Sicilian Taimanov and Kan: free opening course

Key ideas

• Put the queen on c7 and the pawn on a6. The queen watches e5, and the knights cannot use b5.
• Pin the c3 knight with the bishop on b4. Then the e4 pawn often needs extra help.
• Against long castling, push the b-pawn at once. Queenside play is faster than waiting.
• If White trades on c6, take back toward the centre. A pawn on d5 then gives Black a strong centre.
• Wait with the d-pawn. Often it goes to d5 in one step and frees the whole position.

The 6 variations in the course

• English Attack: 7.Qd2 and long castling: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 … — White plays Be3, Qd2 and castles long. Black pins the c3 knight with ...Bb4 and forces f3. Then the knight goes to e5 and the b-pawn races up the board.
• Classical: 7.Be2 and short castling: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 a6 … — White develops calmly and castles short. Black pins with ...Bb4, and White answers with Na4 and a knight jump to b6. Black gives the light-squared bishop for the knight and gets a strong central knight on d5.
• 5.Nxc6: the exchange on c6: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. Nc3 d5 … — White trades knights at once. Black takes back toward the centre and plays ...d5. Black gets a strong pawn centre, develops the kingside and castles.
• Kan: 5.Bd3 Bc5: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Nb3 Ba7 … — White guards e4 with the bishop. Black hits the d4 knight with ...Bc5, and the bishop settles on a7. The g8 knight goes to e7, Black castles, and ...d5 frees the game.
• Kan: 5.Nc3 Qc7 6.Be3: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3 Nf6 … — White develops the knight and the bishop and often castles long. Black puts the queen on c7, plays ...Nf6 and ...b5, and the bishop goes to b7. Black gets fast queenside play.
• Kan: 5.c4, the Maroczy set-up: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 a6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bb4 … — White grips d5 with pawns on c4 and e4. Black pins the c3 knight with ...Bb4 and adds pressure with ...Nc6. After the trade on c6, Black gains space with ...e5.

Traps you will learn (2)

• English Attack: 9.a3? Nxe4 — After 8...Bb4 White must guard e4 with f3. The natural 9.a3 attacks the bishop, but Black takes on e4 and both white knights are in trouble. Black wins the exchange and a pawn.
• Kan: the queen raid on g7 — In the 5...Bc5 Kan, White sometimes grabs the g7 pawn with the queen. Black hits back with a check on f2. If White takes the bishop with the king, a knight check forks the king and the queen.

How the opening courses work

Each course teaches an opening in a few main variations. For every move you read why it is played, which other moves are good, and which tempting moves are mistakes and why. Each course also shows the traps of the opening: the ones you can set and the ones to avoid.

After a lesson you play the moves yourself in a drill. The lines you learn go into your review, which brings them back when you are about to forget them (spaced repetition). 30 line courses add many short lines per opening, a few new ones a day, and every named opening, more than 3,800 lines, has a lesson of its own.