Caissa Codex
Tree path 8 levels King's Pawn Game › Sicilian Defense › Sicilian Defense › Old Sicilian › Sicilian Defense: Open › Sicilian Defense: Open › Sicilian Defense: Open › Sicilian Defense: Open
  1. Caissa Codex
  2. King's Pawn Game B00
  3. Sicilian Defense B20
  4. Sicilian Defense B27
  5. Old Sicilian B30
  6. Sicilian Defense: Open B32
  7. Sicilian Defense: Open B32
  8. Sicilian Defense: Open B32
  9. Sicilian Defense: Open B33 you are here
B33

Sicilian Defense: Open

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Overview

Sicilian Defense: Open is a variation within the Semi-Open Games family, indexed as ECO B33.

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 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6, after 8 plies of opening development.

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

It is the root of 14 named variations, with Sicilian Defense: Boleslavsky Variation, Sicilian Defense: Boleslavsky Variation, Louma Variation, Sicilian Defense: Classical Variation, Anti-Sozin Variation, and others among the most studied.

In total, the branch covers 29 sub-variations across all depths.

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
B33
Group
Semi-Open Games (B)
Plies
8
Parent
Sicilian Defense: Open
Direct variations
14
Total in subtree
29

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

8,634,647 games · White 46.2% / Draw 5.5% / Black 48.3%

MovesGamesW / D / B
Nc37,091,650
Nxc61,156,159
f3222,468
Bc429,391
e524,914
Be321,583
Bd314,007
Bb513,765

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:48:23

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Variations (14)

Related variations at the same level

Sister lines that share the same parent Sicilian Defense: Open:

Show all 29 sub-variations (full subtree)

https://chesscodex.org/openings/sicilian-defense-open-4