Grand Prix Attack ⎸Sicilian Defense Theory

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The Grand Prix Attack is one of the most aggressive systems white could choose against the Sicilian Defense.
For the basics of the Sicilian Defense, main variations and opening ideas watch this introductory video: • Sicilian Defense (intr...
Theory of the Accelerated Dragon: • The Accelerated Dragon...
Theory of the c3 Sicilian (Alapin): • The Alapin (c3) ⎸Sicil...
The Prins (f3) Sicilian theory: • Prins Variation (5.f3)...
The Grand Prix occurs after white plays f4 in the closed Sicilian. Instead of developing the bishop or preparing to fianchetto it with g3, Bg2, white is immediately expanding on the kingside and letting black know he’s going to have an attacking game.
The setup white has to achieve is fairly easy to remember and to achieve, regardless of what black does. It aims to destroy black along the e, f, g, and h files, mostly ignoring the action on the opposite side of the board.
If you start playing the Grand Prix, remember that you have to be brave enough to focus on the attack and lose central control or king safety if needed. The engines give the variation as slightly better for black in most lines, but white is the one with way more attacking prospects. We are not engines. Use the Grand Prix to surprise Sicilian players and crush them!
To study the opening, find at least 20-30 games of strong GMs online and study their ideas over the board. I will be adding Grand Prix analysis to the “Sicilian Defense” series on the channel, so you can start there.

[@HangingPawns]

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[@JohnBrazel]

Another excellent video! I enjoy playing this and the closed Sicilian just to force my opponent away from whatever pet variation of the Sicilian they had planned to play against me. Gawain Jones has a great book on this opening, btw.

[@HangingPawns]

Thanks:D I love Nc3 lines too, they always seem to produce less theoretical games. I will check out the book if I manage to find it. Thanks!

[@aesaehttr]

This shadow knows quite a bit about chess

[@youricortat6176]

At 16:00, you cannot take back with the queen because of NC7+ !

[@HangingPawns]

True. Mistake:)

[@Robertl-xz6yl]

Hanging Pawns I’ve been studying the Grand Prix for a while now and achieved my first win against an IM thanks to this opening. A chunk of this video gives lines that aren’t seen at all at high level and you’ve missed some of the more critical lines, just wondering where you get this ‘theory’ from as it seems more like random lines an 1800 might play from intuition?

[@jovanxin6762]

@@Robertl-xz6yl Might be true.... after all, he was around 1800 at this time I believe.

[@Robertl-xz6yl]

@@jovanxin6762 yes but that’s a problem, it’s misleading to pass off his off the cuff judgements as ‘theory’

[@enderrking2239]

@@Robertl-xz6yl maybe u could make a tutorial of ur own haha

[@yuricesar6126]

It’s so good to play the grand prix in my level, they don’t know what to do haha

[@youngt2827]

whats your level?

[@achyuththouta6957]

@Bastiat How come 900s know the sicilian defence? I thought it was grandmaster stuff and I only started to encounter it in 1200s and those who played it didn't actually know the opening well themselves

[@wateredmilk6089]

@@achyuththouta6957 they dont know it, they probably know maybe 3-4 moves out of 2-3 variations nothing more. Even at 2100 where I am deep theory outside of the Najdorf is rare

[@csc5215]

@Bastiat I´m pretty sure he is higher. Most 900s play e4 e5, the caro kann or something like the scandinavian. I played a few 1800s who didn´t know the theory behind the GP and got smoked

[@roozavelt]

​@youngt2827 I've played against it a few times already and I am only at 750. That's why I came Herr to learn the grand prix

[@jean-luclezede3898]

short video. GP attack clearly explained. I like "Hanging pawns". To write on screen the mains variations help us to keep in mind where we are (opening theory can be a dark jungle). I wish you a full-time chess life with your pedagogic channel and tournament on your road to GM...

[@spenzr6920]

Perhaps you overlooked the line Bxg2 at 7:53

[@dalesteyn7738]

Great initiative brother. Liked it

[@HangingPawns]

Thank you:)

[@ophiolatreia93]

I have had a lot of success with this

[@edgarkais2430]

You forgot the 2.- e6 Variation without Nc6. Then white can never exchange his bishop for the Knight and Bc4 looks bad aswell.

