The Ultimate Guide to the Sicilian Defence: Tier List Edition!

[@Nicken-v5q]

Thank you, all time classic video already! Would love to see a similar tier list on some other openings, for example tier list of responses to the Ruy Lopez (Berlin, Cozio, Open etc) or the Queens Gambit (Accepted, Slav, Albin etc)

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks for the idea!, might do it!

[@nickburggraaf3977]

I put this video in God Tier. Also a big shout out to Moulhun Ly and his awesome channel.

[@robwatson1617]

Here's Molton's original Sicilian tier list: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rISsiZWpbqqmq8U

[@KeepChessSimple]

Next; tier list of QGD variations or tier list of responses vs 1.d4?

[@MrSupernova111]

A masterclass! Thanks!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks very much for your generosity

[@haydenn680]

I have watched Moulhun Ly's video 200 times and now I will watch this one 300. Lets go!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Sounds good to me!

[@MrChess123]

Just opened KZbin. This timing is impeccable! As an e6 Sicilian Player (Four knights/taimanov) this feels like Christmas ❤

[@MrSupernova111]

What you think of the funny like with ...Qc7 Nb5 Qb8? I found out about it recently but haven't had a chance to employ it yet.

[@souvikporel255]

I along with hundredes of chess lover was waiting for this video for months in not years

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad you got it eventually! What else would you like to see?

[@KeepChessSimple]

Great to see some Kalashnikov love! One of the other reasons to love it is that Daniel King / Powerplaychess has a very good course/book on it, with great instructive explanations and a goldmine of instructive model games on his KZbin channels. The fixed pawn structure makes 'strategy' also a bit more easier to remember.

[@geireriknielsen]

Hi @ChessCoachAndras I love your channel and it has inspired me to strive to get better at chess, so many thanks for continuing to publish great content. One thing though, the resolution on this video is 360 and I like watching you on my TV (yes, you are on TV 😂 ) and anything below 720p is simply not watchable without hurting my eyes these days. Keep up with the fabulous lessons.

[@TikariChess]

One of your best videos, and there are a lot to choose from!

[@tomas.c5276]

Tier list videos always rock!

[@javarrmen49]

This goes, directly, to the MUST library

[@eschiedler]

Fantastic Sicilian Lecture. Felt like I got a complete intro overview. 👨‍💻 I really enjoy great chess lectures. Unfortunately, I'm awful at chess and have pretty much plateau-ed.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

I am very glad you liked it.

[@wojciechwrobel1167]

Hyperaccelerated dragon allows e4 c5 Nf3 g6 d4 cxd Qxd4 Nf6 e5 with some crazy complications, black's knight is pushed around but e5 pawn is kinda weak

[@Grandcapi]

Excellent!

[@simonhinkel4086]

Wow that was awesome :) suggesting the same for 1. e4 e5 openings.

[@makerKID5]

This is a must watch!

[@mariogarciagonzalez4692]

The best video (opening-based) of your channel, man! No doubt! I have a tournament in a couple of months and I wanted to give the Sicilian a shot; I'll definitely do after watching this video. Thank you sir! Could you please make some videos in the future on how to play the "God" and the "Champion" variations? I would be delighted if I see a popup in my phone with a video of yours covering any of them :)

[@HighlyCruciferous]

Quinteros Sicilian overlooked as usual ^^

[@Katana-y3v]

God Tier KZbinr Coach!

[@gewetz1048]

Great Video like usual. But besides the 360p thing you forgot to mention the Löwenthal.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Great point! Sadly cant fix the 360 but figured out what I did there so wont happen again!

[@dobry_brek]

Well, this was instructive and fun. I feel motivated to now learn other Sicilians than Accelerated Dragon.❤

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Go for it!

[@MW2hairbeRt]

Hey Andras, nice video! Just wanted to let you know this video and the one about your game with Navara are uploaded in 360p

[@chrishowald601]

Loved this video! Could we get one on e4-e5 gambits?

[@Theblueduck123]

Will you do a vídeo on how to play the classical sicilian?

[@danielholta5721]

Tierlist! Must watch

[@bustermadman8061]

23:44 Here the line you show is an old line I remember too!, but nowadays, it's not the cleanest "refutation" of that sicilian. Intead 5. Be3 Qb6 6. Na3! gives black some serious problems, since, unsurprisingly, white gets plenty of play for the b2 pawn, and if you don't take it white gets a fairly easy advantage after 6... Qa5 7. Bd2 Qd8 8. Nb3! Nc6 9.Qg4. Bishop pair and weak darksquares for black, things are not looking good for em. 5. Nb3 also scores well for white in correspondence, but I don't know anything about that line.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Yes, very good point

[@joeldick6871]

