Bb5 SicilianB30 – B31 / B51 – B52
White develops the bishop to b5 on move three and threatens, sooner or later, to take a knight with it. Against 2…Nc6 that is the Rossolimo: Bxc6 leaves Black with doubled c-pawns and the pair of bishops, and White plays a closed, slightly slow game with d3, h3, Nc3 and Be3 in which the doubled pawns matter more and more as pieces come off. Against 2…d6 it is a check, the Moscow, and Black has to decide which piece to put on d7 — the bishop, which is exchanged and leaves a dull, comfortable position; or the knight, which keeps pieces on but lets White open the centre with d4 while the knight is pinned. Against 2…e6 there is no bishop move at all, so the repertoire steps sideways into c3 and the Alapin. What goes wrong is playing Bxc6 without a reason and then treating the position as an ordinary one: the whole point of the trade is the structure, and White has to keep the centre closed and the pieces on long enough for the doubled pawns to be felt. Open it too early and Black's bishops are worth more than the pawns are weak.
Played by
- Magnus Carlsen — chose the Rossolimo for the 2018 title match against Caruana rather than walk into the Sveshnikov
- Bobby Fischer — 3.Bb5+ against 2…d6 was his answer to the Sicilian in the 1992 rematch with Spassky
- Fabiano Caruana — one of the players who made 3.Bb5 the elite's standard way of avoiding the Open Sicilian
Model game
Fischer – Spassky, Return match, Sveti Stefan 1992
Next: e4 — yours