[@MKkniGEAR]

In every sicilian black must play either Nc6 or d6 to prevent white from pushing the e4 pawn to e5 with tempo on the Nf6. If black doesn't play his knight on c6 he'll have a worst knight (on c6 he can jump on d4 which is a weak square for white since it's not controlled and the knight can't be kicked) and he'll have to play d6 whereas black wants to play d5 in one move, this makes white attack one tempo ahead, and the variation with the bishop on c4 stronger since black has less control over the diagonal. Bc4 doesn't look bad when e6 is played as long as you can play f5 and weaken the diagonal before black plays d5 and gets total control over the diagonal, while with d6 played in this variation it's actually better for white.

[@panagiotischiras6252]

16:10 isnt there a fork if the queen takes?

[@zxien1]

Great video. I do think there is an option for black though to go A6 instead of D4 at 15:50 then after Nc3 go for B5.

[@Inibur]

At ~ 16:05 you consider Qxd5 and then Nc3. But there's actually Nc7++! 💀

[@jays114]

At 19:10 can't you just play Qxe5 and win the pawn if black plays Nh6?

[@pat-9443]

♟ 4:32 3... e6 9:02 3.... g6 -----> 10:00 Bc4 11:27 g3 12:49 Bb5 (Main line) 🏁

[@jopekpl3986]

That's all I wanted

[@doobakurraj]

16:14 Hello sir, in this moment of the video after d5 exd5 , it is actually bad for black after Qxd5 yoo can play Nc7+ It is a fork and the queen is gone. You have missed this key move..

[@ContriveAI]

I very often get queen/bishop harassment on dark diagonal, attacking my castled king. What progression best protect againts that?

[@thekubist]

I'm really late, but usually king h1 is sufficient

[@arimirsky2769]

8:55 seems like you have some personal experience with that

[@KeepChessSimple]

7:04 "This is one of the rare positions in the Sicilian in which white is most commonly going to have the initiative" You mean apart from the Open Sicilian? There a lot of positions in the open where white has a crazy attack going on.

[@xlewusx]

19:08 Black can't play Nh6 because Q:d5, but can play e6 with Ne7-f5

[@sisir22]

बहुत बढ़िया वीडियो है. समझाने का तरीका अवेसम है. खासकरके एक्सेंट इंडियन डेमोग्राफी को टच करता है.

[@dinocukusic2585]

what happens when black plays d4 and i respond with Ne2? how to continue from that position

[@sureshrawte9951]

what happened at 16.00 if white plays e×d5?

[@Froge4291]

Do not capture the pawn with your queen

[@Froge4291]

Because of Nc7+

[@ultimatepandaofchess5434]

my teacher told me 2 study this but im bad a sicillian

[@mikegaravani7309]

wow you have cable railways out of your window that’s cool where do you live?

[@Easy_Chess888]

You are doing these videos but my opponent doesn’t do the moves you do

[@sharansivadas3678]

can please anyone tell why is it mentioned as "B23" ?

[@HangingPawns]

That is the ECO code of the opening. A set of codes introduced by the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings,

[@sharansivadas3678]

Thank you Mr.Stjepan Tomic😊

[@mcchess2329]

Damn 160 likes 0 dislikes

[@RockyBalbonya]

16:03 if queen takes then Nc7 winning the queen?

[@dante350]

Will you cover McDonnell attack?

[@Easy_Chess888]

My opponent moved e5 what do I do?

[@youngt2827]

Good shit

[@tonysu8860]

FYI Most of your theory after 13:40 is invalid because of Nc7+ royal fork of Ke8, Qd5 and Ra8. Otherwise, some interesting ideas...

[@tejassoni1687]

You live at a hill station ?

[@HangingPawns]

No:) My office is close to the upper town so I have a fenicular behind me.

[@chessoptics]

at 16:03 you over looked whites move to win the queen with NC7+ forking instead you suggest NC3?? is this an oversight

[@repeller825]

16:03 Nc7+ ends the game

[@ultimatepandaofchess5434]

19:07 why not Qxd4?

[@kanchansarkar6100]

In 4.32 what is the problem playing e5 not playing e6? i failed to correctly respond in the situation and lost games ultimately stopped playing grand prix

[@attepylvainen1313]

Great video! I would just like to add, that in the e6-variation, black gets practically easier game by developing his knight to e7 instead of f6: 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 e6 4.Nf3 d5 5.Bb5 Ne7. The normal cramping move e5 does not come with a tempo on the knight and game usually continues 6.exd5, and black can recapture both with a knight or a pawn, for example 6.exd5 Nxd5 7.0-0 Be7 8.Ne5 Bd7. Especially in blitz, it tremendously helps black that white does not have a pawn on e5 providing space and intuitive attacking ideas.

