Sicilian Defense

1.e4 c5

The Sicilian Defense is a very popular response to 1. e4. Here black immediately controls the d4 square. Eventually he would like to trade off the c pawn for whites d pawn. This would give black an extra central pawn which could lead to a dominating center. I normally play some variation of the Sicilian as black and respond to the Sicilian with 2...f4 as white.

Tal Gambit Declined
I regularly find myself in this position as white. Jeremy Silman claims this is better for black, it may very well be, but I feel comfortable with white pieces. I really like the fact that I have made good use of my normally weak f pawn.

Wikipedia Sicilian
The wikipedia page for the Sicilian isn't nearly as robust as its page for the Ruy Lopez. Never the less, it does display most of the main lines in the Sicilian. (Dragon, Najdorf, Classical, Scheveningen, Moscow...)

Combating The Sicilian Dragon
This is a two part series by Jeremy Silman offering practical advice from whites position. If you keep getting eaten by the dragon this is definately worth checking out.

Yugoslav Attack
I used to play this position with white. I also see it sometimes as black, although usually not by design...I really should study the dragon more. This is a little statistical data on the Yugoslav Attack that I find somewhat interesting. Out of 417 games white won 42.4% of the matches.

Sicilian Defense Games
This is an interesting set of games by a user from ChessGames.com.

Sicilian Variations
This is a pretty extensive resource explaining 16 different variations.

Ruy Lopez

1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 Nc6, 3. Bb5

The Ruy Lopez (Spanish Game) used to be one of the most popular openings in chess. I don't personally play the position very often. I generally like controlling the center earier with a d4 or f4 move. That doesn't mean my opening is any stronger than the Ruy Lopez. Its just a matter of preference.

Ruy Lopez Trend
ChessGames.com plots opening popularity over time. Back in the 70’s this opening was played about 14 times every 1,000 games. That’s quite a bit considering how many variations can arise 3 moves deep. Today the Ruy Lopez is played less than once per 1,000 matches.

Ruy Lopez Wikipedia
The wikipedia offers quite a few ways to deal with the Ruy, such as the basic exchange variation and the Morphy Defense. I think the Marshall Attack looks promising but I haven’t studied the opening enough to have a real preference. I would probably start with 3...a6 (Morphy Defense) and take it from there.

Ruy Lopez Games
More variations...if you click on a game you are taken to a huge database of games played with that variation.

Opening Ideas
If you scroll down you will see a section called 'Want to Improve? Play the Ruy Lopez'. This talks about how GM Nigel Davies took his game to a new level by playing the opening. This is interesting. I regularly find myself playing the same robotic openings. Maybe I should faze those out for now and pick up a new set.