Is the Sicilian meant for chess experts only?

Lou Stule, I’m glad you had fun with this game. I noticed this was your first win as Black in correspondence chess in a while. Congratulations! 

I understand.

I'm still pretty much a noob, but i can play sicilian lines just like lou steele did ^^  ....when i started actually thinking about openings and wanted to play more seriously, I researched the English and the Sicilian and learned those lines as deep as possible. Since the English is a mirror of the Sicilian (with the extra tempo as white) many of the lines end up in similar places. Its been useful to me to start learning openings this way.... not only is the Sicilian statistically the best e4 response, but the English is a great weapon offensively, since people don't see it as much.

The same apples to the kings Indian defense and the kings Indian attack. Getting familiar with both  by playing them exclusively for a while hardwired those longer lines into my smooth simian brain, and helped me get used to countering traps and such that people try to set.

So now if im black playing against e4, I use Sicilian. Against d4 I use kings Indian. And I'm comfortable against the English since I've played it myself so much.

Tldr: im dumb and I rock Sicilian. You can too

Thanks! The game details show it as a live game though, that is how I remember it too.

Thanks. Ya...32...Rd4 is a move where you kinda think there is probably a better one but you make it any way.  I was winning at that point so just went with it.  Thanks again.

I’ll take my chances:

Good game!  A lot of my opponents think that Bxf6 induces a weakness on Black's kingside. but Rg8 is an excellent way to deal with it.

Bxf6, even when played ill-timed like in this game, does create weaknesses on Black's kingside- this is a fact, and it does not matter what you, or your opponents think.

In the above game (several other errors and misjudgements omitted) Black's plan which started with ...b4 was very risky, and it should lead Black to serious trouble after 14.Qb1! (in place of the silly 14.Nf3) Qc7 15.Qb2! which prepares doubling on the b-file, and also indirectly touches that weak pawn at f6.

I think chess in general should be for experts, its too much to try to understand, you can read zillions of chess books and they will hardly make any difference to your playing strength, it hardly matters what opening you play at all, at my measly level you could play some crazy version of the dragon and still win, or at least not lose in the opening.

Chess is for anybody who wants and likes to play it. Hikaru Nakamura reached 3000 with bongcloud and 2500 doing Botez gambit. If you are good enough, openings don't matter.

I don't see how we can enjoy something that is essentially cloaked in darkness unless experts don't really know what they are doing either, which may be the case for I have heard them say many times in interviews that they had no idea what was going on.

The Sicilian can be played at beginner level, but you have to know at least a few lines as things get hella tricky after 5 moves already.
There's no way you'll find your way out of a correctly played Smith-Morra, Najdorf English Attack, or Sveshnikov, without at least knowing a few 15-move sequences.
I advise to start with the Hyperaccelerated Dragon which can transpose to a Pterodactyl Defense. It's a little less deep or at least playable at amateur level. Or just open up the center and play it by ear from there.

Don't even think about playing the Kan, Paulsen, Scheveningen, or Mengarini. The Taimanov? Maybe.

To seriously train the Sicilian, I found one of the best ways is to download the Play Magnus app and compete against Judit Polgar age 29. She is the absolute expert in the Sicilian and the app takes you all the way down the rabbithole.

Hi! I think Sicilian is not only for experts. I would recommend it for intermediate and higher level players -but not beginners, who should preferably stick to 1...e5 instead. To play the Sicilian you should first make the choice of your main line(s) against 2.Nf3: Dragon, Najdorf, Taimanov, Sheveningen, Classical, Sveshnikov, Kan....depending of your taste. Then you need to go deep up to say minimum 12 moves in your main line. But you have also to be prepared to meet a number of White's choices like Closed Sicilian, KIA, Alapin, Rossolimo, Morra Gambit and others -otherwise playing the Sicilian can be a frustrating experience. So you need much more study time than with other replies to 1.e4. The volume of theory available for Sicilian is more or less the same as the other Semi-open defenses together- that's why ECO splitted the B volume in 2, one of them dedicated to the Sicilian.

Good luck!

No, just play the Sicilian. 

Waiting for some self professed "expert", (you know who you are) to make a snarky comment about her not winning with the Scicilian, her opponents lost.. etc. blah, blah, blah. 

Oh by the way, that Dude won. I love how this guy is always pointing out everybody else's mistakes, it's almost as though he has never lost a game himself.  

Vat poilhsjsg

It probably should only be played by masters.

You don't need to be Magnus Carlsen to enjoy a game of chess.