S: Najdorf, Sveshnikov A: Dragon, Taimanov, Kan, Classical B: Accelerated Dragon, O'Kelly, Four Knights C: Scheveningen, Löwenthal, Pin Variation D: Nimzowitsch, Kupreichik, Lady Godiva

[@joeldick6871]

I feel like I need to explain, because I put some very good variations in B and C that some people might be very devoted to. B and C are good marks. They don't mean those variations are bad, just that they're not S and A tier. My system is as follows: S is reserved for the very best - used by the very best players, engine approved, fight for a win, and have strategic and historical significance A also means that, except that they don't quite rise to the level of S. B are good starter Sicilians that are also completely sound, but don't quite have the same weight as S and A. C are good, but they each have a downside that modern theory has discovered so can get you into trouble if your opponent knows how to take it into the most critical lines. D are the ones that aren't quite worth the effort.

[@acsu96]

Nice video! I think it could be worth discussing Anti-Sicilians as black (ie how you view 2…d6 against delayed Alapin vs 2…Nc6, and so on) as a companion to this one - since in my tournament play I think I only get open sicilians 40% of the time, and anyone choosing a line will have to weigh their move orders against the various non Open sicilians

[@calmsyy]

why's the video only available in 360p?😅

[@ChessCoachAndras]

I made a mistake in OBS when I recorded it, apologies

[@janjan2731]

Everybody struggles with pronouncing Scheveningen As a Dutchman i like this clip of GMs taking a shot. Giri nails it as a Dutchie Greetz Lazker! kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3fOeJxngbqLq5Ysi=iZONnpC8xQtKQKjM

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Got your message on dotcom. Funny AS

[@janjan2731]

😂

[@bluechicken7457]

Where Alapin? I expected to see it considering its feature on your 1. e4 chessable course

[@burgerdonalds]

This video only covers responses from Black, and doesn't cover any anti-Sicilians.

[@Leo-zu5yl]

Any chance of an open sicilian chessable course (as White)?

[@Aequinocticum]

Hello, Andras! Thanks for your videos. It’s amazing to have such instructional content for free. Appreciate your work a lot. I have a question regarding your opening philosophy. In many of your videos, you said that improving players should play rich openings with a huge amount of structures, plans, ideas, etc. In one of your old videos dedicated to openings, you go for Ruy as your number one choice against e4 e5. However, even in the current video, you mentioned the huge variety of different structures as a downside (speaking about kan). And that makes sense. It can be very hard to navigate yourself in that ocean of different variations, like in Ruy, for example, where lots of branches feel like independent openings. So, my question is: if playing repetitive stuff like london or other systematic openings is harmful for chess development, and openings with huge amounts of structures are the most rewarding, why not just play everything? Why should we stick with one 'rich' opening, instead of playing everything, since we want to play various structures anyway? Of course, no one is forced to play one opening till the end of the world, but I hope you get the point. The answer seems obvious: if you’re playing everything and you’re not a professional GM (or, at least, just a strong titled player), most likely your performance won’t be great at all. So, where is the middle ground between generic stuff like london and incredibly complicated things, like, for example, Ruy, or, even, as I wrote earlier, playing many different openings? Maybe amateurs should play something in between? What do you think? I’m sorry if this is written poorly. English isn’t my best.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Great question! my issue with playing everything is that it is incredibly difficult to learn even basic level of ideas, patterns, etc that way.

[@doctorh1llbilly]

Ahh, I love the the good old Skeveningegegenginin

[@FerdinandCatabay-v9p]

I only used. Godiva/kveinis/o kelly/ bucker/katalimov..

[@burgerdonalds]

Nice video! I have two remarks about two of the openings, in which I have experience: The Dragon and the Four Knights The Dragon: The fundamental reason this is not played at a higher level more often, at least in my understanding, is the following line: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. O-O-O d5 10. exd5 Nxd5 11. Nxc6 bxc6 12. Bd4! The resulting lines give Black very few chances to attack and the game goes into a positional middlegame, often endgames as well. These endgames are thought to be two-sided (White wins or draws), and thus Black's position is really not desirable to play. For example, see the game: Swiercz, D. vs Naroditsky, D. 2021. The Four Knights: You missed one line, the most critical line along the Sveshnikov transposition. The line goes: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8. Ne4 Qc7 9. f4 Qb6 10. c4 Bb4+ 11. Ke2 f5 The positions gets very crazy and modern, ultimately because engines played a huge role in the development of the theory. I had games in this exact line with both colors and if you know the plans and ideas in this very crazy position, then I think you're gonna have some fun! For example: The White King often stays completely in the centre (d1 or f3), which Black tries to exploit with g5 ideas, as well as with d5 breaks in the centre. White on the other hand tries to get the King into safety, play against the backward pawn on d7 and go into a better endgame with more space.

