Resources: Snyder Variation Repertoire: app.noctie.ai/repertoires/580a729f-bdd5-476c-84e9-607af9dd0646?aff=q9yKD All four PGNs available here: www.patreon.com/posts/anti-sicilian-120527845?Link& Prins Variation Repertoire: app.noctie.ai/repertoires/aa4e9a8c-52f1-40f1-9290-36717292d886?aff=q9yKD Prins Variation detailed video: th-cam.com/video/T7qzruXqPsw/w-d-xo.html Kramnik Variation Repertoire: app.noctie.ai/repertoires/114056a7-7e24-4ee2-a62a-2ddee50cf3cb?aff=q9yKD Kramnik Variation detailed video: th-cam.com/video/04mHPHxmdkg/w-d-xo.html Rossolimo Attack Repertoire: app.noctie.ai/repertoires/822979b3-ced8-41b2-a81d-c7beb02b1f46?aff=q9yKD Rossolimo Attack detailed video: th-cam.com/video/iddK1iAVP70/w-d-xo.html If you visit Noctie, use the code "HANGINGPAWNS" to go Premium and get a 64% discount. Books: Anti-Sicilians a Guide for Black (Rogozenko) The Bb5 Sicilian (Palliser) Sicilian 2.b3 (Robert Snyder) The Rossolimo Sicilian (Bologan) Rossolimo and friends (Kornev) Easy Guide To the Bb5 Sicilian (Pedersen)
Unfortunately, you're not gonna see Stjepan in his current form recommending a line like the Alapin, or even something like the Freak Attack. Tho this shouldn't discourage you from playing those lines! Stjepan is typically a positionally-minded player. As such (and you'll see this a *lot* in his videos) he tends to grossly underestimate the value of dynamic open positions and especially gambits until they happen, and he gets promptly wiped off the board (happened multiple times in his speedrun to 2500). To this day, this remains his biggest strength and weakness. For example, Stjepan is the type of player to play the Greco Variation of the Queen's Gambit, an ultra-greedy line where Black does everything in their power to hang onto the extra pawn; weakening their position, allowing White some great activity, and forcing Black to hang on for dear life. Stjepan also is a huge fan of the Karpov Variation of the Caro-Kann--a very cozy, but also incredibly closed and passive line where Black struggles pretty bad to come up with a constructive plan for the rest of the game. Short story, yes, lines like the Alapin, Mengarini, Smith-Morra, and even the Freak Attack are amazing and incredibly sharp weapons in the Sicilian, and you should definitely try those out. For positional talk, I recommend channels like ChessNetwork and HangingPawns. But for sharper lines and really understanding just how valuable open lines are, I recommend a channel called Remote Chess Academy. ChessNetwork also does a great job at explaining open, dynamic positions. EDIT: WOW! He made a post asking what gambits we would like to see him cover. Great work, Stjepan!
@@rhodescolossus8184 I initially thought so as well, but apparently not even close. James Canty III recommends the Alapin, and for good reason. First, the most common second moves by Black against the Alapin are Nc6, d6, and e6, all of which give White a super easy game and a monstrous attack. Most people are *definitely* not prepped up against the Alapin. Even many master-level opponents often aren't prepped properly against the Alapin and go down in just a few moves. For good reason--by far the most common openings against the Sicil are the knight moves to f3 and c3. But not an immediate c3-d4. Second, if White delays their Alapin setup by one or two moves, this scores even better against Sicilian players. I personally use the Delayed Alapin with pretty great success. When you go up to the higher master levels (IM and GM), then yes, at that level most people know how to equalize against the Alapin. But even then, not the Delayed Alapin.
Really love your channel. Best because you explain you thinking, 100% human. Not chess counting on opponents errors. I know its difficult and explain and play at the same time. Long time CaroKann player since my teens (1980) and really loved your video against CaroKann setups and completely adhere to your comments. For this one, I am happy to see I use the Prins and c4 against 2. e6 (didn’t know its called Kramnik). Bravo for this chess channel for real Players.
snyder is interesting someone mentioned the freak in another comment which is unique and alapin is the most common anti sicillian I've seen but I like the rossolimo attack as its principled and I've enjoyed seeing fabiano's games mostly its a very dry and positional opening so I enjoy it a lot as white in getting endgames and playing chess but I think I might give the freak, prins, and snyder another shot cool video!
