I've Been Getting My Scicilian Destroyed :(

Im not a big fan of the dragon of the najdorf black exposes himself to alot of violent attacks by white in exchange for the c file and some counterattacking chances later on, i prefer the paulsen or some other related Nc6 lines

later

goommba88

12. ... h6 avoids the piece loss.

sicilianka more habana cuba gg

Play the Scotch.

Is this a euphemism?

Your loss shouldn't be blamed on the opening... Honestly, I think you need to work on your tactical vision and learn a little bit of positional chess for instance knowledge on pawn structure etc..

Actually, the ..d6..e6..g6 structure is one of the standard options for black against the non-open Sicilians.  (Closed, Grand Prix, KIA, etc.)  The way to expose this structure is to play d4 and get play on the semi-open d file against Black's d6 pawn.  If Black already has ..a6 in, like he does in the Paulsen, it becomes a little harder to exploit.

Whereas 10...Nbd7 would have been an improvement, I think your position is already a bit fudged when you put your KN on f6.  In this structure your Ns belong behind your pawns, ideally on e7 and c6.  The trouble with putting a N on f6 is, not only are you blocking your Bg7 diagonal, but if White gets in f2-f4 it can be difficult to get out of the way of f4-f5,g3-g4-g5, etc.

Interesting maxim.  It seems others have pointed that out as well.  I'll have to keep that in mind and play around with it.  My original thinking was using E6 to prevent WHITE's Knight move from C3 to D5.  I see that move a lot from my opponents and I've always hated that move (the Knight is kind of a nuissance sitting so deep in my space).  

NOTE:  They do it after they remove my Knight on F6 with their Bishop.  So, my thought was why not just play E6 first to prevent that move?

Its very easy: When you play the knight to f6 you need to play d6, if you play the knight to e7 you can play e7 without trouble because that prepares d5 and f5 without having problems with a pinned knight on f6

Of course you can play ...e6 and ...g6 in many Sicilian lines, but you do have to understand what you are doing, which is hardly the case here:

Verdict is: forget about Sicilians, and try improving your tactical skills, and developing a basic positional understanding (since you are clearly lacking that right now).

It's good to know what an opening is "about" first, rather than memorizing a lot of lines and variations. You need to know that white wants to play d4 at some point in a Sicilian, it's kind of a theme, and black needs to try to prevent it. Another example of learning what openings are about is that in the French, black has a hard time with his light square bishop, so if you're playing white against it, make it even harder on him if you can. At our rating level, those tidbits will work for you, even if you don't fully understand an opening.

2. Bc4 (The Bowlder Attack?) is perfectly playable for White. It's not a line that I play, but it is certainly better than its reputation.

As so many other posters have indicated, the combination of e6 and g6 only works in certain positions.

1. 5 pawn moves in the first 5 moves? Not Good

2. 12...Qb6?? - Simple match, and tactics.  2 attackers, and 1 defender = lost piece. 

I've gotten slightly better in my Sicilian (like I'm spelling it better now  ...) and here was my most recent 10-minute Blitz game in it (as BLACK):  

 

I felt my opponent was winning at the last move when he offered a draw, which I accepted.  It was possibly due to both of our clocks running low on time and him not wanting to lose on time somehow.  But he was clearly winning as far as I can tell.  I felt I blundered in a few minor ways (esp. on MOVE #36) in the game - as did my opponent, I think.

Nevertheless, I'd love to hear I could have improved my play and things I may have missed.  Thanks so much! 

[Note:  I play in sub-1200 games online with opponents usually rated between 900 and 1100.)

Well... at first I thought that 10.b4 is way too loosening (which is of course true), that f4 mixes badly with it, and finally that 14.a4 is way too much.

Here is a nice positional exercise (the actual position is after white's 14.a4 lemon):

How Black (who has the move) should deal with White's Queenside pseudo-aggression?

Hint: There is an excellent way, as well as an even better, virtually winning one.

The "excellent" one requires a bit of calculation, while the winning one, not at all: just applying one of the most well-known positional principles.

The Najdorf usually leads to beautifully played major piece endgames. 

As for getting better at the Sicilian you don't have an opening problem but rather should get up to speed on pawn structure knowledge.  Dynamic Pawn Play in Chess is a great resource for learning about various pawn breaks, and ...d5 is thematic.  You don't usually see it because white restrains it, but keep in mind the threat can sometimes be more dangerous than the execution.  In some lines g4 is played by white to prevent Nbd7 as after g5 the d7 square is the Nf6's best. 

5...b5 looks well, white´s bishop haven´t good squares to go after that.

Isn't 5...b5 (instead of 5...a6) failing to 6.Bxb5?

The poor soul probably meant 5...a6 6.Be3 b5, which does not drop a pawn, but still is a bad move after 7.Nd5, or even 7.a4 b4 8.Nd5.