How do you play against Sicilian Defense?

I should have started a thread where I have a great Bishop sacrifice on e6 for three pawns and the initiative. I then return a pawn to win a crushing amount of material, it's great! Check it out sometime.

Shameless self-plug aside, the Sicilian is a theoretical beast that I've treaded for far too long without a map.

I echo gonnosuke, invite the Maroczy Bind at your peril:

The Maroczy Bind is tricky to play as Black. You need to be careful to always have some counter play and not just let White roll you over. As a practitioner of the Accelerated Dragon I have faced it many times. I will try and post my OTB game in a NYS Championship event where I drew Justin Sarker (he was only a NM at the time not yet an IM) with the black side of the Maroczy.

i've recently had a lot of success with the hyperaccelerated dragon.  interestingly, not many players use the bind as white against me.  this might be a result of the fact that i'm about 1650/1700.

How exactly does one defeat the bind?  i try to keep my strong g7 bishop, and i pile up pieces on the d5 square.  I also try to prevent the "maroczy hop" (white's Nd5! Nxd5 exd5 with massive pressure on the e-file).  I've tried also to play b5 as a semi-break, where appropriate.

suggestions?

I've tried various systems against the sicilian, and eventually took it up as my main defence to 1 e4. From the black side, you quickly realise how important it is to control the d5 square  - if white lets you dominate it, you generally have a comfortable game  - which is why the maroczy bind (e4 withc4) is so effective, though not, as previously mentioned on move two (this allows black to play 2...e5 with an easy game). Much better to let Black commit to a line before playing c4. The best practical try for me against the sicilian is 2 Nf3 with 3 Nc3. This forces Black to  show his hand, and you can either play a closed or open game depending on how he reacts. It all seems so harmless, but in fact there are some very nasty pitfalls for Black to avoid.

If you don't like playing against the most popular defence to 1.e4 then why are you playing 1.e4?

Personally, if I could be guaranteed a sicilian everytime I would play 1.e4 myself. It insures a lively game where a well prepared white has a good chance for an opening advantage and even a quick win vs. an unprepared opponent.

Maybe 1.d4 is a better fit for you if you prefer a slower game.

Speaking of the Maroczy bind, I don't think it's so bad vs. the Taimanov sicilian since white's knight is banished to the a3 square.

Best Advice in forums thus far on how to stop the 2. ... c5

thanks for writing this... all the people i played that used the Sicilien                defence against me beat me! so this article really solved my problem

And from a3 doesn't it go to c2 then e3 to reinforce d5?

I figured it was about time to shamelessly advertise my Bb5 Sicilian group! But really, it's a solid defense that doesn't compromise white's chances in the least bit. The Moscow can be quite tactical and immediately punishing if black doesn't know what he's doing (e.g. errors by black are often punished by an e5 push, and a subsequent busting open of the position on an exposed king) and the Rossolimo puts an entirely different spin on the Sicilian, which the player of the black pieces was probably not looking for when he or she played 1. ...c5. I'm not sure if it was mentioned before, but white can choose to play a Maroczy bind if he so chooses in the Moscow. Ultimately, the Bb5 Sicilians are relatively new in terms of opening theory, which makes them easier to prepare than, say, the Dragon or the Najdorf.

P.S. If anything, check out the group's forums for simplified explanations of theory!

The yugoslav attack seems good

Try the Grand Prix Attack.

Look on YouTube for videos on how to play it.

i dont know if its good but 1. e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 works wonderfully for me

1.d4

You are right in saying that playing the sicilian as white is much easier than to play it as black. You don't even need that much theory.

I don't understand why so many players seem to avoid the open sicilian in favour of some of the anti-sicilian systems. If black has some lines prepared on those, white doesn't get even the shadow of an advantage.

I'm trying to find a one-size-fits-all style and I'm now working on the English attack. Good thing is that I can use it even against the Pirc:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/yugoslav-attack-vs-the-pirc

I have the book "experts vs the sicilian" that gives a repertoire for white with the open sicilian. But it suggests 6.Bg5 against the Najdorf, that leaves black with a ton of choice of ultra-sharp responses.

I would say the English attack seems to be a good compromise between solid, aggressive, and not too hard to learn.

I think 6.Bg5 isn't too bad to learn and the fun factor more than makes up for the amount of learning required

unfortunatley if you are going to play 1.e4 you pretty much need to know a heck load of theory already not just for the sicilian but for the french the scandanavian 1.e5 pirc defense alekhines defense caro kann etc so really if you want to avoid theory you have to play a side line to the main line which are nowhere near as good as the mainline if black knows what he is doing