[@secondmouse3533]

At 15:50 if white captures the pawn on d5 black cannot capture back with the queen as knight C7 forks king and queen.

[@ojasdeshpande6670]

I have a tournament tomorrow and this is what I am going to try playing. Thanks a lot for the theory ill do my best to follow it. Great video

[@Lex-gr1ko]

how'd it go buddy

[@seanmoore9713]

I really like this opening because a lot of the attacking chances are the same as in the king's gambit.

[@bitdoge5944]

LOL YES play f4 first. Most sicilian players raise an eyebrow and play b6 or e6 which is not the best move.

[@kadrimtubes]

Thank you!

[@emmanuelrodriguez1693]

Thanks for the video. What do you think of 6. d3 instead of 6. Bb5? too passive?

[@NetzKaiser]

In the variation at 7:25 the engine recommends 13. ... Bxg2!? 14. Kxg2 fxe6 instead of 13. ... Bc4?? Maybe giving the exchange doesn't work properly. But I don't think I will keep in the theory until that position on my level.

[@lodewijkvanpol7213]

Great video. But I believe in the variation 5. Bc4 - e6 6 f5!? - Nge7, black should not exchange the d7 pawn, but take back with the f7 pawn. After that black can still play d5 and hit back in the center.

[@goodghostgaming5100]

thanks for the great explanation man.

[@taylorhoulihan]

3…e6 4:33 3…g6 9:00

[@jamesko563]

Can you also make a video about the Closed Sicilian with 3.g3 instead of f4?

[@dimifisher7942]

My favourite sicilian variation

[@one_fella]

hello guys this guy is one of the best theory teacher on the internet . his study is indepth and very large. it may be difficult to extract the pgn tree of the repertoires so that you can train against them . but guess what i have do that for you . but guys you have to buy me lunch first please hit me up

[@pds4]

☺️

[@amznn6852]

I think bishop takes on g2 is better than retreating to c4

[@MichaelJordan-xp3yb]

6:52 i just played a game in this position and except i had my queen on b6 it caused my opponent trouble from the beginning of the middle game till the end

[@paoloorlandi4342]

Bel video, chiarissimo. Complimenti. Ciao

[@julius6678]

Such a fanstastic video!

[@hlp_emlove3390]

Show the refutation of the Grand prix attack how to stop it!!!! Tired of chess players spamming these moves!!!

[@Froge4291]

You cant refute a legit opening like the grand prix

[@Froge4291]

BUT you can look up a6 b5 lines in the grand prix

[@Froge4291]

Or even some stuff with e6 and a6

[@ArtKoss]

Puppey?

[@matthewheritage9725]

how should a grand prix player respond to early a6 not allowing the bishop to develop to b5?

[@Froge4291]

IM Levy Rozman (Gothamchess) recommended the move a4 which prevents b5

[@Froge4291]

And Magnus played it before

[@torrentialrage]

Thank you

[@jonbudi]

Thanks

[@sathiyaveetusamayalvlog5382]

hehehehe nice

[@mattlambert3118]

16:00 If the queen takes on d5, why would you move the knight back to c3 when you could just get the royal fork on c7 and win the queen?

[@ab2587]

He made a mistake :)

[@mattlambert3118]

@@ab2587 Sometimes when people teach competitive games like chess or poker, I suspect they may be intentionally sprinkling in incredibly unsound advice to maintain an edge on anyone listening to them. It's so bad in books written by professional poker players that I think the biggest reason they write books is to throw off their opponents. My rating is only ~1300, best I've ever reached was 1410. The move he's saying is okay would lose the queen to any player rated over 1000 100% of the time so he either has no experience playing the line and made the equivalent of a blunder analyzing a line he's never played or it's misdirection. If I remember correctly, he also hand waves away a dangerous knight move on his Evan's gambit video that I pointed out in the comments, too. I have an old copy of "Chessmaster 9000" that I've been using to try to practice new openings on (since before about three weeks ago, I just tried to Italian game/fried-liver everybody with white, try to play the Sicilian no matter what with black, and improvise when those didn't work) and it plays that knight line I saw against me every time. Most humans don't, but a few have and I still haven't found a way to effectively deal with it. It's possible that he just sucks with knights, but I really doubt it given that his rating is 1910. If he was that bad with knights, all anyone would probably have to do to beat him was force bishop trades. I have a feeling that he'd still wipe the floor with me if we played and I forced him to trade bishops though. He's significantly better than what he's teaching.

