New answers tagged sicilian-defense
4
I think that a lot of the answers to your various questions about "why this or that" come down to the fact that it is just very unexplored theory, and the black players are just using their best judgment, probably mostly on-the-fly since Rg1 is so rare. I have just 18 games in my database after 9...Bxe4, and 7 of those games were played by white players ...
7
Yes, in the Sicilian black often falls behind in development, and that is a problem -- white often gets the chance to mount an attack.
But black has some compensation. After ...cxd4 Nxd4 he has two central pawns while white only has the e-pawn. In order to attack quickly, white often castles queenside and black can use the half-open c-file to start a ...
3
First, in chess, being behind in development is not always the end of the world. It certainly can be if your king gets stuck in the center of the board, and comes under attack; but there are many openings where one side can afford to fall behind in development to gain certain static advantages if the position is super solid. Then, you can catch up in ...
2
To be honest, I see very little there, but Re1 also just looks like it is not in the spirit of the opening since it does little to add any pressure to the center. Of course, if black were to play d5, then it would make sense, but black will probably refrain from playing that for quite a while. Bc2 probably should be played there, and follow it up with the ...
4
While NoseKnowsAll has a great answer, there is a little more, and it comes down to this one thing: It is just impossible to play a good version of the English Attack due to Bb4 by black at the right time.
Even if you are careful about move order, and play Nc3 first, and then Be3, and Qd2, it is still very dangerous to castle queenside. It is easy to see ...
7
The English attack is only true mainline for the d6 Sicilian. The reason behind this is that in the e6 Sicilian variation, it's a lot easier for black to pressure your center and break through with a quicker d5. Specifically, black can play a fast Bb4 (pinning your knight and therefore influencing the all important e4 and d5 squares), and break out with d5.
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