in the center. Is Black now in violation of the golden rules? The idea of the Sicilian opening is that Black plays indirectly for the center. With the opening move, Black ensures that White cannot place two pawns in the center. If White still chooses to play the d-pawn, Black can capture. If White then takes back the queen, Black can develop the knight to c6 with a gain in tempo!

The Sicilian leads to exciting positions where both players can play on the attack. In the examples you can see that the ideas in the Sicilian opening are slightly different than in most of the positions we have seen so far. So there is still a whole world to discover!

What do you have to do?

Try to complete your development. See if you can come up with smart preparatory moves that allow you to optimally position the pieces.