Let's play the Alapin Sicilian
Let's learn the Alapin Sicilian! This is the perfect way to shut down ANYONE who plays the sicilian against you. We begin with pawn to e4
Let's continue with the Alapin Sicilian
Black played the sicilian defense - which means we can stop them in their tracks with the alapin. To play the alapin, we play pawn to c3. The idea is pretty clear: prepare to take the center with pawn to d4 on the next move.
This move did nothing to stop us from playing pawn to d4, which is the whole idea of the alapin.
Let's take back on d4 with our pawn and keep our strong center
The beauty of having the whole center is we can kick black's pieces around. Pawn to d5, kicking their knight!
Let's keep kicking that knight around - pawn to f4!
Now that we own the literal entire center, it's time to develop. Knight to f3.
Well done! Black is completely paralyzed here
Now it's time for US to develop. Knight to f3.
This is actually a big mistake for black - they're trying to develop their pieces without having any pawns in the center. We can hit their knights AGAIN with pawn to e5.
Pawn takes back on e5, hitting the knight once more.
Wait so... did we just lose a pawn? Nope - we actually just won a knight! First: bishop to b5 check, forcing black to block with their bishop
Now that black's queen is disconnected from defending their knight, we can just... take it! Queen takes knight on d5.
One last move that makes this tactic work: knight to c3 both block's the queen's check AND defends our bishop.
Better development, better center, and did I mention we're a piece up?
Pawn takes pawn on e6
Aaaaand that's a fork. Pawn to f5 forks the bishop and knight.
The piece is ours and the game is OVER!
Let's spice things up: pawn takes pawn on d5. The idea is to draw out black's queen and hit her with a bunch of attacks
We ideally want to play knight to c3 and hit the queen, but we need to defend our pawn first. Knight to f3.
NOW we can go knight to c3, hitting the queen.
Black ran away - big mistake! Pawn to d5, hitting their knight.
Game over!!! And we'll do it in style too - with queen sacrifice. Knight takes knight on e5
Our queen is gone. How do we win her back? Hint: bishop to b5
Black was forced to block the check with the queen, and now we get her. Bishop takes queen!
We're already a piece up, and now we win a second. King takes bishop on d1.
What a gorgeous line. Your opponent will probably report you for cheating.
We played c3 with the simple idea of pushing d4 next. Since Black hasn't done anything to challenge that plan, we can go ahead and play pawn to d4 now.
Black just gave up the fight for the center - amazing. Pawn takes pawn on d4 and the center is ours.
Black is attacking our e4 pawn with a horse - let's defend it with a horse. Knight to c3.
Here's a great example of why owning the center is so important: black just developed a knight and we can push our d-pawn to d5 to kick it away.
Let's keep kicking that knight around with pawn to f4
Let's keep developing with knight to f3.
The computer gives us a +2 eval advantage just because our center is soooo good.