Thanks for your input. It looks like you've incorporated some interesting sidelines into that.
To me all the different variations White can use against all the different Sicilians is confusing. I think I'd prefer to use the English/Yugoslav attacks but even in these there are so many different lines for White.
A lot of it is just plain old knowledge. Playing thru various lines, finding the comfort zone, taking the lumps (you don't learn by winning!), etc.
Certain variations are more narrow in terms of choice for White (i.e. Sveshnikov) while others have a single variation known to be strong and the rest cause Black no problems (i.e. Yugoslav vs the Dragon, Rauzer vs the Classical).
Some people try to be systematic, and play the same line against everything - doesn't work! While the English Attack is "playable" against the Scheveningen (i.e. via 5...e6), it's not as strong as against the Najdorf where ...a6 is already committed (while 6...a6 is the "Classical Scheveningen", the "Modern Scheveningen" avoids that move).
I can tell you what I play against the various lines:
Najdorf - 6.Bg5
Scheveningen - Perenyi if 6...a6, Classical Lines with Be2 (the fact that Be3 was played first doesn't really matter, Classical involved Be2 and Be3) against the Modern Scheveningen
Dragon - Yugoslav
Classical - Rauzer
Sveshnikov - Main line
Kalashnikov - Both the Positional (6.c4) and Tactical (6.N1c3) lines, depending on mood
Accel Dragon - Both Maroczy and Main Line, again depending on mood
Taimanov - Main Lines, both positional (Be2/Be3) and Tactical (Be3/Bd3) lines
Kan - Main lines with Bd3
Most the other lines are garbage, like the Four Knights, Pin Variation, O'Kelly, etc. Just knowing the general ideas and not falling for any of the opening traps in these lines should get you through.
Thanks for the input ThrillerFan.
Which Yugoslav do you play against the Dragon, 9.g4, 9.Bc4, or 9.0-0-0?
Also I thought I'd heard that in the Scheveningen it was called the Keres Attack and was one of the reasons the Scheveningen isn't so popular.
Which Sicilians are you seeing most and least commonly?
Thanks for the input ThrillerFan.
Which Yugoslav do you play against the Dragon, 9.g4, 9.Bc4, or 9.0-0-0?
Also I thought I'd heard that in the Scheveningen it was called the Keres Attack and was one of the reasons the Scheveningen isn't so popular.
Which Sicilians are you seeing most and least commonly?
Against the Dragon - 9.Bc4
The Keres Attack and the Perenyi Attack are two different animals:
Keres - 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.g4
Perenyi - 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Be3 e6 7.g4
Note that the second one can come via different move orders, like in my case, 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 e6 6.Be3 a6 7.g4
Most and least common depends on where you play. Most clubs or regions have pet openings played at that club. Where I am, the French, Pirc, Dragon, and e6-Sicilians are pretty popular (I myself have been playing 1.e4, Najdorf, Grunfeld as of late). You go to other sections of the country, and you get a lot of double king-pawn (rare in Charlotte area) and Najdorf Sicilians, so it depends on where you are.
Repertoire selection should be based on your current instincts OTB. How do you figure that out? You play OTB games and see what works. Expand based on what feels right.
To avoid long forced variations and heavy theory, I'm following the lines given by Timothy Taylor in his book "Slay the Sicilian!" You get a position and just play. He suggests ways to create gentle pressure like Karpov or Kramnik. For the first time I actually like playing against the Sicilian.
Thanks everyone for all the info.
I'm actually a Sicilian Dragon player myself as Black and have been since I started chess. I still haven't learned much Yugoslav Attack theory beyond move 12 or so. In my Yugoslav attack games (live standard, not correspondence) I find my opponents never really know the theory either. Like one game I had against Vleandro (about 100 points higher rated than me) was a 9.0-0-0 Yugoslav attack that went 9...d5 10.Kb1 (I was out of book at this point) Nxd4 11.Bxd4 - Neither of us knew that White is supposed to play e5 and postpone the recapture for a move. In another game he used 9.Bc4 and I played the Chinese Dragon with 9...Bd7 10.0-0-0 Rb8 and shortly pushed my b pawn and he responded to it wrong so I got a signifigant advantage out of the opening, then I made a mistake and lost. He told me right after the game "I think your Rb8 move was inaccurate, in the Sicilian normally people put their rooks on the semi-open c-file" so he didn't even know what the Chinese Dragon was and he's rated on chess.com 2078 live standard. But I find this is the case in my normal (non-correspondence) chess games pretty much everyone as White knows the general set-up and ideas of the Yugoslav attack but when it comes to specific moves most of them don't know it. I've been playing the Dragon for over two years now and I still don't know it very well from the Black side either, largely because I only get an open Sicilian in a fraction of my games, then a Yugoslav attack in another fraction, then the 9th move variations (which are like three different openings almost) in another fraction. If only I saw the Yugoslav as much as 2.Bc4 and 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 I'd be an expert on it by now but alas.
