Is the Sicilian Defense a good defense for a low-rated player?

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chesswizard792

same

 

 

chesswizard792

dragon is best!

 

blueemu
SNUDOO wrote:
blueemu wrote:
SNUDOO wrote:
FrogCDE wrote:

@SNUDOO: "Nc3 stops the d5 plan in its tracks. Now, black would like to play ...Nf6 but that's answered by e5!"

I've replied as follows many times - seems to work OK at my level anyway:

 

 

Bb5+ Nfd7 makes black cramped

still playable, since the c5-d5 pawns are pretty menacing

It's more than just "playable".

It's Advantage: Black.

ok, but what about exd6?

Also good for Black. White's e-Pawn has moved three times (e2-e4-e5xd6) only to trade itself for a Pawn that moved once. That means exchanging a White Pawn and three moves for a Black Pawn and one move. Net result: two lost moves. Unless you can see decent compensation for the two lost moves, then it looks like White is heading down the wrong path entirely.

An_asparagusic_acid

Here is a 3|0 game I won in the dragon:

 

sndeww
blueemu wrote:
SNUDOO wrote:
blueemu wrote:
SNUDOO wrote:
FrogCDE wrote:

@SNUDOO: "Nc3 stops the d5 plan in its tracks. Now, black would like to play ...Nf6 but that's answered by e5!"

I've replied as follows many times - seems to work OK at my level anyway:

 

 

Bb5+ Nfd7 makes black cramped

still playable, since the c5-d5 pawns are pretty menacing

It's more than just "playable".

It's Advantage: Black.

ok, but what about exd6?

Also good for Black. White's e-Pawn has moved three times (e2-e4-e5xd6) only to trade itself for a Pawn that moved once. That means exchanging a White Pawn and three moves for a Black Pawn and one move. Net result: two lost moves. Unless you can see decent compensation for the two lost moves, then it looks like White is heading down the wrong path entirely.

ok, never thought about that. Although how would you define compensation for two "lost tempi"? Like what would your ideal compensation be for lost tempi? That's a new concept for me.

blueemu

Time is a temporary advantage. If you can't use it, it slowly leaks away until it's gone. So the ideal compensation for lost time would be a permanent advantage, such as two center Pawns vs one, or an organic weakness in the enemy Pawn structure.

Have you read my essay on GM Larry Evans' Space-Time-Force lectures?

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/gm-larry-evans-method-of-static-analysis

You should read at least the first two pages of the thread, and play through the first three or so sample games.

PawnTsunami

The short answer to the question is "it depends".

If you want to win games immediately and not get blown off the board, then you will want to shy away from the Sicilian.

If you want to really learn chess and experience a metric ton of different structures and not be afraid of losing a lot of games as you progress, then the Sicilian is a great learning tool.

You will see people saying "it is theory intensive and you need to learn a lot before playing it ..."  That is true if you are a 1200 playing against masters.  But, playing against other people in your rating range - they will know about as much as you.  The key difference between the Sicilian and the Double King's Pawn openings is it creates an immediate imbalance.  This means that there will likely be tactics that both sides need to navigate properly - and in most cases, they are already analyzed out to move 25+ (MVL has some Najdorf lines analyzed to move 35+, for example).  The neat benefit you get is that with it being so analyzed, you can look up the line you played after the game and see where you went wrong (and many times can find a resource that explains why the best moves are the best moves - or why the move you played falls short).

You will want to pick a setup, and there are 2 main categories you need to worry about:  The Open Sicilians and the so-called Anti-Sicilians (basically, anything that is not an Open Sicilian).  Below ~1800, you will run into Anti-Sicilians far more than you will Open Sicilians (the Grand Prix Attack and the Alapin being the 2 most popular at that level).  If you are going to pick up the Sicilian (or any opening for that matter), find players you like studying and see what lines they play (e.g. MVL/Fischer/Kasparov - Najdorf, Carlsen - Sveshnikov, Gawain Jones - Dragon, etc.).  Study their games, try to understand the moves they play and the plans from the various positions.

TedKaczynskiFR

I dont agree with many posts, and with the traditional point of view ( no sicilian before ur elo is < x).

First of all, statistics whatever are the elo are very good for black, even for low rated player or beginner.
Second, providing u analyze ur games with one engine, u will learn a lot with these dynamic positions generally with sicilian openings. As always, its important to play slow games and analyze them. U will learn and understand typical tactical and strategical patterns. Also u will see at which move u go out theory and database, starting building a repertoire.

Its very important i believe to play dynamic positions, u will learn a lot more this ways and not playing not critical and dull positions ( london system, d4+e3, catalan, etc).

Srimurugan108

I will vote for Silician defence to any beginner any day 

sndeww
zurkhaneh10 wrote:

I will vote for Silician defence to any beginner any day 

you haven't played any games, and joined three days ago

KetoOn1963

"Its very important i believe to play dynamic positions, u will learn a lot more this ways and not playing not critical and dull positions ( london system, d4+e3, catalan, etc)."

What is a dynamic position?  And the fact that you call openings "boring" proves you dont understand them.

sndeww

london and catalan are boring, but colle is not 

lol...

technically london isn't really boring, it's just annoying.

sndeww

"boring" = positional

PawnTsunami
SNUDOO wrote:

technically london isn't really boring, it's just annoying.

It is not like it is also referred to as the "Boring Opening" or "Boring System" or anything ....

sndeww
PawnTsunami wrote:
SNUDOO wrote:

technically london isn't really boring, it's just annoying.

It is not like it is also referred to as the "Boring Opening" or "Boring System" or anything ....

Wow, how did you know 

An_asparagusic_acid
SNUDOO wrote:

london and catalan are boring, but colle is not 

lol...

technically london isn't really boring, it's just annoying.

The catalan isn't boring, here is a hyper aggressive line in the Catalan:

 

sndeww
An_asparagusic_acid wrote:
SNUDOO wrote:

london and catalan are boring, but colle is not 

lol...

technically london isn't really boring, it's just annoying.

The catalan isn't boring, here is a hyper aggressive line in the Catalan:

 

it's no kingside attack, though

An_asparagusic_acid
SNUDOO wrote:
An_asparagusic_acid wrote:
SNUDOO wrote:

london and catalan are boring, but colle is not 

lol...

technically london isn't really boring, it's just annoying.

The catalan isn't boring, here is a hyper aggressive line in the Catalan:

 

it's no kingside attack, though

Nope, if white plays poorly he can be on the receiving end of an attack.