Originally posted by badivan1In non-open sicilians Black counterstrikes on the queenside or the centre.Pretty much the same as in open sicilians I guess,but I don't know anything about those.
I was wondering whether Bg4, pinning the knight at f3, in non-open Sicilians with d6 is good or bad. Any advice anyone? Any example, like the Closed Sicilian?
Anyway,I think in general Black wants to use that bishop on the queenside or the centre,thus placing it on e6,b7,a6 or c6 makes more sense than playing it to g4.Particularly in the closed sicilian the pin isn't very useful since White plays a g3-Bg2 setup when the queen is always free to step out of the pin.Unless you simply want to eliminate that knight,of course.
I did find one,rather strange,line where Bg4 is played:
1.e4,c5 2.g3,d5 3.exd5,Qxd5 4.Nf3,Bg4 5.Bg2,Qe6+ 6.Kf1,Bh3
Originally posted by badivan1If it's played to eliminate the knight I can see some point to it.Still,I'd preserve theat bishop for use in the centre or on the queenside.
Let's say 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Nc3. Let alone the bad move order by white, would Bg4 be any use?
The pin itself doesn't look useful to me: 4.h3,Bh5 5.d4,cxd4 6.Qxd4,Bxf3!? 7.gxf3 and I think White is happy with the bishop pair and the halfopen g-file.On the other hand it doesn't look so bad for Black either.Probably equal chances.Maybe you should test it out in a few traininggames.