Khalifman/Soloviov: Squeezing the Sicilian - Alapin VariationAdvance with d2 d4, build a solid pawn centre and then dictate the Play. In the Alapin System White's strategic idea is extremely simple. He prepares to advance with d2 d4, to build a solid pawn centre and then dictate the play. He will have to pay for this with the fact that his queen's knight has been deprived of the best square for its development, but it may have other suitable squares (in many variations this will be not the d2 square but a3).