[@MrSupernova111]

Bro, that's awesome research! I recently starting using databases to build my repertoire from scratch. I arrived at the same line you listed in the Dragon. Thanks for the model game with Danya. I'll bookmark it for reference. In the Four Knights I saw that instead of 6. Nxc6 white can play 6. Nb5 going in a completely different direction. What are your thoughts about the Nb5 line? Thanks!

[@ChiicoLachowskii]

I play the four knights and that line ruins it for me cuz its literally like 30 only moves u have to remember, otherwise the opening is basically perfect to me But ive only ever had like 3 out of 2000 people play it against me so 🤷🏽‍♀️

[@burgerdonalds]

@MrSupernova111 Thanks! About Nb5: András already mentioned this in the video, but Black has two options: d6 and Bb4. The latter goes into a rather dull middle game or endgame. (I can provide some lines if necessary.) There's also a crazy line after Bb4 starting with Bf4, which is completely bananas. If you choose to play d6, then White plays Bf4 (there are some other moves but they're nowhere near critical or often played) and you transpose the Sveshnikov after e5, Bg5. One extra tempo on both sides but this doesn't make a difference. I enjoy the Sveshnikov, so I'm happy to play d6. Obviously lot of theory, but something for something I guess. A remark on the move order: You can play both 2.Nc6 and 2.e6 to get into the Four Knights Sicilian. I choose the e6 Variation. Namely, there's: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 and 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Nf6 Here are some pros and cons to both of them. (I might be a little biased to 2.e6) Pros of 2.e6: In contrast to 2.Nc6, White can't choose to go into the Rossolimo with 2.Bb5, which arguably is the critical try against 2.Nc6. Through e6 you avoid all of this and you don't have to be booked up in the Rossolimo. Another pro is that you avoid another critical line in the Sveshnikov transposition, namely 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Nd5 This line was actually heavily used in the 2018 WCC between Magnus and Fabi. The only con that I'm aware of 2.e6 is that anti-Sicilians like the Grand Prix, 2. b3, Nf3 followed by g3 and the Alapin are somewhat better against 2.e6, since in the anti-Sicilian Black doesn't always play e6, but Nc6 almost always. Pros of Nc6: Essentially the same as mentioned above. You might want to play the Rossolimo as Black, since it gives you a wide range of structures and a very interesting positional struggle. Also, the anti-Sicilians aren't as successful against 2.Nc6 (see above for more details). Cons of Nc6: Allowing the Rossolimo and the above mentioned line in the Sveshnikov. As you can see both Nc6 and e6 have pros and cons, and it is up to you whether you for example enjoy playing the Rossolimo or not as Black. I don't (I also use the Rossolimo as White against 2.Nc6, because I don't like playing against the Sveshnikov with White), hence I choose the 2.e6 move order. If you got any more questions, feel free to ask!

[@burgerdonalds]

​@@ChiicoLachowskii Yes, in my opinion it's also one of the critical lines. (The other being the Sveshnikov transposition.) I get this line quite often, but the position is objectively equal, altough quite crazy. If you know the plans, common ideas and motives, (which can only be acquired through lots and lots of games) then you should be able to outplay most of the opponents, who just 'mindlessly' go into the line not knowing the motives and themes. Also it's great fun to play it! With both colors!

[@marcofrey2903]

@@ChiicoLachowskii So what? There's an annoying line to face in almost any black opening--at least in this one there are only two. And almost NO ONE knows these lines below 2000. If 90% of your games have really easy or even better positions why not?! I play the Accelerated Dragon and it's the same--there are basically 2 or 3 annoying lines but I usually know them better than my opponents. Otherwise I get a great attacking game.

[@bluefin.64]

Ben Finegold just published a course on the Neo-Boleslavsky, which suggested there must be a Boleslavsky, and so there is. Sielecki has a course on the so called Dirty Harry, although it sounds like it's intended to be no more than a blitz weapon. You have to wonder how many obscure variations there are that never get mentioned. BTW, Kostya Kavutskiy also recommend the Dragon for club players, because of it's tactical richness. I used to play it, and had blitz sessions with a regular opponent who also played it. Every game between us was a Dragon, and it was immense fun.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Yea i surely missed a few. ANd yes, the Dragon is fun!

[@vivekchalasani]

Wing Gambit?

[@ChessCoachAndras]

we discussed the Black lines, not the White ones...:)

[@ivanmoya7011]

Ok but in Najdorf you tend to give too much time to White. Difficult tomplay for a beginner

[@fishdeeck71]

Meanwhile… O’Kelly is my main Sicilian lol

[@ChessCoachAndras]

@@fishdeeck71 depending on your level it may be perfectly sufficient

[@siraf1234]

19:29 Hello Coach, the best move is actually Nxc6 bxc6 and e5. I assume you forgot to mention it, but allowing black to go into the dreaded sveshnikov isn't considered critical at all according to modern theory.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

yea I forgot.

