The Cowboy Attack: 2. b3 Sicilian

Corral 'em with the Cowboy Attack

Surprising Sicilian players. It's often a useful strategy for an opening that requires a lot of study. And a pretty good strategy in any opening if executed successfully.

The Cowboy Attack: 2. b3 Sicilian gives you an offbeat opening that comes as an immediate surprise for nearly all Sicilian players. Until now there has been virtually no resource on the opening.

It's rare… it's provocative, and it's easy to learn. And it's so good it's been used by top-level players.

And it's successful because it adheres to the following three criteria:

♞ You drag your opponent into unknown territory

♞ You have a main idea that enables you to fight for an advantage

♞ You have a sound position out of the opening

Sounds pretty good, right? So what's the Cowboy Attack all about?

After 1.e4 c5 you go for an immediate fianchetto of your dark-square bishop with 2.b3. You get an incredibly rich opening with a wide range of possible ensuing positions.

Play simply and strategically, shaping the game to get the types of positions you want.

Let your aggressive wrangling cowboy spirit free with several ways to strike at Black's position.

2.b3 is highly flexible and allows you to avoid the theoretical Open Sicilian. Black has several setups, and this course goes over all of them so you will be able to outwit any Sicilian player and dismantle their position.

A typical set-up in the Cowboy Attack. Two powerful bishops!

This solid opening is one of the most underrated and underplayed responses to 1…c5, being played in only around 1% of games!

Concretely, the Cowboy attack will have you:

🤠Center the game around the fight for the e5 square - you control this square from afar with your fianchettoed dark-square bishop

🤠 Maintain flexibility and hold off on a central pawn break - after 2…Nc6 3.Bb2 e6, you force Black to show their cards before executing a d2-d4 pawn push

🤠Activate both bishops and pin Black's knight on c6 after 2…Nc6 3.Bb2 d6 4.Bb5 - giving you a Rossolimo-style setup

🤠Learn plans for all second moves by Black - 2…Nf6, …d6, …g6, …b6, and …d5

Throw all you have at it to win key central battles!

Play your best chess by being prepared better

Authors FM Selim Citak and Sabri Can Onay Yontar have developed this first-of-its-kind course to battle Sicilian players in a strategic dance. Given that this is an opening rarely played, with just a bit of study, you will be outplaying Sicilian players as they come to the board unprepared for 2.b3.

If you're ready to play like a cowboy and take Sicilian players into uncharted territory, you'll want to pick up The Cowboy Attack: 2. b3 Sicilian, today!