Best Anti-Sicilian Courses for White

If you play 1.e4 and want to avoid the Open Sicilian, the simplest single answer to learn, by coaching convention, is the Alapin (2.c3), and Svitlana Demchenko's ChessBase course (€39.90, 6h 22m) is the best-documented one because it is organised by Black's second move. If you prefer 2.Nf3 and 3.Bb5, Jan Werle's Rossolimo and Moscow bundle (€54.90, 13.5 hours) has the fullest line list, but you will still need a plan against 2...e6. Each price was read on 8 November 2026.

ChessCourseFinder has not joined any affiliate program, so links here earn nothing today. Read our affiliate disclosure.

Test depth: Public information only. Nobody at ChessCourseFinder has taken these courses. This page is based on published documentation, pricing and reports read on 8 November 2026. How we review explains the limits.

How we picked

The decision on this page is which anti-Sicilian to play, then which course teaches it. We kept courses where a public page lists what they cover. Earlier research counted 16 paid anti-Sicilian courses for White. ChessBase's Sicilian listing alone shows at least nine short €9.90 titles aimed at White, and Modern Chess sells further titles, so treat that count as a rough lower bound; Chessable's pages could not be read directly. Courses for Black against the anti-Sicilians are left out; the general Sicilian page pairs those with each Black line, and the Najdorf and Dragon pages deal with the Open Sicilian from Black's side.

Do you need a course at your level?

Often no. The conventional case for an anti-Sicilian is that it avoids the large body of Open Sicilian theory, so one system plus free resources can serve you for years. A course earns its price when you cannot find a clear answer to Black's second-move choices in your own games. Be sceptical of promises about results: a USCF Sales blog (a chess retailer) says Lichess data for ratings 1000-2200 show anti-Sicilians scoring better for White than the Open Sicilian, but the White win rates it tabulates are 48% for the Open Sicilian against 50% to 51% for the Alapin, Grand Prix and Smith-Morra, with no sample sizes given. That tells you nothing about what you personally would score.

Which anti-Sicilian: the decision aid

The theory loads are received coaching wisdom, not seller claims or measured results.

If your priority is the least to learn, the Alapin wins on structure because you need one system whatever Black's second move is. If you prefer pieces and long manoeuvring, the Rossolimo and Moscow suit that, at the cost of keeping a second system in reserve. If you want tactics and accept risk, the Smith-Morra and Grand Prix are the usual choices, and they are the ones the page-read courses cover least.

Move orders that change what you are buying

Anti-Sicilians are full of move-order traps, and they are the main reason a single course can leave you stranded.

• The 3.Bb5 systems depend on Black's second move. After 2.Nf3 e6, White has no Rossolimo. D'Costa and Murphy answer with 3.g3 or 3.b3, and Modern Chess's Roiz series has a separate course on 2...e6 3.c3. Whatever you pick, a Rossolimo-only repertoire is not a complete answer to 1...c5.
• 2.Nf3 lets Black choose 2...g6, 2...a6 or 2...Nf6. Roiz's Beat the Rare Sicilian Lines (€79, 2 hours) exists because of this and is organised around exactly those moves.
• 2.Nc3 is a move order, not one system. Modern Chess's practical repertoire uses it to reach 2...d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 and 2...Nc6 3.Bb5 positions, which are nothing like a Closed Sicilian. Read which plan a "2.Nc3" course intends.
• The Smith-Morra can become an Alapin. After 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 you have an Alapin-type position, which is why Pert's Black course on ChessBase treats the Morra under its Alapin section. A Morra player needs to know those positions.
• 2.Nc3 can transpose back. A later Nf3 and d4 can land you in an ordinary Open Sicilian, so a course that is vague about your intended follow-up may leave you with the theory you hoped to avoid.

The choice is practical as well as theoretical. On Lichess's Sicilian page, read on 8 November 2026 with its default filters, 2.Nf3 was played in 54% of games after 1.e4 c5, 2.Nc3 in 10%, 2.d4 in 9%, 2.c3 in 5% and 2.f4 in 5%. These are online games of mixed speed, so they do not measure what suits you, but they show how many players take the 2.Nf3 road. The usual coaching argument for 2.c3 is that an opponent who has prepared the Open Sicilian may have prepared less for the Alapin; that is a judgement, and we cannot measure it.