As an anti-Sicilian player I've played all 4 of these and have settled on the Snyder, Chekhover, Rossolimo and the Moscow. Sometimes I will play the prins for a specific player. The chekhover variation I have to say is especially potent since you can choose two ideas of either forcing a maroczy bind, or going for rapid development which helps cover players who are tactically strong but positionally weak, as well as those who are not the greatest in the opening phase. The Moscow, which isn't in the video is especially dangerous if you can prepare before hand that your opponent plays 3.Bd7 followed up by 4. Qxd7 where white will be able to build up a kingside attack without much resistance whilst black is left with no penetration points along the queenside 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. O-O Nf6 6. Re1 Nc6 7. c3 e6 8. d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 d5 10. e5 Ne4 11. a3 Be7 12. Nbd2 Nxd2 13. Bxd2 O-O 14. Rc1 Rfc8 15. Rc3 b5 16. Rd3
I play Nf6 and have heard so many times how annoying that is for morra guys. They often try to gambit anyway but it doesn’t result in the same initiative
@@crugy7 Do you mean Nf6 after 2...cxd4 or 2...Nf6 right away? The first option is just transposition to main line of Alapin and the latter seems just bad :D
As a Prins player, I find the counterplay black has in the Maroczy lines much more annoying than the main line with Nb3. By the way, a better and sounder move after f3 e5 is Bb5+, simply not allowing those bad lines with Nb3.
Hate Facing? Na, you can't completely deny the counterplay of the Sicilian defence. You just need to know which setup to set up. For example, against the Snyder absolutely 2..g6 and you get a good Dragon-like position
The trainer of the german national chess team (GM Jan Gustafsson) recently published a 36min TH-cam video (in german) about an anti-sicilian which I never saw before and like now a lot (2100 level). It starts with the stupid looking moves 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd3 which is meant to keep pressure down the d-file. Black has three main options: a) Setup with e6: White plays Nc3, Bf4 and 0-0-0 looking for the d6 square. Typical start of this line: 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd3 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bf4 a6 7. O-O-O b) Setup with g6 and d6: Castling into the diagonal of the black bishop on g7 is now too dangerous. White plays Nc3, Nf3, Be2, 0-0 and than Nd5. Typical line: 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd3 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Nf3 Bg7 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O d6 9. Nd5 c) An exception occurs if black does not play Nf6, but e.g. e6+a6. In this case white plays Qg3 putting pressure on the kings side. Example line: 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd3 e6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Qg3 b5 7. Bg5 Here is the link to the video from the german GM: You can activate subtitles with automatic translation to english th-cam.com/video/KhECvMFFWrw/w-d-xo.html
Levy actually refers to Opening A as an "Idiot Sicilian" in his "Stop Playing These 4 Openings" video, and mentions that GMs are playing like this now to get people out of theory! I have never seen B or C before though, definitely going to take a look!
@@thesingingfly Thanks for mentioning that: I watched a lot of Levys videos but not this one. I checked it out and he mentions to retreat the queen to e3 (similar to 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3) and not like the german GM to d3 which has other ideas in mind.
As a Sicilian player, these lines don't bother me much at all. And as white, why would you give up the chance to really challenge black in the Open lines? Not only do black players up to 2000 not know the theory, these lines are essentially guaranteed fun, dynamic, tactical chess. And if black allows the Maroczy setup, then you have a positionally superior pressure for a long, long time. What's not to love? If the idea is to "get black out of theory" think about this: The more black studies the mainlines (Open Sicilian), the more they will realize any Anti-Sicilian is usually just a mildly inferior version of something they see in the open lines, OR they allow black to break with d4 at some point or another, which any Sicilian player should know is the point and almost guarantees equality. I started with the Morra as white, which taught me a ton, but as far as serious lines go, there's nothing better than the Open lines. Rossolimo is the only exception but black doesn't have to allow it.
It is! I talked about this on a reply to someone else's comment actually, but Stjepan is probably not going to recommend lines like the Alapin, Smith-Morra, Mengarini, or even the Freak Attack. It's not because the lines are bad per se--it's because Stjepan's play style is very solid and closed, and he tends to devalue open positions and especially gambits, only to get destroyed pretty often in the middlegame as seen in his speedrun series. In fact, the Alapin and a couple of other lines like the Mengarini would probably be great to use against him.
