One of my biggest fears is that the only thing I'll be able to play as an old man is the Colle. Talk about hell on earth...or maybe karmic justice for all the crap I gave you for playing the Caro-Kann? ;-)
Well, if you play the Caro-Kann when you are young, what will you play when you are old?
I would bet the farm that those making fun of the caro kann wouldnt last long against it with Karpov on the black side..... 
I think Karpov could play 1...a6 and I'd still have a lot of trouble, but I agree - the Caro-Kann's not to be sniffed at.
Reb, I think "making fun of" is the wrong verb... maybe better is "disappointed when opponent plays", or even "afraid of" are better choices.
Well, I mix and match my Sicilian repertoire. I play 2 Nf3 and wait to see what Black does. Then I use his move against him. For example, if Nc6 then Bb5 is annoying. If d6, then c3 and Black can either waste a tempo with d5 or play Nf6 which doesn't attack e4 due to Qa4+. If e6, then White can play b3 and the best move to blunt White's dark squared bishop, e5, loses a tempo.
I am lazy.
1. e4 c5
2. Nf3 whatever....
3. d3!?!?! (early fischer favorite...leading to king's indian attack. hehe)
I used to play the main lines, but then I switched to the Morphy Gambit 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cd 3.Nf3, but everyone always transposed back to the main line. Lately, I have been experimenting with the Smith-Morra. Sometimes it's hard for me to see any compensation for white for the missing pawn, but it does seem to force my opponents out of book sooner, and often they seem to go wrong in the middlegame. I am still testing, but so far the results have been good.
I'm actually a little bit intrigued by the closed Sicilian 2.Nc3. Spassky scored two mighty impressive victories over Geller with it in the 1960's, and lately Anand, Topalov and Kramnik have all been playing it, so it can't be that bad. It is probably the most popular line players turn to when they want to avoid 2.Nf3 ... 3.d4.
Play brave. e4 c5 Nf3 Nc4 Bb5
i started playing d4 in my OTB games try it out to avoid the sicilian!!!
I don't think playind e4 is a very good idea. Try playing d4 instead.
I don't think playind e4 is a very good idea. Try playing d4 instead.
That is single stupid thing I have read in this web site. Try looking at some Fischer games, if e4 was good enough for him, it is for me.
I love getting into this variation of the Sicilian
I don't think playind e4 is a very good idea. Try playing d4 instead.
That is single stupid thing I have read in this web site. Try looking at some Fischer games, if e4 was good enough for him, it is for me.
Clearly, you haven't read enough nearly enough of the stupid things on the website 
I avoid pushing 1.e4. :)
In my experience, a lot of beginners tend to do a Maroczy bind with 2.c4 which I don't think is particularly sound. I tend to set up an English attack system.
1.e4 c5 gives White lots of options.
White can play aggressively intending O-O-O and f4, or play passively with an immediate c4.
Hey BorgQueen, you know your question about what White does after Nc6? Easy. Bb5. Main line.
I agree that the Maroczy Bind is a nice positional setup, but I'm way more used to seeing it show up around move 5-8 rather than on move 2 and my initial inclination is that that's the more sound time to play it, but I'd be interested to hear Gonnosuke or other higher-rated players' take on the timing of it.
I think there are PLENTY of chances to win. In most variations White gets a nice pawn center and easy development, and Black has to be extremely careful.
Currently I'm rated 1900-2000 ish over the board, aiming to be 2100 once, and I was looking at some statistics.
1. As Black playing the Sicilian, I do worse against 2.c3 than against any other move.
2. If in my database I select only games of 2100-2200 people playing other 2100-2200 people (the sort of level I'm aiming at long term), then 2.c3 is easily the best scoring Sicilian variation for White.
GM Tiviakov (2685) has a huge plus score as White after 2.c3. It only becomes drawish for him when he plays 2700+ people. Until you're that level, don't believe the stories :-)
I have the same problem. And yet I never prepare for it. I figure that I'll get enough practice in correspondence by checking out databases at those rare times that I run into it (although I it seems to be on the high-rise amongst my opponents now).
I'm shocked, shocked!