Tree path 2 levels King's Pawn Game › Sicilian Defense
- Chess Codex
- King's Pawn Game B00
- Sicilian Defense B20 you are here
Sicilian Defense
Overview
Sicilian Defense is a variation within the Semi-Open Games family, indexed as ECO B20.
The Semi-Open Games group covers semi-open games — replies to 1.e4 where Black declines the symmetrical 1…e5 in favour of an asymmetric pawn structure.
The line arises from 2 plies — specifically the moves 1. e4 c5.
It is a direct variation of King's Pawn Game.
It is the root of 20 named variations, with Sicilian Defense, Alapin Variation, Amazon Attack, and others among the most studied.
Across every depth of the tree this branch holds 388 documented sub-variations, reflecting decades of analytical work.
Step through the moves on the interactive board below, review the live Lichess statistics, or play this position against Stockfish at one of six difficulty levels.
- ECO code
- B20
- Group
- Semi-Open Games (B)
- Plies
- 2
- Parent
- King's Pawn Game
- Direct variations
- 20
- Total in subtree
- 388
This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.
Statistics from Lichess
366,614,827 games · White 47.8% / Draw 4.8% / Black 47.4%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Nf3 | 209,140,943 | |
| Nc3 | 32,907,810 | |
| Bc4 | 28,718,087 | |
| d4 | 26,849,971 | |
| c3 | 21,785,758 | |
| f4 | 19,536,026 | |
| d3 | 6,544,710 | |
| c4 | 4,543,555 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-25 16:05:05
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Variations (20)
- B27 Sicilian Defense
- B22 Alapin Variation
- B20 Amazon Attack
- B20 Big Clamp Formation
- B20 Bowdler Attack
- B20 Brick Variation
- B23 Closed
- B20 Czerniak Attack
- B20 Grob Variation
- B20 Keres Variation
- B20 King David's Opening
- B20 Kronberger Variation
- B20 Lasker-Dunne Attack
- B21 McDonnell Attack
- B20 Mengarini Variation
- B20 Myers Attack, with a4
- B20 Myers Attack, with h4
- B21 Smith-Morra Gambit
- B20 Staunton-Cochrane Variation
- B20 Wing Gambit
Show all 388 sub-variations (full subtree)
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