Coverage matrix

"Listed" means the seller's page names the system. "Not listed" means the page says what it covers and this is not part of it. "Not stated" means there is no such detail on the page.

D'Costa and Murphy's fourth listed reply, 2...g6 3.d4, is an Open Sicilian type of line and not an anti-Sicilian, so that course does not avoid the main roads entirely.

Best-documented courses

Prices as shown on 8 November 2026, and per-hour figures are our calculation from listed numbers. The two Modern Chess rows come from pages read earlier that day; Modern Chess returned HTTP 429 when we went back to re-open them, so treat those rows, and the matrix column for Modern Chess, as unconfirmed.

ChessBase's Sicilian listing shows at least nine anti-Sicilian micro-courses at €9.90 each (for example "The delayed Alapin in 60 Minutes" and "Sidestep the Sicilian with 2.b3"); they are short by design and each covers one idea.

Modern Chess's Roiz series shows how much the "complete 2.Nf3 route" can cost. The page for Beat the Rare Sicilian Lines displays a series of eight courses, covering the Moscow, Rossolimo, 2...e6 3.c3 and related lines, and the seven others shown are €79 each. At that price all eight come to €632 (8 x €79, calculated, and only if those displayed prices hold). Its terms, updated 29 December 2025, say all sales are final once access is given; try the free previews, and see our Modern Chess review.

The ChessMood set is advanced-only

ChessMood's page with the "sicilian-defence-part-1" address is not a Sicilian-for-Black course. It is titled "Anti-Sicilian with 2.Nc3 d6 (Part 1)" and its sections include "We change the theory!" and "3...e6". Its Part 1 price is $150, and the page names no rating system for its 1800 to 2600 range. Part 1 alone works out at about $58.06 per listed hour ($150 over 2h 35m, calculated), so if you are below the seller's stated range, check the page before buying.

What these courses leave out

• No page-read course covers both the 2.c3 and 2.Nf3 3.Bb5 routes. That is reasonable, because you only need one, but it means comparing them means reading different products.
• The Smith-Morra and the Grand Prix have no page-read coverage among the courses above. They are only visible as Chessable titles and search listings.
• What to do when Black avoids your system. Among the single courses, only Demchenko's page is organised by every Black second move, including the 2...d5, 2...Nf6, 2...d6, 2...e6, 2...g6 and 2...Nc6 answers.
• Black's best responses at your level. None of the pages we read says which lines club opponents actually reach.

The free route

Lichess's explorer and studies (Lichess studies and practice) show the main moves in each system at no cost, and Modern Chess's course pages each list an "Introduction and Free Preview". Demchenko's ChessBase page offers free video samples, including one on 2...g6. A first system is realistic for free: pick the Alapin or Rossolimo, learn its main plan from an explorer, and add lines when a game exposes a gap.

Who should skip an anti-Sicilian course

Skip it if you are happy to meet the Open Sicilian, if you are still learning basic development and tactics, or if your Sicilian opponents are rare. Skip a Rossolimo or Moscow course if you do not want a second system against 2...e6. For a wider choice of low-risk openings see low-theory repertoire courses and the White repertoire courses.

What the seller's pages do not tell you

• A course titled with "the Sicilian" need not cover it in full. D'Costa and Murphy list four replies after 2.Nf3 and do not name the Alapin, the Smith-Morra or the Grand Prix.
• Werle's page gives 13.5 hours across two systems, but the delivery list separately says "approx. 4-8 hrs".
• Werle's description says "beginners who are just starting out" through GMs, which sits oddly with a level field of "Advanced, Tournament player, Professional".
• The ChessMood series is priced per part on its pages; we read only Part 1's price.
• The three Chessable titles that would fill the Smith-Morra and Grand Prix gap were seen only in search listings, with no price or author.