@@enzocarlo-liu1265 Depends on what kind of Sicilian you like to play. But I play the Accelerated Dragon, so I go for a g6 setup. In fact, there's a pretty reliable setup against these closed lines that involves: Nc6, g6, Bg7, d6, sometimes e6, Ne7 and 0-0 and eventually your goal is to break with d5. If they completely disallow that, then b5, rarely f5 are your breaks.
If you like to challenge them and open it up right away (something they probably won't like) you can even play d4 right away. Or develop both knights and often d4 is there for you already.
People don't hate Delayed alapin? People don't hate Moscow Canal attack? People don't hate Smith Morra?(Well at least I can make people rethink their decision about this one) Here's the thing, there are so many annoying anti-sicilians that they can't be fit in the common "4 this this this that this" format
Resources:
Snyder Variation Repertoire: app.noctie.ai/repertoires/580a729f-bdd5-476c-84e9-607af9dd0646?aff=q9yKD
All four PGNs available here: www.patreon.com/posts/anti-sicilian-120527845?Link&
Prins Variation Repertoire: app.noctie.ai/repertoires/aa4e9a8c-52f1-40f1-9290-36717292d886?aff=q9yKD
Prins Variation detailed video: th-cam.com/video/T7qzruXqPsw/w-d-xo.html
Kramnik Variation Repertoire: app.noctie.ai/repertoires/114056a7-7e24-4ee2-a62a-2ddee50cf3cb?aff=q9yKD
Kramnik Variation detailed video: th-cam.com/video/04mHPHxmdkg/w-d-xo.html
Rossolimo Attack Repertoire: app.noctie.ai/repertoires/822979b3-ced8-41b2-a81d-c7beb02b1f46?aff=q9yKD
Rossolimo Attack detailed video: th-cam.com/video/iddK1iAVP70/w-d-xo.html
If you visit Noctie, use the code "HANGINGPAWNS" to go Premium and get a 64% discount.
Books:
Anti-Sicilians a Guide for Black (Rogozenko)
The Bb5 Sicilian (Palliser)
Sicilian 2.b3 (Robert Snyder)
The Rossolimo Sicilian (Bologan)
Rossolimo and friends (Kornev)
Easy Guide To the Bb5 Sicilian (Pedersen)
Seems like you provide more depth and strategy than any other chess TH-camr I've come across. Cheers!
Surprised you didn't mention the Alapin or delayed Alapin
Unfortunately, you're not gonna see Stjepan in his current form recommending a line like the Alapin, or even something like the Freak Attack. Tho this shouldn't discourage you from playing those lines!
Stjepan is typically a positionally-minded player. As such (and you'll see this a *lot* in his videos) he tends to grossly underestimate the value of dynamic open positions and especially gambits until they happen, and he gets promptly wiped off the board (happened multiple times in his speedrun to 2500). To this day, this remains his biggest strength and weakness.
For example, Stjepan is the type of player to play the Greco Variation of the Queen's Gambit, an ultra-greedy line where Black does everything in their power to hang onto the extra pawn; weakening their position, allowing White some great activity, and forcing Black to hang on for dear life.
Stjepan also is a huge fan of the Karpov Variation of the Caro-Kann--a very cozy, but also incredibly closed and passive line where Black struggles pretty bad to come up with a constructive plan for the rest of the game.
Short story, yes, lines like the Alapin, Mengarini, Smith-Morra, and even the Freak Attack are amazing and incredibly sharp weapons in the Sicilian, and you should definitely try those out. For positional talk, I recommend channels like ChessNetwork and HangingPawns. But for sharper lines and really understanding just how valuable open lines are, I recommend a channel called Remote Chess Academy. ChessNetwork also does a great job at explaining open, dynamic positions.
EDIT: WOW! He made a post asking what gambits we would like to see him cover. Great work, Stjepan!
The Alapin is so common that every sicilian player is prepared for it.
@@rhodescolossus8184 I initially thought so as well, but apparently not even close. James Canty III recommends the Alapin, and for good reason.
