The Sicilian Defence begins 1.e4 c5 (ECO B20) and remains the most popular answer Black has to 1.e4. Instead of the symmetrical 1...e5, Black starts an asymmetrical fight at once: the pawn on c5 covers d4 and prepares counterplay on the queenside.
The idea is not to hand White the centre but to obtain active piece play. After c5 is exchanged for d4, Black has the half-open c-file for a rook. It is one of the most result-producing openings there is: Fischer, Kasparov and Carlsen all played it.
The Sicilian branches into wildly different systems - Najdorf, Dragon, Sveshnikov, Paulsen. What they share is sharpness: the initiative changes hands, and both sides are playing for a win.
Set it up on the board, move the pieces around and copy the FEN - or open the full walkthrough of the opening in a separate article.
Drag a piece onto the board, or click a piece and then click the squares. The cross beside the pieces sweeps every piece of that colour off the board, and a single piece can be dragged off the edge.
The pieces will be arranged into the chosen pattern.
It is the mating side to move. Find mate in one.
Openings, endgame positions and breakthrough studies - the set-up appears on the board.
Build your own position in the board editor, read up on the rules of chess or run a tournament on your own positions in the free app.
Everything people usually keep in a spreadsheet is already in the app: pairings, points, tie-breaks, round order. Free, with no subscriptions and no cap on the number of players.
Sign up to the Vibe Chess bot on Telegram - it carries the schedule of meetups and chess events across the cities we run in.
