Who's Afraid Of The Sicilian?

Why do people love playing the Sicilian?

Because it allows for some rather hair-raising combinations like this one.

Daniel Stellwagen v Viswanathan Anand, 2009

What the heck just went on in this game?

Absolute chaos on the board occurred after Anand sac'ed his Queen for 3 rather uncoordinated pieces with his King left uncastled. This game is truly beyond me.

The problem with Sicilians is that quite likely you need to be good at tactics, and some of the gameplay can be on the knife's edge and thus, it is very easy to lose your way.

Take a look at this game. I am White.

Black just played a seemingly innocuous move 1.... Nd7.

This looks like a typical Sicilian formation, right? Yes but....

Incredible as it may seem but Black is totally lost in this position with just that one move. Can you figure out why and what is the critical move White should play after that?

Highlight between the brackets for the answer.

[Black now loses instantly after:
2. exd6 Bxd6 or Qxd6 (doesn't matter)
3. Nxe6!! and Black must lose the Queen+more material to stave off mate]

The Sicilian Defense

First off, I like to say that I've had my fair share of wins and losses playing both sides of the Sicilian Defense. It is one of the defenses I really dread playing as White (being a 1.e4 player) because Black players sometimes come armed to the teeth and they have lines memorised up till move 30 (that's indeed scary). Unfortunately, that's also not how I play chess. I have full respect for the Sicilian Defense because the endgame is usually favourable for Black.

But I find that the Sicilian Defense is one defense where Black needs to have a solid understanding of the line or variation that Black wants to play. The Sicilian Defense, as some of you know, comes in many flavours:

The Sveshnikov, the Kalashnikov, the Kan, the Najdorf, the Scheveningen, the Taimanov, the Dragon etc.

White also has a host of weapons in its arsenal to tackle the Sicilian Defense. They include the much feared Keres Attack, the Yugoslav Attack etc. you get the picture.

The problem I find with the Sicilian Defense is that usually, all it takes is one minor slip on either side and it's toast.

In this game, Black clearly has no idea once I took him out of his preparation on move 3. He was definitely not prepared nor was he aware of the ideas behind the Bb5 line (which is a good thing for me). Note that I have made quite a few mistakes in my moves. I profess my play here was far less than optimal.