First, the most common second moves by Black against the Alapin are Nc6, d6, and e6, all of which give White a super easy game and a monstrous attack. Most people are *definitely* not prepped up against the Alapin. Even many master-level opponents often aren't prepped properly against the Alapin and go down in just a few moves. For good reason--by far the most common openings against the Sicil are the knight moves to f3 and c3. But not an immediate c3-d4.
Second, if White delays their Alapin setup by one or two moves, this scores even better against Sicilian players. I personally use the Delayed Alapin with pretty great success.
When you go up to the higher master levels (IM and GM), then yes, at that level most people know how to equalize against the Alapin. But even then, not the Delayed Alapin.
I think it’s because he already has a video on the Alapin
@@rhodescolossus8184 but it's a solid choice against the Sicilian, which is what Stjepan was going for when he recommended things like the Rossolimo.
The Snyder Variation, thanks man. 👍
Really love your channel. Best because you explain you thinking, 100% human. Not chess counting on opponents errors. I know its difficult and explain and play at the same time.
Long time CaroKann player since my teens (1980) and really loved your video against CaroKann setups and completely adhere to your comments.
For this one, I am happy to see I use the Prins and c4 against 2. e6 (didn’t know its called Kramnik).
Bravo for this chess channel for real Players.
snyder is interesting someone mentioned the freak in another comment which is unique and alapin is the most common anti sicillian I've seen but I like the rossolimo attack as its principled and I've enjoyed seeing fabiano's games mostly its a very dry and positional opening so I enjoy it a lot as white in getting endgames and playing chess but I think I might give the freak, prins, and snyder another shot cool video!
I like the idea of the music in the intro. A little bit less volume and a fade-out would be nice.
hello hanging pawn can you make a video about to sicilian classical variation?
Against the Synder there is a very interesting idea b3 g6 bg2 Nf6 its a good variation
That's what I play.
I love Snyder as black
1. e4 c5 2. b3 g6! and I have like 90% wins with it as black
As an anti-Sicilian player I've played all 4 of these and have settled on the Snyder, Chekhover, Rossolimo and the Moscow. Sometimes I will play the prins for a specific player. The chekhover variation I have to say is especially potent since you can choose two ideas of either forcing a maroczy bind, or going for rapid development which helps cover players who are tactically strong but positionally weak, as well as those who are not the greatest in the opening phase. The Moscow, which isn't in the video is especially dangerous if you can prepare before hand that your opponent plays 3.Bd7 followed up by 4. Qxd7 where white will be able to build up a kingside attack without much resistance whilst black is left with no penetration points along the queenside 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bxd7+ Qxd7 5. O-O Nf6 6. Re1 Nc6 7. c3 e6 8. d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 d5 10. e5 Ne4 11. a3 Be7 12. Nbd2 Nxd2 13. Bxd2 O-O 14. Rc1 Rfc8 15. Rc3 b5 16. Rd3
Kopec System is my favorite
The Snyder ends up looking like a Bird opening.
I like 1.e4 c5 2.Be2
My favourite anti sicilian is definitelly Morra, so fun opening.
I play Nf6 and have heard so many times how annoying that is for morra guys. They often try to gambit anyway but it doesn’t result in the same initiative
@@crugy7 Do you mean Nf6 after 2...cxd4 or 2...Nf6 right away? The first option is just transposition to main line of Alapin and the latter seems just bad :D
@@EgoCZ alapin transposition. The morra guys hate it.
@@crugy7 Alapin transposition if you do it right is also fun. Chapter 14 Mayhem in the Morra shows you how.
@ I like it, the most boring one is 3...d3 and later white plays c4 to Maroczy bind kind of position being slightly better.
Wow now I'm not afraid of the sicilian
I've played the Snyder before as white but I honestly think I was just tactically too weak for it. I could get winning positions but never keep them.
As a Prins player, I find the counterplay black has in the Maroczy lines much more annoying than the main line with Nb3. By the way, a better and sounder move after f3 e5 is Bb5+, simply not allowing those bad lines with Nb3.
After bb5+ black is much better
Hate Facing? Na, you can't completely deny the counterplay of the Sicilian defence. You just need to know which setup to set up. For example, against the Snyder absolutely 2..g6 and you get a good Dragon-like position
Can I translate and upload your old video, giving proper credit to the source?
