The Sicilian Defence
The most played answer to 1.e4 in the history of chess, and the least symmetrical. Black trades a wing pawn for a centre pawn and plays for a win from move one. Step through it, then play it.
Last updated
- First moves
- 1. e4 c5
- ECO
- B20
- Best for
- Black
- Style
- Aggressive
- Theory
- Heavy
- Level
- Intermediate
The Sicilian Defence is 1.e4 c5. In a single move Black refuses the symmetrical game entirely: the c-pawn will be traded for White's d-pawn, and from that moment on the two sides have different pawns in different places and different plans to match. It is the most played, most analysed and most fought-over opening in chess.
That trade is the whole opening. Black ends up with a half-open c-file and a queenside pawn majority; White ends up with more central space and a half-open d-file. Nobody can force a draw out of that, which is exactly why so many players choose it.
The main line
The Open Sicilian into the Najdorf - the most analysed line in chess. Step through all fourteen moves.
Now play Black's side, from move two.
You are Black. White has played 2.Nf3. Take the Open Sicilian main road: support the centre, trade on d4, develop, and stake out b5.
The Dragon: the sharpest race in chess
5...g6 puts the bishop on the long diagonal and invites White to attack it directly. Both sides castle on opposite wings and throw everything at the other king.
The Dragon and the Yugoslav Attack - opposite castling, and a race nobody can stop.
When White avoids all of it
Half your opponents will not play the Open Sicilian at all, because it means memorising as much as you have. The Closed Sicilian keeps every pawn on the board.
The Closed Sicilian - no pawn trade, no theory, and a slow build-up on both wings.
The plans, for both sides
Black's plans. The half-open c-file is the spine of every Sicilian: ...Rc8, ...Ne5-c4 or ...Nc6-a5, and ...b5-b4 hitting the knight that guards e4. Against opposite-side castling, count tempi rather than pieces - a pawn sacrifice that opens a file at White's king is usually worth more than the pawn. And know the hole: after ...e5 or ...e6, the d5-square belongs to White's pieces until Black covers it with ...Be6 and ...Nbd7.
White's plans. In the Open Sicilian, castle long and storm - f3, Qd2, Bh6, h4-h5, g4 - and try to land a knight on d5 or f5 before Black's queenside arrives. In the Closed and the Alapin, the plan is space and patience instead. The one thing that never works is drifting: the Sicilian punishes a plan-free middlegame more reliably than any other opening, because Black's counterplay is automatic.
The tactics are the sharpest on this site: the fork on c7 and e6 that a knight reaching d5 or b5 always threatens - which is what ...a6 exists to prevent - the pin of the f6-knight against a king on g8 after Bg5, and castling on the opposite wing as a decision to attack rather than a decision to be safe.
For the same fight with a fraction of the theory, see the Caro-Kann Defence or the Scandinavian Defence; for a plan as clear as the Sicilian's but a structure that is fixed rather than fluid, the French Defence.
Try it
White has played 1.e4. Answer with the Sicilian.
The Sicilian is the largest opening in chess and you do not have to learn all of it - you have to learn one road through it and the plans that road leads to. This page is that road. The lessons take it from there: the pawn structures, the attacking patterns, and the endgames the extra queenside pawn was always about.
Common questions
- What is the Sicilian Defence?
- The answer 1.e4 c5. Instead of meeting a centre pawn with a centre pawn, Black offers a wing pawn for it: after 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Black has traded the c-pawn for White's d-pawn, so the position is unbalanced from move four and neither side can force a symmetrical draw. It is the most popular and the most analysed opening in chess - and the reply to 1.e4 you will meet most often, at every level.
- Why is the Sicilian so popular?
- Because it plays for a win with the black pieces. The 1.e4 e5 openings tend toward balanced structures where a draw is the natural result; the Sicilian's pawn trade gives Black a queenside pawn majority and a half-open c-file in exchange for less central space, so both sides have something real to play for. That imbalance is worth more to a competitive player than a comfortable equality.
- Is the Sicilian good for beginners?
- It is the hardest answer to 1.e4 to learn well, and that is worth knowing before starting. White has half a dozen serious systems - the Open Sicilian, the Closed, the Alapin, the Grand Prix, the Smith-Morra - and Black needs an answer to each. The middlegames are also sharp: opposite-side castling and mutual pawn storms are normal. Play the Caro-Kann or the Scandinavian while you learn, then come here.
- What is the Najdorf Variation?
- 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6, the most famous line in chess and Fischer's and Kasparov's main weapon. The little pawn move on a6 does three things: it stops Nb5 and Bb5 forever, prepares ...b5 to expand on the queenside, and opens the long diagonal for a bishop on b7 - which is where Black's pressure on e4 comes from. Everything else Black does is flexible, which is precisely the point.
- What is the Dragon Variation?
- 5...g6, fianchettoing the bishop on g7 where it stares down the long diagonal at White's queenside. White's standard answer is the Yugoslav Attack - Be3, f3, Qd2, castle long, then h4-h5 and open the h-file. It is the sharpest race in opening theory: both sides attack the enemy king directly, and the game is usually decided by a single tempo.
- What is the Closed Sicilian?
- 2.Nc3 followed by g3, Bg2 and d3, refusing to open the centre at all. White plays a slow kingside build-up with f4 and f5 rather than the theory-heavy Open Sicilian. It is a favourite of players who like the Sicilian's structure but not its reading list, and Black should answer it with a mirrored setup - ...Nc6, ...g6, ...Bg7, ...d6 - and expansion on the queenside.
Ideas this opening runs on:
Out of book in your own game?
Next Chess Move →Sources
