Tree path 5 levels King's Pawn Game › Sicilian Defense › Sicilian Defense › French Variation › Sicilian Defense: Delayed Alapin Variation, with e6
B40

Sicilian Defense: Delayed Alapin Variation, with e6

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Overview

Sicilian Defense: Delayed Alapin Variation, with e6 is a variation within the Semi-Open Games family, indexed as ECO B40.

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.

Play reaches this position via 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. c3, after 5 plies of opening development.

It is a variation of Sicilian Defense: French Variation, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.

It branches into 2 notable variations — Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation, Sherzer Variation, Sicilian Defense: Delayed Alapin Variation.

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
B40
Group
Semi-Open Games (B)
Plies
5
Parent
Sicilian Defense: French Variation
Direct variations
2

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

5,356,823 games · White 48.6% / Draw 5.1% / Black 46.3%

MovesGamesW / D / B
d51,952,133
Nc61,228,777
Nf6898,379
a6756,295
d6154,497
b680,845
Qc773,592
Ne753,714

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:08:41

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Variations (2)