5 Best Variations in Sicilian Defense (for Black)

Dear Chess Friends,

The Sicilian defense is one of the oldest but also most used opening in chess, as it generally creates dynamic and approximately equal positions. That’s why such aggressive players like Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, and nowadays Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Ian Nepomniachtchi and Fabiano Caruana played it a lot.

As in any other opening, there are different ways to play this opening from Black. I am going to showcase 5 of the best of them in accordance with modern theory and my personal opinion. Ok, this is FM Viktor Neustroev and 5 Best Variations in Sicilian Defense.

Najdorf

Probably the most famous variant, Bobby Fischer used it as his main weapon with Black in the past, some years later the most dynamic chess champion in chess history Garry Kasparov also included this opening in his repertoire, and today even Magnus Carlsen has tried to play this aggressive line.

Dragon 

One of the most entertaining variations to play in Sicilian is the Dragon, however, it requires enormous theoretical knowledge as there are sublines that go up to more than 20 movements. Which also shows how much this variation has been studied.

Sveshnikov

Popular recently, the Sveshnikov variation is the most dynamic variation, Black moves many pawns attacking the opponent's pieces, getting activity but also weakening his position. The opening became more popular when Carlsen used it against Caruana in the World Chess Championship Match.

Scheveningen

If there is a solid variation within the Sicilian Defense, it could be the Scheveningen, which often leads to the Hedgehog pawn structure, Black places their pawns on e6 and d6 and keeps them flexible to protect the center from any kind of white attacks, giving a space advantage but trying to create a solid barrier.

Kan

The Sicilian Kan variation is characterized by rapidly moving a6, a pawn move that we already studied in this opening in previous lines, which prepares the development of the queen on c7. This is a flexible variation, black often transposes play to other lines as well.

These are my favorite variations of the Sicilian Defense. I hope you like them and can try some in your future games! Thanks for watching and make sure you like this video, subscribe to my channel and share it with your friends-chess players.

The Sicilian Defense is undoubtedly one of the most aggressive openings in chess, if you like to play a complicated game full of tactics and attacks, then this opening and these variations are for you.

If you would like to suggest any other interesting variation within Sicilian Defense, please feel free to share it in the comment section below this video.

Best Regards,

FM Viktor Neustroev