Sicilian-phobia Part One - Introduction
"Why did you switch from 1.e4 to 1.d4?" I asked a friend of mine in the local club. And their reply, was the same of every other in my local area - "because of the Sicilian..."
Despite how outrageous and ridiculous that sounds, that is the most common reply, in chess terms, the 'main line'. Some players who start off playing chess with 1.e4 steers towards 1.d4 once their opponents stop playing 1...e5, and starts playing 1...c5 because they have no idea how to counter it.
But those who change directions because of the Sicilian has yet to ask themselves just how dangerous is the Sicilian? I'd also like to point out that after 1...c5, it is actually White's turn, not Black's, therefore producing a very good opportunity to steer the game into your own 'backyard'.
The Sicilian, according to most databases, ranks highest not only in popularity, but also in success rate for black. In fact, the database shows that black won more times playing the Sicilian than white, who is facing the Sicilian. That fact alone, can cause shiver in some player's spine.
Of course, there is no way that I am going to argue with the database, because it is, without argument, that the Sicilian is in fact one of, if not the most, successful opening. I remember that, a month after playing against the Sicilian for the first time, I was still searching for a decent reply against the Sicilian.
Throughout the next few weeks and days, I will try my hardest to analyse some ways to counter the Sicilian Defence (read: I will try to get my engines to do all my hard work for me and I will just sit back with a cup of coffee). I can swear to you right now that that is not going to be easy, due to the amount of theory some of the lines have. So please be patient. To keep the information as accurate as possible, I will also try to run most of them through the engines. Those of you who played me before should know - I can be a drunk at the chessboard even without the help of alcohol.
Ogerboy