not an insult to you 1kings3 , a year may only be the start of learning this opening , it has so many variations each has tactics and strategies that may meld or differ , a rich , vein of chess awaits but the coalface is very deep
Is the Sicilian really chess?
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Feb 23, 2017
0
#43
chuddog wrote:
There is no reason anyone rated below 2200 or so should be making any effort to memorize 30 moves of theory. This will be less than useless to you in an actual game. You need to know basic piece placement and pawn structures for the major openings and UNDERSTAND the ideas for both sides. Indeed even at master level and above, no one blindly memorizes moves. Strong players learn lines but still focus on understanding the typical positions, plans, and tactical motifs, and try to innovate with their own new ideas.
The game above is a good example. White's win had nothing to do with preparation or memorizing lines. In a typical Be2 Najdorf pawn structure, black handed white the game with 14...Bg4??, a positional blunder that gives white a good knight vs. a bad bishop for the rest of the game. Black had to play 14...Be6 and fight for the d5 square. If black had studied the Sicilian with the goal of UNDERSTANDING, rather than MEMORIZING, he would have known this.
That said, the Sicilian is a good opening to play for both sides for those trying to learn chess at any level. It teaches you a variety of opening and middlegame plans and typical pawn structures and leads to complex battles from which you learn tactics.
With my chess students, I don't teach opening lines. I teach strategy, tactics, and understanding the game. I'm currently taking new students if anyone is interested.
Yes, it turned out that way, and I see that in hindsight that he got a strong knight on d5 that I couldn't really attack effectively, because of pawn structure and that my white squared bishop was off the board. I generally prefer bishops to knights a lot myself though, but this position was an exception and I have to take note.
Edit: I also overestimated my position around move 14-16, because of my fetish for bishops. I was even offered a draw just before 16. Rb8, but declined... Those offers of a draw can be a serious distraction, and I usually just see red whenever they come in. Except if I have a winning position, then I just smile at them. I have never offered a draw.
I didn't have to play 12. Be6. My intuition tells me that the bishop really belongs on b7 positionally and logically, and it always seems I have a better win rate vs white e4, whenever I get the time to fianchetto that bishop. But it's usually hard to find the time for it without being attacked tactically in a rather cramped position.
@anok1 you are right! But i need to get started and probably learn one variation or two... I really want it to be my opening with black.
I used to play the Sicilian and I recall one opponent who knew which line I played and prepared against it. Just as we were approaching the middlegame, my opponent stood up and told me that this position had been reached between X and Y (I can't remember the relevant names but two strong English players) and the question now was whether I could play at the 228 level (around 2400). I just smiled and wondered whether he could play at the 228 level in a position he wasn't familiar with. My usual Q-side attack went through as normal.
Yes, people might know more theory than you do but they still have to play the position in front of them unless they have found a mating refutation.
ebolakitty wrote:
Whenever someone responds to e4 with c5, I just go ahead and resign.
You can as white learn the Smith Morra gambit against Sicilian and have a lot of attacking fun.
DjonniDerevnja wrote:
ebolakitty wrote:
Whenever someone responds to e4 with c5, I just go ahead and resign.
You can as white learn the Smith Morra gambit against Sicilian and have a lot of attacking fun.
The Smith-Morra Gambit is still one of many, many variations of the Sicilian so why bother? And I do use it along with the Wing Gambit on the infrequent occasions that I play a Sicilian game. The game still stinks.
Feb 23, 2017
0
#48
ebolakitty wrote:
First let me say that it is sound and that it works.
My observation is that everything is so shop worn about it that I don't see how there could be any fun in it. It is more like a religion than a chess opening. Players who use it tend not to use anything else. There are a million variations and Sicilian players know them all 30 moves deep. That is all that they do, after all. I know. I know. That means that you have to study 30 moves deep. Still, is it chess if you don't make your first unscripted move until the game is half over?
Sure, other openings have a dense catalogue of theory. But none of them seem so rigid and predictable. Whenever someone responds to e4 with c5, I just go ahead and resign. He didn't do anything wrong so he deserves to win. It's just that I play chess to play. I prefer to move on in the hope that the next guy wants to play too.
For the Sicilian fans out there: What is in it for you?
As white I never play 2.Nf3 and 3.d4. I feel like the play is too straightforward for the black player.
There are tons of choices that don't involve these moves. Pick one where you're getting the type of middlegame you enjoy.
ebolakitty wrote:
DjonniDerevnja wrote:
ebolakitty wrote:
Whenever someone responds to e4 with c5, I just go ahead and resign.
