c3
Need help vs. Sicilian defense as White
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the grand prix attack may be facinating its pretty good against most players and you can use it against pretty much any sicilian
Why are you playing 1.e4 if you can't deal with the complications resulting from the English Attack or the Sicillian Dragon or whatever?
Anyways, what about 1.c3 or the Richter-Rauzer? I know the RR isn't exactly a quiet variation but it's dangerous for black and there are lots of positional lines(if Black adopts a hedgehog style approach and White tries to crush him with space advantage)
Try Sicilian Alapin. I'm also a 1. e4 player, and I find the Sicilian Alapin to be the best response for white to the Sicilian Defense.
Either the Alapin or the Grand Prix. Look at some games for both and decide where you want to go.
Also, I play a lot of the Be2 lines and so I would say perhaps you should just work on them a bit more and you'll be OK.
Hi gundamv.
I played this game recently as black. I started off with the Sicilian, my opponent didn't like it so went for the Alapin. We morphed into the French defence and ended up in the advanced variation. Which was fine by me as I like playing the French and ended up hammerning away at D4. How are you against the French? 
helltank wrote:
Why are you playing 1.e4 if you can't deal with the complications resulting from the English Attack or the Sicillian Dragon or whatever?
Anyways, what about 1.c3 or the Richter-Rauzer? I know the RR isn't exactly a quiet variation but it's dangerous for black and there are lots of positional lines(if Black adopts a hedgehog style approach and White tries to crush him with space advantage)
isn't the RR only playable vs the classical and the English attack only against the Najdorf?
You haven't played enough games on chess.com to give you any help!
Read-up on the Sicilian maybe.
Ok, so you don't like 6. Be2 in the open sicilian (I am supposing Najdorf). Well, the other 2 good options are 6. Bg5, and 6. Be3. I suggest getting better at playing one of those instead of looking for something else, if you learn the ideas you can do very well. In fact, while 6. Bg5 is quite complicate, 6. Be3 has some very simple ideas. Here is what you might normally play in the English Attack:
After Be3, f3, Qd2, O-O-O, for simple development, castling opposite black so you can do an aggressive pawn storm. Now, you said you don't do well here, so try attacking with g4, and then g5. Then, you can play f4 and then f5, followed by g6 with a good attack, or even h4-h5-g6 instead if you wanted. If you play these quickly without wasting time on for example your Bf1, you should do OK.
Good luck!
Hi. Looking at your chess.com ratings and your recent activity there are two things I'd suggest:
1. Don't focus on openings. Instead focus on the middlegame and tactics
I used to study openings a lot because I feared the middlegame. Recently I told myself to follow what I've heard from masters and study the middlegame and tactics. Last Saturday I went to a USCF tournament and I was able to win two 1900s and draw with two 2200s. In all of the games I was out of what openings I knew within 7 moves.
I still study openings, but only a little during correspondence games and after a live game.
2. Play longer time control games
Blitz is fun, but it doesn't really help you develop a thinking process. Longer games give you time to think and apply what you learn.
I agree with the above post and would like to suggest that perhaps not all variations of the Sicilian be met in the same way!
Thanks for the help so far. Re: Chess.com rating - I usually play my games on another site. I come here for the forums and for tactics trainer.
I recommmend you gm smirnov's video about an anti najdorf variation. Well, the title of his video is anti-najdorf, but you can use it against the dragon variation, and any other sicilians as well. It is about the move f3, and then c4 with a Maroczy bind structure.
The videos are about this. As always, smirnov analyzes a lot of variations, and very well. He creates videos about only interesting openings, but he explains them very well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-naOCZDy2hg
I am a 1 e4 player, and I am having some trouble against the Sicilian defense.
Normally, I play the Closed Sicilian, but I find that too often I either see cramped positions (which I don't like) or my opponent makes a crazy kingside attack.
I have also tried the Open Karpov approach (6 Be2 vs everything) to no avail, as Be2 seems to be more of a waiting move for me and I do not see the continuation.
Also, I tried the Open English Attack (Be3), but more often than not, I am on the losing end after 0-0-0 and a crazy queenside attack.
So, I am looking for an opening to use against the Sicilian defense as White. I am ok with either an anti-Sicilian or a Open Sicilian variation as long as I can use it consistently regardless of which Sicilian variation my opponent picks.
As a final note, please do not tell me to play 1 d4 instead, as my favorite opening as White is a 1 e4 opening and I have no intentions to stop playing it or to play it less often. Also, do not recommend the Smith-Morra Gambit. Thanks.