Pirc of Sicilian

EDIT: Sorry typo on the name, cant seem to edit it - it was meant Pirc OR Sicilian.

What do you think i should play in my repertuare - Pirc or Sicilian Najdorf/Taimanov/Okellys/Scheveningen.

I am leaning toward pirc, because i also play Kings Indian and opponent can force pirc defence anyway after 1.d4 nf6 2.Nc3! g6 3.e4 so playing KID i have to learn Pirc too.

And another reason - why i wrote so many systems, i think its best to understand sicilian as whole, not 1 particular move order with a6 or Nc6 or Nbd7, since 1 move from white can make big difference giving me chance to deviate from my strategy and give me advantage and i am playing 1.e4 from white so i have to play all those variations as white anyway.

1 big big reason why i wouldnt want to play pirc over sicilian is because i feel sicilian is like a hooligan defence. They dont care what you say or what theory says - they just do what they feel like. Experiment all the way, can do lot of bluffs and adopt different ideas - closed center, open center, half open, pawns on d6 e6 or bolder pawns on d6 e5, Bishop on e7 defending or on f8 keeping king in center with 4 pawn shield(after gxf6). And then theres the sweet things - combinations, traps, super sharp game with 4-5 pieces hanging at a time!, positional sacrifices, pawn storm techniques..... ahhhh

I learned pirc and now trying to complete my knowledge on Kings Indian so now i'm playing pirc. Sicilian i will be learning last(or will i?) now i know only like up to move 8 some variations till move 12 maybe, but also maybe only like 30-40% of the ideas. And i have analyzed maybe 5-10 grandmaster games, so its basiaclly nothing. Practice about half year in Najdorf, Taimanov mostly and little of Okelly, Scheveningen and quick Qc7 line. Even it might sound a lot of knowledge to a player of Chess.com rating 1200-1500(blitz) its really nothing. I can barely come out of opening alive(also not always and never really against 1800+ player)

I hope i get an answer from players 1800+, what do you think about that? Is it worth the trouble to spend year or two to learn the sicilian well or just stick with KID/Pirc, which in a way also interesting, but game never feels equal there. Always theres big pressure on you. 1 mistake and you could get blown away just like that!

I had your same problem a few months back, and decided to switch to pirc instead of the sicilian Najdorf. I have to say, that I am very pleased with the decision simply because the theory of the pirc is not as big and it is very much managedable unlike the sicilian where you can reach the very last move of theory and end up not understanding the position or the moves that get you there in the first place. What I did to get better in an opening was, I played with my friends in the chessclub since they all play 1.e4, and took advantage that they all played a different system for White. I would analyze the games with my computer at home afterwards and insert those suggested moves on Chess Position Trainer 4. Very quickly I found myself getting passed the opening phase and into the middle-game. Search my standard games, you'll see that very rarely I get blown in the opening phase as black.

Thanks pfren! I did not know that. Now that you tell me it that looks obvious lol:) Stupid me.

Thanks for your input Chesu360. I think you might be right...

Pirc fits better with your repertoire.

As Pfren said you can play 2..d5, but if you have pirc as your main v 1.e4, then you can just play d6 or g6 and allow 3.e4, not bothering with any extra veresov theory.

Thanks Assault - still waiting for other responses. The more the better, dont be afraid to say your opinion.

The Dragon is a horrible defense.

At the GM Level, after Black plays 35 forced moves, it's a dead draw.

Below the GM Level, it's lost for Black because no amateur is going to know all 35 moves, nor the ideas in White's sideline options.

Pirc and dragon require you to know a lot of complicated positional ideas and your tactics must be very strong because unless you have lots of time and an amazing memory that will be what gets you out of ugly positions. Or you could just defend the Veresov and learn why it's not the queen's gambit.

WOW! oh my god. Simply amazing game. I counted 11 tactic moves - where you give an unprotected piece or leave something hanging:D Thats pirc?:))) Maybe i should really switch to it hahaha. Memory and tactics yeah thats interesting point. I think thats something i'd like to train:)

The forum topic ["Why The Pirc?"] addresses some of the issues mentioned here.

Yeah. What's funny is that this was a blindfold game.