I much prefer the nimzowitsch sicilian to the alekhines... I think it's just better honestly, they're about the same objectively but with the nimzowitsch there's only really 1 challenging line and it's sharp / gives opportunities, white rarely plays it right or knows it.. whereas many players do know alekhines, at least the first few moves, since it's a move 1 position.
But maybe my discounting of alekhines is evidence to your point, who knows -
You really see this kind of thing all the time where people say a line is bad and I see absolutely no reason to believe that. I was working on the alapin today and after looking at it I don't see why people consider the e6 variation bad for black. Some "alapin theorists" have said that and I took it to be true, but I don't think it's true... it usually either transposes right into the french, or it leads to a perfectly fine position... The plans are very natural... White can give you an IQP but that's not even a good move.
In contrast 2... Nf6 is very algorithmic and white encounters it in the majority of games, I wouldn't want to go into that... likewise 2... d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 - you have to know some precise queen moves, and even then it leads to a pretty restricted position, not pleasant to play. With e6 it's just a simple natural game, though it is somewhat boring and grindy. And yet I have heard many times that the only really viable moves against the alapin are 2... Nf6 or 2... d5, and that one of the major downsides of the french sicilian is that black must face the alapin...
Maybe it's based on some desire to avoid the french, but the advanced is not a challenging line. If anything I see it as a benefit that you can learn the french and play it as an offweapon, and in the process master your anti-sicilian lines.
The reason I prefer the Alekhine defense is that White is expecting to see a Silician, and while I agree that the Silician is more used at higher levels and the engine likes it more, we don't play against engines all the time. Randomly facing the Alekhione when you have no idea what to do is worse than facing a slightly better opening you have studied and played against all the time.
"The sicilian" is just an abstract term lumping together like 20 different sicilians black can play, some of which are well-trodden and theoretical, others which are rare and dubious. The nimzowitsch sicilian is seen in 1% of sicilian games... so maybe like 1 in 300 e4 games. Alekhines occurs in about 3% of e4 games, so about 1 in 30 or so... i.e. the nimzowitsch is 1/10th as frequent an occurrence as the alekhines. The nimzowitsch also occurs on move 2, so it avoids most sidelines. I assure you white is not expecting the nimzowitsch sicilian. And again, the nimzowitsch sicilian and alekhines evaluate about the same, we're not talking about engine advantages.
But at this point you're getting rare enough to where you need to stop worrying about the opponents prep and start considering how the actual position is going to play. In the nimzo sicilian... white will advance his e pawn in about half the games, but you will still have queenside space and you can just focus on undermining the e pawn. In alekhines white takes up all the space, black has to manage continued pawn advances carefully. In terms of how they're actually performing in practice - with alekhines you have white winning 1% more than black - so almost equal, it's performing well... however, the nimzo sicilian actually has black with a 4% higher score than white, it's performing extremely well. So with the nimzo it's significantly less common, your job is easier and it's just performing better is basically the situation.
In the silician, however, you don't have the same pressure against the center the Alekhine does, like in this game for example. It's really difficult for white to keep their center and they often lose their pawns, giving you a lasting advantage. Even better, you can go on kings hunts like this:
In general I've gravitated away from trying to throw the opponent off on move 1. I don't think this is as effective as people assume it is, especially as you climb in elo.. and especially if you're just playing the main lines. I know I have a basic plan against the alekhines, I think most people do... it may not be a very practiced plan but it's there. On the other hand, going a few moves deep and branching off into a good sideline, one that changes the position significantly... that works better. You will run into e4 players who know the four pawns attack line... but I think I played like 100 nimzo sicilian games and I may have encountered the main line 2-3 times.
There is not always a chance for the sideline to occur in all games. The Alekhine can be played more occur because the opponent has to play only 1.e4. Also, curious, what is your plan against the Alekhine?
Also, check out this trap in the Alekhines with Qxd4!!
There is not always a chance for the sideline to occur in all games. The Alekhine can be played more occur because the opponent has to play only 1.e4. Also, curious, what is your plan against the Alekhine?
It's a move 2 sideline that you'll reach in 65% of games... But in general yes, you do need to find interesting moves against a variety of responses the opponent can make as you go deeper.
Abstract reasoning is not really the way to approach this sort of thing.... What actual sidelines are you running into on move 2 in the sicilian? Are they worth being afraid of...? Well they all give near equality... but you have the alapin, which in our case, after 2... Nf6, leads to a position very similar to the nimzowitsch sicilian, in some cases transposing with it. You have the smith morra which can be transposed into the alapin... The lines with e6 against the closed sicilian are very good for black... and infact you can often transpose this into the nimzowitsch sicilian as well. And other than a few other rare lines that's pretty much all we have to worry about, because we diverge on move 2. The nimzowitisch sicilian probably handles the anti-sicilians better than any other sicilian.
