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Beat the Sicilian: Alapin - 2...d5 Center Strike

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2...d5 Center Strike: position after 1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 Nc6
Position after 5... Nc6

Main line

The chapter's main line, with the comments from the course.

  1. 1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5

    Black strikes the center immediately, one of the most aggressive tries against our setup. We'll capture and get a nice lead in development.

  2. 3. exd5

    Forced capture. Anything else gives Black a huge pawn center for free.

  3. 3... Qxd5 4. d4

    We seize the center before Black can play e5. Watch out for tactics against that loose c5 pawn too.

  4. 4... cxd4

    Black just walked into our trap! Knight to c3 next, hitting the queen with tempo.

  5. 5. cxd4 Nc6

    This transposes to an earlier line. 1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.cxd4 d5 5.exd5 Qxd5

Key lines

The free lines of this chapter, each one trainable move by move.

  1. Main Line

    1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 Nc6

  2. 3...Nf6

    1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Nf6 4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. Bxd7+ Qxd7 6. c4 e6 7. dxe6 Qxe6+ 8. Qe2

  3. 4...Nf6

    1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Na3 Nc6 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Nb5 Qd8 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Bxd4

  4. 4...Nf6

    1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Na3 a6 7. Nc4 Nbd7 8. Be2 b5 9. Nfd2 Rb8 10. Bf3 Qf5 11. Na5

  5. 4...Nf6

    1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. Nbd2 e6 7. Qb3 Qxb3 8. axb3 Nc6 9. Bb5

  6. 4...Nc6

    1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. dxc5 Qxd1+ 7. Kxd1 e5 8. b4 e4 9. h3 Bh5 10. g4

  7. 4...e6

    1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 e6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. Na3 Nc6 7. Be3 cxd4 8. Nb5 Qd8 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Bxd4

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