Alternatives to the Sicilian?

When I play in Live as Black, and come across 1. e4, I've virtually always played ...c5 in response. But I've found that my play is often cramped with the Sicilian, and that opponents with correct play seem to get the upper hand on my position. Here are two short examples:

So what are the main alternatives to the Sicilian for Black (If we assume e5 is out of the picture as well, as I play the Sicilian instead of that). It may just be a case of quitting the moaning and learning all of the lines and running with it, but I'm not sure if the opening works for me (I know it seems to work for most others, but I guess we all have our preferences.)

Does anyone have any advice? I know the Scandinavian is quite popular around here but White seems to have an advantage if the opening is played out normally, ditto with the Alekhine. The French or the Pirc seem the most likely, but I've never really tried them - so how do players who use them rate them against 1. e5? What would you use if not the Sicilian, or if you do can you give me any tips on being more effective with it as Black?

Looking at the games the first thing that strikes me is that you do some rudimentary mistakes, both in the opening and in the following play. It probably wouldn't hurt to study the open games first, replying with e5 to e4.

Anyhow, if you think the Sicilian is cramped, the French is probably not for you, where even more active play is needed in order to grab yourself some initiative, to avoid getting cramped and crushed.

The "classical" Qa5 Scandinavian has quite a lot in common with Caro-Kann, and black can easily end up in a somewhat passive, but solid position.

Most defenses has some negative points to them, if there was a black opening that granted black equality without a struggle, everyone would be playing it. It's hard to avoid giving white and edge, and it's hard to avoid getting cramped, inactive play, a bad bishop or some other negative point to your position, that's just the way chess is, white starts with an advantage. Find a way to create imbalances in the position, and play from there, even if it settles you with a bad white colored bishop.

Pirc and French will both give you a cramped positon a lot of times.  I don't mean to be rude, but I don't think you can play inferior moves and complain about the results of an opening.  Don't play e5 and don't try for a queen side fianchetto in the Sicilian.  Instead, play for an eventual d5, fianchetto on the king side, if at all, and launch an attack as soon as humanly possible.  After cxd, you're going to have the bigger center.  Try to use that to your advantage.

In the first game, you had the better of it for most of the game, and your position was not at all cramped. In the second game, I've always thought of 2. ... b6 as being bad, but although white is supposed to be able to get an edge, black scores surprisingly respectably in my database (perhaps the surprise value, not useful in turn-based chess?).

If you want a line of the Sicilian where both bishops get good activity, how about the Sveshnikov, where the queen's bishop has no problems at all?

 Actually, people here disdain the Scandinavian somewhat as it releases the tension too early and is considered good for White; I have to say that it is not "popular" although I do play it pretty much exclusively against e4 until I started studying the Scilian Dragon Variation and played it for a while. Anyway, I am very partial to the Scandi because it is the main defense that I have used since I first learned there were actually openings to the game of chess. My suggestion is don't be afraid to play it because people say it's not good at higher levels. I still use it and score decently with it; more importantly I have fun when I play it and my opponent accepts the challenge. Here's one game I played against a player with a slightly higher rating than I do; I had fun with it even though my oppenent did not really play the best defense against it.

A Blitz game with 10|7 time control...

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~~~The Scandi is fun especially when your opponent accepts the challenge and put the onus on you to prove your game. I don't think I'll be playing it for ever game; when the game is a must win or draw, the Scandi can be a heart breaker at time because a minor miscalculation will lose you more material and consequently the game but I have had many fun game with it. Pros may not like it, but I think it is a very playable opening below top tier games; actually, even Kramnik played it on occassion, although not or very important games.

caro-kann, modern, scandinavian, nimzowitch, st. george

In the french and caro-kann black doesn't sit back and let white cramp and assault him... he plays ...c5!! and counterattacks white's centre. In a lot of variations in both openings, black emerges in the middlegame with at least as much space as white. Especially, ironically, in the advance variations because black has ...f6 AND ...c5.

All openings below 2000 are sound, but you'll want to avoid passive systems like the Pirc, Modern, or Caro-Kahn because you need to master tactics before positional play. Hence, the Sicilian is the ideal tactical system.

In the beginning I played ...c5 and ...e5, but it wasn't really my cup-of-tea. So I play the French now because for some perverse reason I really like being squeezed. (And I've also written some analysis on the Nimzovich Defence, where I allow Black to get even more squeezed.)

I think that you have to bite the bullitt and learn some lines in the sicilian- try the Dragon or the Najdorf. You may find that better than trying to learn a totally new and different type of defence.