Pros: Unbalances the game Gives Black good chances of attack Great opening when you need to play for a win Cons: Black takes control of the d4 square with a pawn from the side - thus he imbalances the position and avoids giving White a central target. The Sicilian is one of the major answers to 1.e4. The great French player and theoretician André Danican Philidoropined of the Sicilian in 1777, "This way of opening the game ... is absolutely defensive, and very far from being the be… The Sicilian Defense is a chess opening. The Sicilian Defence was analysed by Giulio Polerio in his 1594 manuscript on chess, though he did not use the term "Sicilian Defence". It was later the subject of analyses by leading players of the day Alessandro Salvio (1604), Don Pietro Carrera (c. 1617), and Gioachino Greco (1623), and later Conte Carlo Francesco Cozio (c. 1740). Why Play The Sicilian Defense The Sicilian Defense is the most common response to 1. e4. By advancing the c-pawn at the first move, Black creates an … Favored by all-time greats Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov, the Najdorf (5 … a6) is currently the most popular system of the Sicilian Defense and often referred to as the “Rolls-Royce of openings.” By placing a pawn on a6, black neatly defuses white’s knights and light-squared bishop, which could otherwise check from b5.