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Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c5/2. c3/2...d5/3. exd5

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Sicilian, Alapin
a b c d e f g h
8a8 black rookb8 black knightc8 black bishopd8 black queene8 black kingf8 black bishopg8 black knighth8 black rook8
7a7 black pawnb7 black pawnc7 black kingd7 black kinge7 black pawnf7 black pawng7 black pawnh7 black pawn7
6a6 black kingb6 black kingc6 black kingd6 black kinge6 black kingf6 black kingg6 black kingh6 black king6
5a5 black kingb5 black kingc5 black pawnd5 white pawne5 black kingf5 black kingg5 black kingh5 black king5
4a4 black kingb4 black kingc4 black kingd4 black kinge4 black kingf4 black kingg4 black kingh4 black king4
3a3 black kingb3 black kingc3 white pawnd3 black kinge3 black kingf3 black kingg3 black kingh3 black king3
2a2 white pawnb2 white pawnc2 black kingd2 white pawne2 black kingf2 white pawng2 white pawnh2 white pawn2
1a1 white rookb1 white knightc1 white bishopd1 white queene1 white kingf1 white bishopg1 white knighth1 white rook1
a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN)
Moves: 1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5

3. exd5

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The natural move; eliminating the tension in the center, while bringing Black's queen to a more vulnerable position.

Although White cannot immediately attack the Queen because of the pawn on c3, in some lines the Queen can be pinned to a captured pawn on d4 (eg. 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nf3), or become a target later down the line with moves such as c4. However, the Black Queen on d5 is often one of Black's biggest assets, as it assists in ideas such as Bg4 and is exceedingly hard to kick out before White castles.

3. exd5 is the most common move after 2. d5, followed by 2. d3 and 2. e5.

Statistics

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White win 28%, Draw 46%, Black win 26%. (Statistics taken from Lichess. Based off of 10,853 master games)