What to do with Sicilian opening?

I tried it in a couple of games and like the idea behind it of having a center pawn majority. 

Is it too hard for my rating or could I do well with it?

The reason behind playing the Sicilian is that I don't like defending the Ruy Lopez or the series of moves in which the bishop protects the knight forking the rook and queen. (does it have a name?)

Anyways my question is after 1. e4 c5 2. nf6 what do I play to get my center pawn majority and to get a good opening/pawn structure? 

after 2. nf6 you can play 2...Ke4!! grabbing control of the important center squares and supporting the pawn advance.  

There are many many responses.

For instance d3 or Nc6.

Check out Game explorer under the LEARN Section on the Chess.com task bar. It's an awesome feature that gives you most of  the answers to your question. Hope this helps. Good luck!

If you want to learn a sicilian, you need to pick one. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_defense

This gives an overview of the different sicilians. 

Pick one that seems interesting.

But if you want to play a sicilian you need to be prepared as an ambitious  player of the white pieces generally ends up with a lead in development while you are pursuing strategic aims. Which means if you mess up the opening you could lose very quickly.  This means maybe buying a book here at

amazon.com  on your opening of choice

but wait...that's not all.   Your book will teach you the ideas behind 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Mystery move x(depends on your sicilian) 3.  d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 But many players deviate on move 2 or three with the "anti-sicilians"   That book will probably tell you nothing about how to deal with the various anti sicilians that players can throw at you (smith morra gambit, alapine, rossolimo maybe, grand prix, etc.)  

So, you will need to learn to face those as well. 

Illegal move, after e4 c5 2. Nf6 Kxe4 would be moving into check.  Perhaps you meant Kd4

That's why I said 2. Ke4 and not Kxe4.  You do not capture the pawn, you use it to avoid the check by placing your king on top of it.  The "king of the hill" strategy provides both a defensible position, and as has been stated already, excellent control of the center squares.

guys, obviously after 1.e4, c5 2.Kxd8 is checkmate. WHAT are you thinking, missing such an obvious checkmate??

That's my understanding of the ...a6 move, is that reasoning flawed? Plan the ...e5 break, activate the minority and prevent the crippling Bb5+ on the immediate ...e5 which virtually forces black into the position with a passive piece placement.

(Of course I play the Caro-Kann myself, but I have to study Sicilian so that I can read through the majority of master games!)

@Fezzik, I want to argue a little  with your explanation, because I remember when I was a student and started competition chess, I asked one of my strong mentors (~2250 FIDE) what was the purpose of the 5...a6 move, and he told me it was to prevent any white pieces to land on b5 without sacrificing it, to prepare a b5 counterthurst, and to wait to see white's next move before committing to a central structure with black's central pawns (ie. choosing between e6 and e5).

While the first reason may not be the main one, a6 does indeed prevent some annoying Bb5+ move when black plays ...e5, especially against Be3 I think. Compare with 5...e5?! 6.Bb5+! which leads to a much more passive position for black. 

On the other hand, I fully agree with the "don't play move that you can't explain" policy - I think that's an excellent rule of thumb to know how far you need to plough opening theory 

Can I suggest the Dragon Systems?

More info at http://mychesspet.blogspot.com/2009/11/different-sicilian-dragon-defence.html

Hope it helps you starting.

Thanks so much for the help everyone!

I think I'll try it out in a few more games and see how I like it and if I understand what to play in different situations.

  The best way to learn how to play an opening and the strategies behind those openings, is by going over Grandmaster games where they play the opening you wish to learn. This way, you learn to pick up Grandmaster/expert moves and the reasons behind those moves. An excellent book I can recommend for this is --> "Standard Chess Openings", by Eric Schiller. It's only $24.95 U.S. and at 784 pages of virtually every opening on Earth, it's a fantastic bargain. This great book not only provides you with the opening moves, but also provides several notable Grandmaster games where the opening in question is played, so you can learn how to play it.  Also, there is a couple of excellent and free chess channels on YouTube that you can benefit from.  One is Killegar Chess, where they go over/analyze Grandmaster games so you can see what the strategies are in different kinds of openings. The other is Majnu2006.  So just search YouTube using those Keywords and you'll find two great chess channels that will help improve your game. 

  The Sicilian Defense is black's strongest response to 1.e4 and can very suddenly turn from a defense into a powerful attack.  The Sicilian Najdorf is particularly potent.  The Sicilian Dragon has a, "cool sounding", name, but can be defanged with the Yugoslav Attack, which Bobby Fischer used against the Dragon with outstanding results.  I never, ever play the Sicilian Dragon for this reason. 

  I have been playing chess for 35+ years and the Sicilian Najdorf has always been in my ammo box.   One of the best Sicilian players ever was the legendary Bobby Fischer, so go over his games where he plays the Sicilian and you will learn how best to play it.  I don't tend to agree that the Siclian is not a good opening for a novice to learn, as I feel the Sicilian is a very logical, common sense opening. The way I see it, if you want to become better at chess, might as well start learning the better openings and the themes behind them, right away. 

                        I hope this has been of help. 

                         -- BishopCannons

 However, buying sight-unseen can lead to disappointment when the UPS truck comes.  Cheap is not good. We get what we pay for.

Use the smith and wesson

The Sicilian Defense does indeed fight for control of the center and it has the highest winning percentages vs white's 1.e4 

 The Sicilian Defense, 1.e4, c5, attacks white's d4 center square and strikes at the center immediately. `

  Fun is in the eye of the beholder.

  Most folks think winning is the most fun and the Sicilian Defense has a higher winning percentage than 1.e4, d5