The trainer of the german national chess team (GM Jan Gustafsson) recently published a 36min TH-cam video (in german) about an anti-sicilian which I never saw before and like now a lot (2100 level). It starts with the stupid looking moves 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd3 which is meant to keep pressure down the d-file. Black has three main options:
a) Setup with e6: White plays Nc3, Bf4 and 0-0-0 looking for the d6 square. Typical start of this line: 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd3 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. Bf4 a6 7. O-O-O
b) Setup with g6 and d6: Castling into the diagonal of the black bishop on g7 is now too dangerous. White plays Nc3, Nf3, Be2, 0-0 and than Nd5. Typical line: 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd3 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Nf3 Bg7 7. Be2 O-O 8. O-O d6 9. Nd5
c) An exception occurs if black does not play Nf6, but e.g. e6+a6. In this case white plays Qg3 putting pressure on the kings side. Example line: 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qd3 e6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Qg3 b5 7. Bg5
Here is the link to the video from the german GM: You can activate subtitles with automatic translation to english
th-cam.com/video/KhECvMFFWrw/w-d-xo.html
Levy actually refers to Opening A as an "Idiot Sicilian" in his "Stop Playing These 4 Openings" video, and mentions that GMs are playing like this now to get people out of theory! I have never seen B or C before though, definitely going to take a look!
@@thesingingfly Thanks for mentioning that: I watched a lot of Levys videos but not this one. I checked it out and he mentions to retreat the queen to e3 (similar to 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3) and not like the german GM to d3 which has other ideas in mind.
@@Epikur63 Oh. Oops! My bad on that one. The queen on d3 serves a much different purpose than e3.
except the synder variation this is basicaly my sicilian repertour😂
Smith Morra and gg!
You didn't mention the yanyan gambit
As a Sicilian player, these lines don't bother me much at all. And as white, why would you give up the chance to really challenge black in the Open lines? Not only do black players up to 2000 not know the theory, these lines are essentially guaranteed fun, dynamic, tactical chess. And if black allows the Maroczy setup, then you have a positionally superior pressure for a long, long time. What's not to love?
If the idea is to "get black out of theory" think about this: The more black studies the mainlines (Open Sicilian), the more they will realize any Anti-Sicilian is usually just a mildly inferior version of something they see in the open lines, OR they allow black to break with d4 at some point or another, which any Sicilian player should know is the point and almost guarantees equality.
I started with the Morra as white, which taught me a ton, but as far as serious lines go, there's nothing better than the Open lines. Rossolimo is the only exception but black doesn't have to allow it.
Isn't Alapin an anti sicilian?
Yes
It is! I talked about this on a reply to someone else's comment actually, but Stjepan is probably not going to recommend lines like the Alapin, Smith-Morra, Mengarini, or even the Freak Attack. It's not because the lines are bad per se--it's because Stjepan's play style is very solid and closed, and he tends to devalue open positions and especially gambits, only to get destroyed pretty often in the middlegame as seen in his speedrun series. In fact, the Alapin and a couple of other lines like the Mengarini would probably be great to use against him.
8.25 you can't play fxe5 because instead of recapturing black plays Qh4+ and is completely winning
what about 2.d3?
Boooooring
@@marcofrey2903 right but what do you do against it?
@@enzocarlo-liu1265 Depends on what kind of Sicilian you like to play. But I play the Accelerated Dragon, so I go for a g6 setup. In fact, there's a pretty reliable setup against these closed lines that involves: Nc6, g6, Bg7, d6, sometimes e6, Ne7 and 0-0 and eventually your goal is to break with d5. If they completely disallow that, then b5, rarely f5 are your breaks.
If you like to challenge them and open it up right away (something they probably won't like) you can even play d4 right away. Or develop both knights and often d4 is there for you already.
A sample line goes 1. e4 c5 2. d3 Nc6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Be2 d5! 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. O-O e5! White has a toothless position.
People don't hate Delayed alapin? People don't hate Moscow Canal attack? People don't hate Smith Morra?(Well at least I can make people rethink their decision about this one)
Here's the thing, there are so many annoying anti-sicilians that they can't be fit in the common "4 this this this that this" format
Nice video, now please delete it.
First
I'm first
Nope
Why u post behind the mirror change the place man
i’m pretty sure it’s so when he plays live games you can see he isn’t using an engine
Why are you being a weirdo and just staring at his camera? Enjoy his content “man”