Sicilian Defence
B20 · 1. e4 c5
The most popular answer to e4, and the sharpest.
Analysing from a photo?
This page needs a FEN or a board you set up by hand. The app reads a position straight from a photograph of a real board or a screenshot, and keeps your saved positions between sessions.
The idea
Black answers a king's pawn move with a queen's pawn move, which is the essential point. The position is asymmetrical from move one, and neither side can force the simplifications that make e4 e5 drawish. Black trades a wing pawn for a centre pawn after the usual d4 cxd4, gaining a central majority and an open c-file to work with.
Typical plans
- As Black, use the half-open c-file with a rook on c8 and pressure against c3 or c2.
- As White, castle long and attack on the kingside with f4, g4 and h4 in the Open Sicilian.
- As White, avoid theory with the Closed Sicilian or the Alapin, which trade sharpness for a game you can understand.
What goes wrong
- Entering the Najdorf or Dragon without preparation. These are the most heavily analysed positions in chess and being outbooked is a real risk.
- As Black, forgetting that the c-file is the compensation. Passive play leaves you simply worse.
- As White, mixing up move orders in the Open Sicilian, where transpositions matter enormously.
Using the board above
The board starts at the position after 1. e4 c5. Play the continuation you normally meet, then ask the engine what it would do. That is more useful than reading a line, because it answers the question you actually have, which is what happens in the position you keep reaching.
One caution worth carrying into it: an engine evaluates an opening on the assumption that both sides then play perfectly. A line rated a tenth of a pawn better whose middlegames you have never played is worth less to you than a line rated slightly worse that produces positions you understand. More on that here.