[@michaelf8221]

I would put najdorf, sveshnikov, and taimanov at god tier. Dragon, 4 knights, classical, and Kalashnikov are respectable. Kan, accelerated dragon, and scheveningen are meh. O'kelly and other odd ones are not to be recommended.

[@michaelf8221]

And I say this as someone who plays the Kan as my main repertoire!

[@NON_biodegradable]

Bro you literally have a comment on every Andras video hell of a chesshead 😂😂

[@michaelf8221]

@@NON_biodegradable I don't miss a single one haha

[@HagedornL424]

Hi to everyone and of course especially to Andras! In this video you talk about the best Sicilian lines for beginners and for advanced players. The last line you talk about is the Kalashnikov and it seems that you like it although you prefer other lines. You say that Black by playing it must be able to face the Maroczy Bind setup and this is not easy to do. However, in a video of a lot of years ago (The Amateur's Mind #3 A big rant about how to choose opening lines), you advised against the Kalashnikov for beginners because its structure is very rigid. Do you think that there is a contraddiction between the two videos? In this one you seem to advise against other lines, such as the Katalimov or the Nimzowitsch. Thanks,

[@Herschel3991]

I hope the taimanov will be god tier, otherwise I am gonna be upset

[@zxien1]

Must be pretty upset lol. I am too since he contradicted himself. He put it lower because there are too many things you need to know, but then goes and puts the Najdorf and classical Sicilian in god tier despite having those same problems. Also, the classical has a big problem against the Rauzer *Signed by: A former Classical Sicilian player*

[@ferguson1376]

Eric Hansen’s Kan 😫

[@paulius2107]

past couple of videos been on a poor 360p quality, please fix it @ChessCoach Andras

[@BundyChess]

Yea, I just noticed it myself. Very annoying indeed!

[@kerl89]

In the four knights you forgot that Ndb5 isnt the only move. There is the whole Nxc6 bxc6 e5 Nd5 Ne4 topical stuff and there is also the nice try with 6. a3 which has seen quite some play recently. So it isnt quite as narrow as you make it out to be.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Yep, was pointed out by a fair few peeps already..:)

[@GigaShiv]

Need both a white and black rep, im a struggling fide 1580 need something fresh My calculation and tactics are sharp but strategy is not there

[@MrChess123]

Try the 4 Knights Sicilian for black. The positions are tactically crazy, theory is quite low-moderate (you can play trappy sidelines, like e4 c5 nf3 e6 d4 cxd4 nxd4 nf6 nc3 nc6 ndb5 bc5!) and basically it is nowhere near positional.😊

[@burgerdonalds]

@@MrChess123 I play the Four Knights Sicilian as well and it is a loads of fun! Crazy lines, often very pleasant pawn structure, especially if your opponent doesn't know what to do. I've had multiple games online (blitz and rapid), where I outplayed strong players (2200+), who simply played logical moves, essentially without breaking a sweat. And this is not because I'm a great player! The positions often just play themselves! However, after Ndb5 I transpose into the Sveshnikov, because it fits well with some of the lines of the Four Knight's (I'm thinking about the Nxc6, e5 lines) in terms of dynamical, aggressive and unbalanced chess.

[@FerdinandCatabay-v9p]

You forgot sicilian bucker?😂

[@cmdrfun]

I've been playing the 4 Knights for a while based on the Sielecki course. My assessment would be about the same as yours. White's "best" lines are either boring or hard to play for Black. I actually think that when White plays e5 and then Ne4 in some variations can be harder to deal with for Black, lots of only moves and can easily end up very cramped.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

yes, I forgot to mention the Nxc6 e5 line, which is perhaps the most problematic.

[@ZimK230]

Hyperaccelerated dragon > taimanov ? Oh boy you are a criminal Andras 😂

[@robwatson1617]

One advantage of the Hyeraccelerated Dragon is that black can (kinda) avoid the Maroczy Bind by playing 4...Nf6 and after 5.Nc3 Nf6 only then play ...Bg7, etc. It can also then transpose to the Accelerated Dragon, the regular Dragon or the Dragondorf if one wants.

[@ZimK230]

@robwatson1617 still, the taimanov is absolutely sound and a great solid weapon used at high level since many many years, its nowhere close to the hyperaccalerated

[@doctorh1llbilly]

Ahh, I love the the good old Skeveningegegenginin

[@acsu96]

Nice video! I think it could be worth discussing Anti-Sicilians as black (ie how you view 2…d6 against delayed Alapin vs 2…Nc6, and so on) as a companion to this one - since in my tournament play I think I only get open sicilians 40% of the time, and anyone choosing a line will have to weigh their move orders against the various non Open sicilians