Tree path 3 levels King's Pawn Game › Sicilian Defense › Sicilian Defense
- Chess Codex
- King's Pawn Game B00
- Sicilian Defense B20
- Sicilian Defense B27 you are here
Sicilian Defense
Overview
Sicilian Defense is a variation within the Semi-Open Games family, indexed as ECO B27.
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.
It begins with 3 plies and takes 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 to reach the canonical position.
It is a variation of Sicilian Defense, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.
It is the root of 13 named variations, with Brussels Gambit, Bücker Variation, French Variation, and others among the most studied.
Across every depth of the tree this branch holds 294 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
- B27
- Group
- Semi-Open Games (B)
- Plies
- 3
- Parent
- Sicilian Defense
- Direct variations
- 13
- Total in subtree
- 294
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
210,455,240 games · White 47.8% / Draw 5.0% / Black 47.2%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Nc6 | 86,890,320 | |
| d6 | 69,239,131 | |
| e6 | 35,911,345 | |
| g6 | 10,165,453 | |
| a6 | 4,678,931 | |
| Nf6 | 1,510,354 | |
| d5 | 713,206 | |
| b6 | 653,042 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 00:53:26
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Variations (13)
Show all 294 sub-variations (full subtree)
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