[@ab2587]

@@mattlambert3118 I think you're really overanalyzing this. Stjepan really didn't do that on purpose, he was just a little confused. It's normal that you make a couple mistakes when you have hundreds of videos. I think you have no idea how chess works🤷‍♂️, Stjepan doesn't "suck with knights". He's probably 100 times better than you in every aspect of the game. Do you really think forcing bishop trades would win every game? Your comment literally doesn't make any sense

[@mattlambert3118]

@@ab2587 "I think you're really overanalyzing this." How so? I think he's a lot better than someone who would make that kind of mistake and he's talking about what engines say about position and I know an engine would catch that. "Stjepan really didn't do that on purpose, he was just a little confused." Do you know him personally or something? "It's normal that you make a couple mistakes when you have hundreds of videos." I've only seen about 4 and 2 had problems like this. Maybe they are the only 2 and I just had bad luck. "I think you have no idea how chess works🤷‍♂️, Stjepan doesn't "suck with knights"." I know how forking pieces works. "He's probably 100 times better than you in every aspect of the game." With the exception of using knights, I pretty much agree. I actually have spent a good deal of time in my life learning how to think with knights and doing knight move exercises. That's probably the only way I ever even got to 1410 while only knowing one opening with white and some of one opening for black. He very well might be better than me with knights, but not a hundred times over. "Do you really think forcing bishop trades would win every game?" No because I don't think he's really that bad with knights. I think he'd stomp me. "Your comment literally doesn't make any sense" If he was as bad with knights as he has shown in the videos of his I've seen then you could really beat him in just about every game by forcing him to trade off the bishops... at least if you did it early. The reason is that the rooks can't do much until files start opening up, the queen needs support for just about everything she does, he wouldn't be able to use the pieces he can get out early and do major damage with effectively, and he wouldn't be able to stop you from using the pieces you can get out early and do major damage with effectively. It wouldn't ever get to a point where he could get the rooks out and use the queen effectively because you'd checkmate him with the knights and queen before that could ever happen. Of course I don't really think he is that bad with knights so I don't think that wouldn't be the way it would happen if you played him. I'm just talking about it he can't notice a royal fork or see an unstoppable two move sequence to get to a very dangerous fork.

[@ab2587]

@@mattlambert3118 It's not because he's ~1900 he NEVER blunders a fork, especially when he's not thinking about the position as much as when he's playing a game. I'm curious how many times YOU have hung a knight fork, probably a lot more than Stjepan. Also why would he show the knight fork on purpose? It's not like his opponents will watch this video before a game and then run into that knight fork. You said you saw only 4 videos on this channel, in that case it's just stupid to assume that he's not good with knights. I've seen a lot of his training games where he does things like rerouting knights to good squares in really clever ways or letting a knight control certain key squares in endgames. He's definitely much better than any 1300 with knights. Saying that you did "knight move exercices" makes no sense, and that's not what made you a 1400. The only thing it takes to become 1400 is to not hang pieces every other move. Doing "knight move exercices" won't increase your elo with 100 points, that makes absolutely no sense. "The reason is that the rooks can't do much until the files start opening up, the queen needs support for just about everything she does" Wow GM analysis right here👏🙄. So you expect a game to happen like this: -Somehow finding a way to trade all bishops before move 10 (good luck finding an opening for that) -once only knights remain you will swarm the king with your 2 knights in a devastating attack because you're "better with knights" -you will have a +5 advantage before rooks and queens get into the game You really have no idea how this game works do you?

[@lavtekk2086]

10:50 why is it better to play fxe6 instead of fxg6 breaking the fianchetto pawn structure? Maybe because of hxg6 and opening the column for the rook?

[@richardtata667]

Love your channel

[@YourMomNDad]

Not yet done with the video but i have to say this is all well made and so easy to understand. Thank you!

[@buttsfire7660]

Am I the only one realizing the tram going up and down on the background? 5:51