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There is an uncommon variation in the c3 sicilian where white recaptures on d4 with his queen instead of the pawn (something along the lines of 1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.d4 cxd4 6. Qxd4... )

It is a bit wierd but seems ok for white, but I wondered if it has been christened or still just one of those oddball sidelines that remains unnamed?

Joey Stewart wrote:There is an uncommon variation in the c3 sicilian where white recaptures on d4 with his queen instead of the pawn (something along the lines of 1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.d4 cxd4 6. Qxd4... )

It is a bit wierd but seems ok for white, but I wondered if it has been christened or still just one of those oddball sidelines that remains unnamed?

I believe the common term for 6. Qxd4 is a "horrendous blunder".

Yeah, maybe that is why that version never made the mainstream theory....

Just checked it out in a database and it actually goes 1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 cxd4 5.Qxd4 e6 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Qe5 f5

Joey Stewart wrote: It is a bit wierd but seems ok for white, but I wondered if it has been christened or still just one of those oddball sidelines that remains unnamed?

The sequence 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 has been played a few times. Black plays .. e6 and .. Nc6 and the queen moves to e4.

I wouldn't associate any particular name with it, although notorious Yugoslav player Matulovic was one of the first to play it regularly. Bronstein played it as well, but like Nimzowitsch, you can associate his name with almost everything.

An amusing statisctic for this opening, at least in chessgames.com, is that it has a 100% draw rate!

I think Karpov played this against Miles in The Master Game?

Actually it was Hort - Miles:

[Event "BBC TV Master Game, Series 4"] [Site "London, England"] [Date "1979.??.??"] [Round "2"] [White "Hort, Vlastimil"] [Black "Miles, Tony"] [Result "1-0"] [PlyCount "69"] 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 e6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. Qe4 f5 8. exf6 Nxf6 9. Qh4 e5 10. Bg5 (10. Bd3 $2 e4 11. Bxe4 Qe7 12. O-O Nxe4 $19) 10... d5 11. Bb5 Bd6 12. c4 O-O 13. O-O e4 14. cxd5 exf3 (14... Ne7 15. Bxf6 exf3) 15. dxc6 fxg2 16. Kxg2 bxc6 17. Bc4+ (17. Bxc6 $2 Rb8 18. Nd2 Rb4 $40) 17... Kh8 18. Nc3 Qc7 19. Rad1 Bb7 $6 (19... Bf5 $15) 20. Bd3 Rad8 21. Bf5 Be5 $2 { Diagram #} 22. Bxh7 c5+ 23. f3 Rd4 24. Rxd4 cxd4 25. Bf5+ Kg8 26. Be6+ Rf7 27. Ne4 Qc6 28. Nxf6+ gxf6 29. Bxf6 Qc2+ 30. Kh1 Bxf3+ 31. Rxf3 Qd1+ 32. Kg2 Qc2+ 33. Qf2 Qg6+ 34. Rg3 $1 Bxg3 35. Qxg3 1-0

ooo, so it is possible for white to win. I bet miles was annoyed at losing to a punk like that.

Roger de Coverly wrote: I wouldn't associate any particular name with it

I'd just call it a Sicilian Alapin (ie 2.c3) myself; the same position can be reached by 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Qxd4 so one could call it Morra Gambit declined, I suppose!

Joey Stewart wrote:ooo, so it is possible for white to win. I bet miles was annoyed at losing to a punk like that.

Actually Miles had a very poor record against Hort up till 1983 when they drew an exhibition match 5-5. And Hort had played 2.c3 several times before with good results, so Miles would not have been surprised by it.

I suspect that not many Dragon players welcome seeing 2.c3 on the board, though!

I think that the variation isn't very good though I have never had a punk play it against me!

Francis