What are whites options on move 2 in the alekhines? Well he can try to transpose that into a vienna... you can avoid it by playing an ugly boguljubov scandinavian position.
In any opening there will be sidelines, there are sidelines in alekhines, the question is how good are the lines and are there interesting ways of avoiding prep in those lines. If my opponent plays the alapain but I respond with 2... e5 which is sharp and occurs in 2% of games - well I'm already out of prep more than alekhines.
You wouldn't avoid the nimzowitsch sicilian out of fear of these few weak anti-sicilians that are already almost equal for black... you just learn the lines and you will do very well. It does take some studying, but it's really not difficult.
True, however going against the Vienna is not a death sentence. How do you play the Nimzo-Sicilian? I'm curious to see.
After pushing e5 usually white diverges from the main line early on, he can do that in a variety of ways.
This Bc4 line is not great for white but people play it -
Here's the alapin transposition -
This transposes w/ the Smith Morra Morphy Gambit -
Otherwise you often get this, which is kind of similar to the overextended pawn center of the alekhines but objectively it's alot better, almost equal already... you've traded the d pawn and your knight doesn't block the b pawn -
But instead of pushing e5 white can also play Nc3, and then you have many options of how to respond. There are ways of transposing into more mainline sicilians like the four knights or a normal sicilian, but you can also play d5 and stay within the nimzo. These lines generally score well for black -
I like the c-pawn staying put on c7 to play c6 to support the knight which will have been chased to d4 in the alekhine or help play d6 to wreck the white center and give you an advantage.
Like this:
Speaking from a clup player's perspective:
Not sure if it's the most underated... but yes, I can see the Alekhine's defense being in that category.
Kind of "off the beaten path" of opening theory, seen by many as more unsound than it really is, results in dynamic positions full of tension, full of tactical fight.
I play the Center Counter Defense (The Scandinavian to many) and I think it falls into the same categories as the Alekhine.
One of the most underrated openings as Black is the Caro-Kann Defense (1. e4 c6). While not as flashy as some other defenses like the Sicilian, it’s incredibly solid and offers Black a strong structure. The Caro-Kann allows Black to develop harmoniously, avoid early tactical traps, and challenge White’s center in a strategic way. Additionally, it often leads to endgames where Black can be quite comfortable. It may not always be a top choice for aggressive players, but for those who prefer a more patient, positional game, it’s definitely an opening worth considering.
Caro Kann is not really underrated. I believe it's well-rated for a very good opening for black. I don't think people think the caro-kann is not good.
If they do then their elo is under 1000
I actually would say the caro-kann is slightly overrated. People who play the CK are the most die-hard fans of their opening compared with french or sicilian or e4/e5 players. But there are many quite powerful kingside attacks white can mount in the CK, all defensible but black is under pressure and needs to play well. In the sicilian if I don't know a line usually I just get a positional disadvantage, it's more forgiving. The only really difficult lines are the open lines which club players avoid for whatever reason.
I used to play the Alekhine's back when I didn't know any better, then I learned there were other options and never looked back. My issue with the Alekhine's isn't just that it's weaker than the mainline defenses–although that is a part of it–but that it offers the White player so much agency in which variation is played while giving Black next to none.
If I play the Sicilian, sure, White can play the Alapin, Open, or Closed, but against each of those options you have anywhere from 2 to 20 options in response, all of them relatively sound. Meanwhile, in the Alekhine's, the only option you really have is whether to play ed or cd if White happens to choose the Exchange, and whether either of the Exchanges or a different variation is played, White always has a very strong position.
The game of chess is unique because there is no one correct opening to play. If that was the case, chess would be extremely boring and repetitive. Some openings, however, are better than others, and there are some openings that seem to fly under the radar while giving players a high win rate. Today, I wanted to share my favorite opening as the black pieces against 1.e4 by white: the Alekhine's Defense.
This defense(1..Nf6 in response to 1.e4) seems dumb at first sight but actually it makes sense when you think about it. Yes, the pawn can attack your knight, yes, they get a big pawn center. But who says that's a good thing for White? If anything, White will have the burden of defending his center for the rest of the game. Here is what to do against White's common responses.
2.Nf3
Just take the free pawn, play d5 if they don't attack your knight, and move the pony back to f6 when you do. Easy
2. Nc3 or 2.d3
Play 2..e5 and transpose into a King's Pawn game. Play like you would against the Italian or Spanish. Me personally, I prefer playing Nc6, d3, Be2, 0-0, and Be3 and getting an open f-file against the king.
I will show you what to do against 2.e5 next!