Bowdler Attack - a bad opening played 55 000 000 times · Sicilian Defense Theory

The Bowdler Attack is a bad opening that has been played 55 000 000 times! Learn the best way to play against it!

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The Bowdler Attack is an extremely common opening, especially on lower levels. It has been played in 9% of all Sicilian games on lichess! That's millions of games. In master play, you can't see it often. The reason no good player plays Bc4 in serious tournament games is simpe - it's no good!

As soon as you play 2.Bc4, you're signing up for losing a tempo at some point down the line once black plays d5, the dream pawn advance in almost any Sicilian position. There aren't even that many tricks in the opening. Most of them are very easy to refute or are completely nonsensical.

My advice is that you don't play the Bowdler with white at all. And if you play the Sicilian, play for an early d5, punishing white for the early bishop move.

00:00 Introduction
04:42 What not to play
07:06 2...Nf6 (engine recommendation)
11:44 2...e6 (my favorite move)
18:37 2...Nc6 (most common move)

#chess

[Top_Lad]

Thank you for not picking random and irrelevant sponsors but instead very useful ones that are really underrated.

[jg]

Ty for covering this! Lots of sicilian courses don't even mention this line even though it's one of the most common lines to see online until you get to a high rating.

Also love chessbook 😊

[sumitvishwakarma]

Your videos are diamomd for chess learners. Following you since 2 years and I can tell that my tatics and opening knowledge has improved very much thankyou for the lessons❤

[Hermit-]

First time for me to watch an ad without skipping, thanks for choosing good sponsers

[ianrust]

Yeah I've heard it referred to as the "I don't know how to play" variation.

[mikebaker]

I seem to remember a Danya speedrun where he was getting frustrated at all the Bowdler attacks he faced.

[V_ChessGuy]

Really good video! There are some videos on how to punish the Bowdler Attack, but here you have shown it very effectively so that everything makes sense. Rather than just memorising moves, learning the plans is very important in an opening I believe.

[mekelius]

12:43 The bishop is lost if it goes to b3.

[snypervyper]

I used this line to demonstrate to my friend why opening knowledge is important at all levels of play. I understand why people may be adverse to learning tons of theory but it doesnt take 5 minutes of your life to know what is and isnt a good second move in one of the most common openings.

[viktor]

I didn't know exactly yet, but as I looked back at my games, the Bowler attack remained in my memory.
( 2. Bc4 ) -
I decided to go after it. Then I found this video. You already mentioned in the first two minutes how popular this version is. For me, I have 16 games as black - Sicilian defense. Of these, 6 are specifically the bowler attack and two more that are in the scheme of the Italian opening. (slightly different variant but essentially the same setup).

My balance:
The other 8 games: W: 5 / L: 3 (Sicilian defense)
W : 3 / D: 1 / L : 4 (Bowler attack) 🤦‍♂
Overall, the positive balance is ruined on this version
I watched the video and I feel that the next 8 games will be different ;)
Thanks for uploading !!! Keep it up!

[corymclean]

i think of my 18, 500 lichess games, at least 1000 of them have to be the goddamned Bowdler attack.

[petrpecenkaml.]

I'm preparing for my first longer tournament in classical since youth competition. And I intend to play sicilian, so this really came in handy against maybe some young guns. Thanks!

[BK-ndiz]

Love seeing the Bowdler online even though it's usually a pretty one sided game since it's almost always free elo

[CorvusLiberatus]

There was a kid in my chess club who used to play this opening religiously...and lost every time. I could never understand why he wouldn't just try something different. It was like the opening was set in stone in his brain.

[fandastruhal]

Perfect video, perfect comment, veri logical comment and video ! thank you...

[Hkolberg]

This chess book website is so awesome, great sponsor

[Richard_Stroker]

Great video as always, Stjepan!
I just wanted to add that in addition to e6, Nf6, and Nc6, a6 is also perfectly playable. I'm not sure which engine you're using, but according to Stockfish 16.1 at 35 depth, a6 is objectively just as good as those other 3 moves, and scores just as well in Lichess games. The idea isn't to play b5 immediately on Nf3, but instead to play e6. Black prevents Bb5+ and plays d5 or b5 later, depending on what White does.

[CraftingMan]

I always get this and just play sth random, this video helped me out a lot!!! Thanks bro for being a huge face in chess communit

[AdrianZakrzewski-to]

I love seeing this line, people very often get that bishop locked behind my and their own pawns - and white is playing a piece down for a long time.

[graychess]

After analyzing the move order I see it isn’t the Bowlder Attack anymore after 2.Nf3 … 3.Bc4 it’s under a regular Sicilian variation !
2.Bc4 is a definite e6 but like 9/10 times I only run into Bc4 after committing to d6 on move 2, and after further analysis I see that e6 is then only suggested after white plays 3.Nc3 (or like you said after whites makes it obvious with c3)!
Wow ok I learned a few things here personally!
Mainly that I shouldn’t flinch and collapse my closed Sicilian with e6 after seeing 3.Bc4 after committing to d6 on move 2. 😐😂

Also, I think HangingPawns is the most reliable Chess channel when it comes to learning opening theories and effective lines! 👍✌️