Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Dunne Attack: what should Black play?

In the Sicilian Defense: Lasker-Dunne Attack (ECO B20), Black faces an early kingside fianchetto setup initiated by White's second move. The top engine recommendation is the central strike d5, evaluated at -0.10, which confronts White's center immediately before the light-squared bishop settles on g2. While played in 7.5% of recorded games (190K recorded), it effectively challenges White's setup and limits White to a 48.1% scoring performance.

Central Counterplay with d5

The move d5 targets the e4 pawn directly, taking advantage of White's delay in central piece development. An illustrative continuation demonstrating this central clash runs d5 d3 dxe4 dxe4 Qxd1+ Kxd1, leading straight to an early queenless middlegame where White's king is displaced to d1. By immediately challenging the center, Black neutralizes White's opening initiative and prevents White from dictating a slow, closed game.

Natural Development via Nc6

By far the most common choice in the database is Nc6, occurring in 58.5% of games (1.49M recorded). Carrying an engine evaluation of -0.05, this classical developing move controls the central squares d4 and e5 while maintaining maximum flexibility. The primary continuation unfolds with Nc6 Bg2 g6 Ne2 Bg7 O-O, where both sides adopt symmetrical fianchetto setups and White scores 51.6%.

Alternative Setups

Black can also select other strategic paths depending on preference. The symmetrical fianchetto g6 holds an evaluation of +0.00 across 237K recorded games (9.3%), leading into g6 Bg2 Nc6 Ne2 Bg7 O-O with White scoring 50.9%. Solid alternatives include e6, seen in 21.2% of games (540K recorded) with an evaluation of +0.24, which meets e6 Bg2 d5 exd5 exd5 Ne2, and the space-gaining e5 (eval +0.07, 3.5% of games), followed by e5 c4 g6 Bg2 d6 d3.