About this opening
Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, Classical Main Line is an opening in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings,
classified under code B85. ECO group B (B00–B99)
covers semi-open games (1.e4 with Black playing anything other than 1…e5), with the Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann and Pirc/Modern at its heart. This particular variation is reached
after 20 half-moves from the
starting position, with the move sequence 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be2 a6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Be3 Be7 9. f4 d6 10. Qe1 O-O.
It belongs to the Sicilian Defense family.
Within that family this is a level-2 branch (the Scheveningen Variation → Classical Main Line line). The immediate parent line is Sicilian Defense: Scheveningen Variation, transitioned via 10…O-O.
The opening sequence in prose form: 1.e4 c5, 2.Nf3 e6, 3.d4 cxd4, 4.Nxd4 Nc6, 5.Nc3 Qc7, 6.Be2 a6. From this position the encyclopaedia records no further canonical continuations — practical play branches into unnamed transpositions or returns to the parent line for alternative ideas.
Use the interactive board above to walk through the moves position-by-position. Click any move in the navigation to step backwards, or use the keyboard arrow keys. For statistical data — how often master-level players have reached this position, White's win-rate, draw frequency, Black's score — see the panel in the right column.
Caissly's coverage of B85 extends through every named sub-variation in this line and across all four locales (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian). Where editorial commentary exists for a specific variation it appears as the page body; otherwise the page presents the structural data, board, and statistics as shown here.