choosing a Sicilian line

Hello all! I recently posted about openings vs 1.d4 and I’ve been looking at different lines in the Nimzo and semi-slav that provide tactical fights and kingside attacks. That being said however, I’ve also been stuck on what line of the Sicilian should be appropriate for someone about 1500 chesscom and probably approximate 1400-1500 USCF (my rating is 1649 provisional but I’m probably overrated). My goals include shooting for NM and beyond as chess is a beautiful game that I cannot stop myself from studying. My goal is to reach 1700+ chesscom by the end of the year but I prioritize long term improvement over anything else.

All that being said, I’ve been split between the najdorf (for long term growth and understanding of different structures) dragon (for aggressive attacks against the white king) and the classical (to get a hold of the scheveningen pawn structure, kind of a place holder until I’m good enough to play the najdorf). I have tried all of these, and recently I’ve been playing the dragon, but I wanted to get a couple opinions on different lines in the Sicilian that will help foster my growth. I want to learn how to play different structures and also play aggressively to train my calculation. I have also played the taimanov and accelerated dragon, but they both seem more like positional battles that can fall into passivity rather easily. I want to play the Sicilian to get into sharp must-win positions, because otherwise I would play e5.
The only problem I have with the dragon is that it seems like dragon structures are specific to the dragon, where najdorf has the scheveningen, boleslavsky hole and can also transpose to the dragon. I am having some success with the dragon however, im just worried about long term prospects.

Najdorf obviously hs the most theory, but will likely be most beneficial to my growth. I also think some ideas are unintuitive, but if I can get a good book that explains the ideas better (when to play d5 and how to protect the d5 square, as well as different themes in the structures) then I could probably find success.

The classical is kind of the middle ground. Only thing im worried about is that it can be considered too solid of an opening, and the gxf6 structures are unique to this opening, so im not sure if this is going to be a good option or not. I’ve heard it finds success at the top level though

What do you guys think? Im willing to put in the work if it will be beneficial to me in the long term, and im not a big fan of openings that are only useful to a point. I play almost all mainlines because they are the most sound and critical. Also if anyone has recommendations for resources on these openings please let me know (books courses etc.)

First, don't take my opinion too seriously as I only started delving into Sicillian as black, and have been dealing with nothing but Bowdler attack, lol. Also not that strong of a player at all.

Idk mate, you already realize Najdorf being incredibly flexible, and theory heavy. You say you are ready to put heavy work. You also realize if you keep going with Najdorf you would be most tenacious in long run.

All of this screams Najdorf for me. What do you plan against Alapin, Closed, etc I wonder though?

@Ratko I have lines prepared against anti Sicilian stuff for days bc that’s what I used to face most. Only line I need to worry about is the Moscow bc I used to play Nc6 or e6 Sicilians. I play nf6 against Alain and Nc6 g6 setups vs the closed Sicilians and play for space on the qside

I think Dragon, Classical Sicilian and Najdorf are all good options! I would highly recommend The Najdorf Sicilian: Simplified by GM Alex Colovic on Chessable, he explains the Najdorf in an easy to understand way and you learn all the key ideas!

https://www.chessable.com/the-najdorf-sicilian-simplified/course/20483/

There is a text version and a video version. The video costs around 140 pounds but around 80 on a good sale. The text version which is also good costs 30 pounds and around 20 on a sale. ( I would recommend waiting for a sale)

If you have the money, the video ( 11 hours ) is probably worth it but the text isn’t bad! 
i can notify you when there is a sale if you would like!

Or I could find the money to gift it to you when a sale appears 👍

It doesn’t cover anti Sicilians but it seems that isn’t a problem! 👍

It also helps to play a lot of practice games with the opening you choose and looking at GM games also helps a lot!

Damn, that was pretty kind

If not the Najdorf, Classical Sicilian is also a good option! Dragon is also cool but It’s worse than the other two in my opinion. 🐸

I would probably recommend choosing a primary opening and a secondary one because you getting to play and experience a variety of openings is pretty beneficial

I got a couple bucks in my piggy bank 🐷 🏦

Tbh it seems like you've got it all fairly figured out. I will say the Najdorf sounds like what you're looking for and that's what you've already implied. It's flexible, aggressive, dynamic.

Judit Polgar has some good videos on the Sicilian. She also has a paid course to discuss some of these other themes like the d5 hole and such.

Not all of the Sicilians she discusses are Najdorf however. Also in many of the games she is discussing it from the white side. It's brilliant, instructive content either way and should help you.

@frogboywarpz I have the short and sweet of colovics course! I really enjoy his courses and I used to use his KID simplified course as well. I was thinking about getting the najdorf simplified course but I wasn’t sure if it was worth the money. I’m a broke college student so money kinda matters to me. I may pick it up when it’s on sale and that’s a very generous offer to give money to a stranger on the internet haha

Coolio 👍
if you are looking into the Najdorf, it’s definitely not a bad purchase

@samuelajedrez95 I’m a big fan of Judit Polgar actually! When I played the taimanov I would study her amazing attacking games and taught me different attacking ideas in an otherwise quiet/solid opening. I will look into it!

Thanks everyone for the help :)

No problemo!

If you are looking into the Najdorf, MVL is probably the best modern player to look at. Giri seems to be another good one considering his high level of preparation and his hit Chessable Najdorf course 👍

but of course you cannot forget Kasparov 🔥

Long term prospects are terrible with the Dragon, once you're playing people over 1800 FIDE. Naj is better but Kasparov didn't play it. At least, he didn't play it with an early e5. You have to be so booked up in the Naj that it won't help your chess in the medium term. I don't even know what the classical Sicilian is for black. Maybe it's a resurrection of a very old line that was thrown out in the 1960s? You could do worse than playing e6, a6 and Qc7, like a proper Kan or Paulsen.

Perhaps even starting from old masters about Najdorf and studying chronogically. I always liked that approach. But it may be a tad bit too much.

But it also answers a lot of questions on how theory came into life and evolved through passage of time.

@Linkeroftime1

Yes the videos are pure gold. She started off playing the Taimanov and later transitioned to the Najdorf, although she was using both to play primarily Scheveningen structures I believe.

These are the videos.

https://www.youtube.com/live/-LjprmtRCtU?feature=share

https://www.youtube.com/live/I3CC4vfZWQk?feature=share

There is also another video where she discusses some of her favourite games against Kasparov and they are all Najdorf Sicilians.

https://youtu.be/3dCh39RKOI4