I think you can learn via experience, not necessarily by memory. At your level it does not matter much.
Can the Sicilian be learned without memorizing reams of theory?
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Opening is not so important at beginner level. Just remeber you must play a opening that doesnt give disadvantage. Nothing else
Oct 3, 2016
0
#6
keisyzrk escribió:
No. But as white you should play 2.Na3
Dude stop sharing the secret that chinese chess theoriticians dont want others to know!
Oct 3, 2016
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#7
keisyzrk escribió:
NimzoPatzer wrote:
keisyzrk escribió:
No. But as white you should play 2.Na3
Dude stop sharing the secret that chinese chess theoriticians dont want others to know!
Wait what.
Havent you seen those adds?
Oct 3, 2016
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#8
OP, forget about 1.e4, play 1.d4 and 13.Qc1 (clearly the best move in the Petrosian system) against the KID. My god KramnikBigBaussXoxo has proved it.
Oct 3, 2016
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#9
NimzoPatzer wrote:
OP, forget about 1.e4, play 1.d4 and 13.Qc1 (clearly the best move in the Petrosian system) against the KID. My god KramnikBigBaussXoxo has proved it.
and you are supposed to be the plumber or the six pack?
Oct 3, 2016
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#10
If your going to learn an opening you might as well learn one of the best.
Twinchicky wrote:
I've come back to chess after quite a long break and I'm interested in learning both sides of the Sicilian, but I'm not particularly interested (nor do I think it would serve me well) in memorizing dozens and dozens of lines. Can the Sicilians be conceptually divided into how which pawn structures are generally played, et cetera?
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I think that there was an attempt to write a book somewhat along those lines. It was called How to Play the Sicilian Defence by David N. L. Levy and Kevin J. O'Connell. One would probably want to supplement with some more recent material, perhaps from Anti-Sicilians Move by Move by Cyrus Lakdawala and/or Starting Out The Sicilian, 2nd Edition by John Emms.
Twinchicky wrote:
Or are the variations just too sharp to be explained this way?
In view of the age of this quote, I'm not sure that I think it is completely trustworthy about specifics, but I suspect that the general point is still true about the amount of required preparation work depending to a great degree on the variation that one chooses.
"... A major selling point, which cannot be overstressed is that the Kan is one of the easiest variations of the Sicilian to learn, unlike some of the more high profile lines I could mention (the Dragon, the Najdorf and the Sveshnikov), the onus is not on the player with the black pieces to memorise reams of opening theory simply to stay on the board. Of course Black still has to play good moves, but it is much less likely to be at 'disadvantage' simply down to a memory loss. ..." - GM John Emms (2002)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627033203/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen46.pdf
You can check out youtube, Roman's Lab secret weapons, (IIRC under ichess) has some really good examples, on the Sicilian without tons of theory.
However, if you are really serious about chess, (playing in tournaments seriously) the Sicilian needs to be studied. Walter Browne, was an incredible Sicilian player, which I would strongly recommend studying his games as black.
Roman stated theories are always changing, because new ideas are always sought after, and tried, and the Sicilian is very popular in tournaments. White will always find an answer eventually to a response of blacks, in any given line, and then black will find an answer to that white response, so the battle, and theory is always subject to change.
Good luck.
When you ask about "the Sicilian", this is a very strong indicator that you might be better off with an opening easier than any of the Sicilians. There is a large number of Sicilians existing, and they are all completely different separate openings, even though they do share most anti-Sicilians.
Oct 4, 2016
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#14
I understand there are plenty of variations and that's what I was asking about - is there a general way to explain the most common strategic plans within each major variation. On the black side I've been messing about with the Najdorf since it seems to usually result in the kind of complicated strategic positions without too much tactical sharpness that I enjoy playing. I'm primarily a 1.d4 player on white so maybe I should just stick to that for now.
"In some lines [of the Najdorf], a good understanding of basic principles will take you far, while in others, such as the Poisoned Pawn (6 Bg5 e6 7 f4 Qb6!?), memorization is a must, as one wrong move can cost you the game in the blink of an eye." - FM Carsten Hansen (2006)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140626175558/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen87.pdf
I recommend Starting Out: the Sicilian (now in its 2nd edition) by John Emms (Everyman Chess).
I've come back to chess after quite a long break and I'm interested in learning both sides of the Sicilian, but I'm not particularly interested (nor do I think it would serve me well) in memorizing dozens and dozens of lines. Can the Sicilians be conceptually divided into how which pawn structures are generally played, et cetera? Or are the variations just too sharp to be explained this way?