I agree with your assessment Airut that 9.0-0-0 is the best. This is what I would use with White and after d5 I think the best move is Qe1 which if I recall correctly the main line after that leads to a rook endgame where Black has an isolated pawn.
The Sicilian Dragon is one Sicilian where I'd know something to do against it (and in addition to the Yugoslav I also like the Karpov System suggested in Tim Taylor's book by the way), but when I actually go into an open Sicilian I never seem to get a Dragon, it always seems to be a6 or e6 or any other Sicilian but a Dragon.
The most challenging thing for me is not memorizing lines it's understanding what all the options are for meeting each Sicilian and then trying to determine which one to go with, this is the part that's overwhelming as I don't even fully understand what all the options are or the differences between them. I'll be perusing IM Taylor's book along with any other "Play the Open Sicilian as White" books I can find in the coming weeks and hopefully more people will chime in here with their own experiences.
Yeah there are definitely regional differences in opening choices. In the chess circles I play in here in MD people play a lot of Open Sicilians but also a ton of Smith-Morras, as well as Grand Prix attacks from the lower-rateds (1700 and below). I play 1...e5 most of the time as black, which is fairly uncommon here, as everyone and his brother seems to play some pet Sicilian. And against the Sicilian I play the Bb5 system, which most of the people I play (even up to 1900 level) don't know that well because they rarely ever see it.
I haven't looked into the Bb5+ system much but I don't find it poses any particular problem when I play against it as Black. I'm always trying to put a knight on c4 anyway and after the light squared bishops are exchanged it's easier to do it.
Also I saw a lines arising after Bb5+ where a French Advance pawn structure is created with White having exchanged their good bishop while keeping their bad one. Specifically 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7 Qxd7 5.0-0 Nc6 6.c3 Nf6 7.d4 cxd4 8.cxd4 d5 9.e5 Ng8 10.Nc3 e6 What do you do about this? To me this looks strategically bad for White.
I've tried a few different anti-Sicilians myself. I've gone to the conclusion that the Open Sicilian is the way to go. Most of us like open positions, having development and our knights in the center and being able to play aggressively. The only obstacle in the way is the fear of all this theory. I'm thinking I may start an Open Sicilian notebook where I have a section for each Open Sicilian and write the various ideas I have and options I've found. Playing the Open Sicilian is like being an entomologist in the rainforst, you will encounter many different specimens, some are strange and/or rare.
I play the open sicilian with Be2 style.
Najdorf Opocensky (6.Be2)
Classical Dragon
Scheveningen Classical and Modern (6.Be2 a6 or 6.Be2 Nc6)
Classical Boleslavsky (6.Be2)
Sveshnikov Main Line 9.Nd5
Taimanov and Paulsen Nc3 variations and I go to Be2 lines
I recomend study games of Karpov for this repertoire.
The above position is considered theoretically equal and leads to lots of draws. Some have tried for a quick kingside attack with an early h4, but it hasn't always worked out well. It's playable, but I play the 5. c4 lines. The resulting Maroczy Bind position is nice for white because he has gotten rid of his bad bishop. The winner is usually the one who understands how to play the Maroczy Bind better, but unlike in the 5. 0-0 line, white is considered to have a slight theoretical edge.
I have played Bb5 Sicilian only three times so far in tournaments (I only returned to playing 1. e4 about two months ago, and I only play 1. e4 sometimes- I also play 1. d4 depending on circumstances and if I know my opponent's repertoire I may choose one or the other since I know both) and my first game was an easy win against a 1400ish player who blundered a lot. The next was at the Eastern Open and it was a very slow-developing game against an 1870 player where I didn't know what I was doing and lost. I then did some more research on the Maroczy Bind resulting positions and got a bit more familiar. My other game came about a month ago, when I had a nice positional win over a 1600 in the Maroczy Bind. But of course I am higher-rated than 1400 and 1600 and lower-rated than 1900 (I am 1811) so the results I had were expected and therefore don't really show much about the opening. So that's just my experience so far.
If you play the Open Sicilian, how did you go about selecting your repertoire against all the different Sicilians? Also, which Sicilians do you see most and least often and how has your overall experience been playing the Open Sicilian?
I'd like to start playing the Open Sicilian but it seems rather daunting. Building our 1.e4 repertoires is challenging enough, and by playing the Open Sicilian it seems we must create a repertoire within a repertoire. I trust that once you do build one it will be worth it, I just don't know how to begin.