Opening Repertoire: The Sicilian Alapin

Intro: 

Hello everyone in this blog we may cover part 5 of the blog series which is the last blog for white openings and then we may look at ones for black. And before I tell you today's topic let's first summarize what we already had looked at (In the Intro). 

Summery so far: 

So we looked at the opening moves after e4 and e5 as a response where there is a variety of good openings, but one of my recommendations is the Vienna Game but you can also play Nf3 then after blacks natural move Nc6 we can play the Italian, Scotch, Ponziani and also the Spanish but I didn't cover that due to its vast theory. 

Back in topic: 

We looked at what we can do when e5 which it the most popular but when I look at the chess.com database I see that the Sicilian is played the most. And against it there are plenty of moves to choose from like the Open or closed Sicilian. But the one I like the most it the Sicilian Defense: Alapin variation. 

Off topic; about one of my upcoming blog:

Recently I have received a book and it's really good endgame book and so I am thinking of making a blog on it. 

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Details:

So, there are a few options that black can play after 1. e4. c5. c3. We will mainly look at the most common ones but also a general guideline to the best moves. 

Here is the first variation. 

Nc6: This is the most common response to c3.

The main Idea of the Alapin is to grab the centre with your pawns. And so here you also play that move, and now natural they will trade and now you have a very nice centre and also there is a threat so if he plays like the dragon Sicilian then the follows thanks to you powerful centre...

So here is the first move, d5 which is the most natural I guess and instead of taking it play Nc3, and here trading is bad for black, let me show why. Don't recapture but play d5! chasing the horsey and knight b4 or a5 leads to a very common tactic with Qa4, Nb8 looks sad so many will play Ne5 and Qa4 anyways and when the bishop blocks you take the pawn with your queen also attacking the horse and you ate just great here and there are tricky moves here e.g. Nb5 and strangely enough they Blunder with Nf6?? because now Nd6! is a beautiful checkmate. Going back one moce if they play queen check then play Bishop to d2 blocking it and attacking now queen b6 then make the bishop again attack that queen with e3and if they play the same move now you block with the juicier pawn. Coming back if the queen doesn't come (and bishoptake the knightis no good as after takingit back their queenis gone) the correct move by black is e6 But anyways you play d6 making a wedge pawn and you're just better.

Going back when takes takes and d5 Nc3 if they gaurd it with dpe6 then e5 by you, and you are in a nice position and also at some point you may find a greek gift.

So, that covers d5 and instead if they play e6 then push and again the same and you may play d6 and you get many go wrong as let's say Ne7 which fails to d6 and after the knight move queen e2 is devastating. 

Nf6 and d5: These are the best moves and here let's look at Nf6 first, so Nf6 is played by black you push Nd5 now and as usual striking in the centre is the best so d4 and mainly you will see takes and my recommendation is to not take back but rather Nf3 and here ideas for you include queen check ,Nc3 for future Nc2 or 4, Bc4 a very common move in these lines, etc. In this position if e6 then take the pawn back with your pawn at some point as an idea rook d1 will be nice taking the Open file. So instead if they play like knight b6 then drop the bishop back to b3. The other move then kinda the same moves after takes takes. So, that's basically it.

Outro:

Thanks for adding 1+ views to my blog and I see you in my next blog, Bye 👋🏻!