All chess openings

Sicilian Defence openings

1.e4 c5 — the most popular answer to 1.e4 at every level. Black refuses to mirror White, trades a flank pawn for a centre pawn and gets the half-open c-file to work with, which is why it is the choice of players who want to win with the black pieces rather than hold a draw. The range runs from the razor-sharp Najdorf and Dragon to the Alapin and Closed, where White sidesteps the theory altogether.

7 openings

• Sicilian Defence — Najdorf (B90) — Sharp and asymmetric — Black fights for the full point
• Sicilian Defence — Dragon (B70) — Opposite-side castling, all-out attacks on both wings
• Sicilian Defence — Accelerated Dragon (B35) — The Dragon without …d6 — saving a tempo to hit d4 with …d5 in one go
• Sicilian Defence — Sveshnikov (B33) — A permanent hole on d5 traded for two bishops and raw activity
• Sicilian Defence — Alapin (B22) — Sidestep 10,000 pages of Sicilian theory and just build a big centre
• Sicilian Defence — Closed (B25) — Refuse to open the centre and just attack on the kingside instead
• Smith-Morra Gambit (B21) — Give up a pawn to get every piece out and both open files for free