You can as white learn the Smith Morra gambit against Sicilian and have a lot of attacking fun.
The Smith-Morra Gambit is still one of many, many variations of the Sicilian so why bother? And I do use it along with the Wing Gambit on the infrequent occasions that I play a Sicilian game. The game still stinks.
Why not bother? Its fun to win, and the Smith Morra Gambit gives you a lot fun, if you play it well.
ANOK1 wrote:
not an insult to you 1kings3 , a year may only be the start of learning this opening , it has so many variations each has tactics and strategies that may meld or differ , a rich , vein of chess awaits but the coalface is very deep
Long time to learn it is an issue with the Sicilian. I have played it for four years and still have major problems and errors.
Feb 23, 2017
0
#51
ebolakitty wrote:
DjonniDerevnja wrote:
ebolakitty wrote:
Whenever someone responds to e4 with c5, I just go ahead and resign.
You can as white learn the Smith Morra gambit against Sicilian and have a lot of attacking fun.
The Smith-Morra Gambit is still one of many, many variations of the Sicilian so why bother? And I do use it along with the Wing Gambit on the infrequent occasions that I play a Sicilian game. The game still stinks.
I just don't understand your definition of chess. Read this article on opening preparation by IM Silman: https://www.chess.com/article/view/monster-opening-preparation
E.g. Quotes: "NORMAL OPENING PREPARATION - 3) You learn and memorize all the main lines, and make sure you fully comprehend the system’s nuts and bolts (all the opening’s tactical and positional patterns)."
"Heavy opening preparation is surely easier with the help of chess engines! But with or without chess computers, I have to say that searching for new opening ideas -- and spending days, weeks, or even months exploring a promising variation -- was one of my favorite things about chess. I still enjoy doing it (for students or friends) to this day."
Feb 23, 2017
0
#52
well the Sicilian is actually the only defense I am used to against 1.e4 though I play the Alekhine too and played the French a few times to block the 4 move mate. Also I like the St George Defense and play a bit of Pirc, they can be boring compared to Sicilian though.
Sep 1, 2017
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#53
My guess is that GMs seldom memorize many variations deeply. Some GM's have said they seldom look more than a couple moves ahead in the middlegame and I personally know American NM's who say they don't look deeply into openings - just the general ideas behind them.. But they do recognize patterns that tells them where the game can and cannot go in their favor.
I was Chief Process Development Chemist for a subsidiary of Dow Chemical. After months of lab work, then pilot plant work, I and my assistants would have a new synthetic process ready for 10,000 gallon reactors in the plant.
That is analogous to GM's preparing openings, exploring many variations and then selecting the variation tree they like best.
But, suddenly, on starting the process in the plant, something unexpected would happen. The temperature would rise dangerously. Someone would forget to shut a valve and too much of a reactant or solution would cause a problem, etc.
I had to quickly determine what must be done to fix the problem and I did NOT rely solely on my previous months of work on the process - I relied on my undergraduate and graduate school training and my experience with similar or parallel problems in the past. In at least one case, I had never had to consider acid/base conditions in one reaction where my solution to a plant problem was to add a specific amount of base to partly neutralize an acid.
That is analogous to what GM's do when the game varies from the planned variation. I becomes a matter of patterns, previous experiences, and tactical and strategic understanding.
I have an easy solution. If you don't like playing against the Sicilian, don't play 1. e4!
Sep 1, 2017
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#56
ebolakitty wrote:
Sure, other openings have a dense catalogue of theory. But none of them seem so rigid and predictable.
All the main e4 openings/defenses go deep into theory, especially if you're facing a prepared opponent. Caro-Kann, Pirc, Ruy Lopez, French, Modern, Scandinavian, Alekhine ...
I actually find the Sicilian more flexible than a lot of them.
Instead of getting mad at Sicilian players for liking 1...c5, take some time to find an approach that you enjoy playing against it.
You don't have to play the Open Sicilian if you don't want to. There a lot of closed systems or gambit systems to choose from.
Or, as others have already said, you don't have to play 1.e4 . . .
lol seems ezz
Sep 1, 2017
0
#59
Sicilian is for boring people who don't care about pushing the frontiers of chess. IMO
I will probably spend the rest of the year really learning the opening, I am starting to inject some aggression in my chess game and think that the Sicilian would suit my playing style.