Sicilian Defence

For The Alan Parsons Project album, see The Sicilian Defence (album).
Sicilian Defence
abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
b8 black knight
c8 black bishop
d8 black queen
e8 black king
f8 black bishop
g8 black knight
h8 black rook
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
d7 black pawn
e7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
c5 black pawn
e4 white pawn
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
b1 white knight
c1 white bishop
d1 white queen
e1 white king
f1 white bishop
g1 white knight
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Moves1.e4 c5
ECOB20–B99
OriginGiulio Cesare Polerio, 1594
Named afterSicily
ParentKing's Pawn Game

The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves:

1. e4 c5

The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. The opening 1.d4 is a statistically more successful opening for White because of the high success rate of the Sicilian defence against 1.e4.[1] New In Chess stated in its 2000 Yearbook that, of the games in its database, White scored 56.1% in 296,200 games beginning 1.d4, but 54.1% in 349,855 games beginning 1.e4, mainly because the Sicilian held White to a 52.3% score in 145,996 games.[2]

17% of all games between grandmasters, and 25% of the games in the Chess Informant database, begin with the Sicilian.[3]

Grandmaster John Nunn attributes the Sicilian Defence's popularity to its "combative nature": "in many lines Black is playing not just for equality, but for the advantage. The drawback is that White often obtains an early initiative, so Black has to take care not to fall victim to a quick attack."[4] Grandmaster Jonathan Rowson considered why the Sicilian is the most successful response to 1.e4, even though 1...c5 develops no pieces and the pawn on c5 controls only d4 and b4. Rowson writes:

To my mind there is quite a straightforward explanation. To profit from the initiative granted by the first move, White has to make use of his opportunity to do something before Black has an equal number of opportunities of his own. However, to do this, he has to make "contact" with the black position. The first point of contact usually comes in the form of a pawn exchange, which leads to the opening of the position. ... So the thought behind 1...c5 is this: "OK, I'll let you open the position, and develop your pieces aggressively, but at a price – you have to give me one of your center pawns."

— Jonathan Rowson, Chess for Zebras: Thinking Differently About Black and White[1]

The earliest recorded notes on the Sicilian Defence date back to the late 16th century by the Italian chess players Giulio Polerio and Gioachino Greco.[5][6]

This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
  1. ^ a b Rowson, Jonathan (2005). Chess for Zebras: Thinking Differently About Black and White. Gambit Publications. p. 243. ISBN 1-901983-85-4.
  2. ^ Sosonko, Gennady; Paul van der Sterren (2000). New In Chess Yearbook 55. Interchess BV. p. 227. ISBN 90-5691-069-8.
  3. ^ Watson, John (October 2006). Mastering the Chess Openings: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Modern Chess Openings, Volume 1. Gambit Publications. p. 175. ISBN 1-904600-60-3.
  4. ^ Nunn, John (February 2001). Understanding Chess Move by Move. Gambit Publications. p. 57. ISBN 1-901983-41-2.
  5. ^ De Firmian, Nick (2008). Modern Chess Openings: MCO-15. Random House Puzzles & Games. p. 244. ISBN 978-0-8129-3084-9.
  6. ^ Ristoja, Thomas; Aulikki Ristoja (1995). Perusteet. Shakki (in Finnish). WSOY. p. 63. ISBN 951-0-20505-2.