Closed Sicilian: My Slow Burn

Verse 1

Pawn to e4, he plays c5 1.e4 c5

Knight to c3, my d-pawn stays alive 2.Nc3 Nc6

Pawn to g3, bishop to g2 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2

He mirrors me, bishop to g7 4...Bg7

Pawn to d3, the long diagonal 5.d3

He wants the queenside, I want it all

Chorus

Pawn to e4, knight to c3 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3

Pawn to g3, bishop to g2 2...Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2

Pawn to d3, closed, you see 4...Bg7 5.d3

Then my f-pawn rolls right through

Verse 2

He plays d6, bishop to e3 5...d6 6.Be3

He plays e5, knight to h3 6...e5 7.Nh3

Pawn to f4, his knight on d4 7...Nge7 8.f4 Nd4

Castles short, queen to d2 9.O-O O-O 10.Qd2

Bishop to g4, king to h1 10...Bg4 11.Kh1

Never take on e5, my f-pawn runs

Chorus

Pawn to e4, knight to c3 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3

Pawn to g3, bishop to g2 2...Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2

Pawn to d3, closed, you see 4...Bg7 5.d3

Then my f-pawn rolls right through

The song's mid-tempo groove matches what the games measure: in a hundred master games with this setup the queens almost never leave early — only one game in twenty is queenless by move twenty — and the middlegame is a patient build-up where White's f-pawn advance to f5 is the break that carries the kingside plan, while taking on e5 with the f-pawn gives up that tension.