Positional ideas in the Sicilian?

Hi all,

What are the positional ideas in the sicilian if your opponent, who is playing the white pieces, decides to play an e4 and d3 pawn setup? In other words, he does not play the open sicilian against you, who is playing the black pieces. So, what are black's ideas here, if he is normally a scheveningen/najdorf player? Where does black want his pieces? Let us brainstorm here, because it seems like things are usually more clear cut for black if the game goes into an open sicilian. But, there are many people who don't play the open sicilian. What is black to do in the case of not going into the open sicilian? Also, how does black play actively and agressively?

Thanks

going after the king in some sort of sharp variation that's nervewrecking, but a lot of fun to play!

Are there any lines in specific like that? Also what are just black's plans and ideas in general to play actively?

Yes, look up the lines in the Closed Sicilian. White tries to go for a K-side attack and Black can expand on the queenside with b5 and also plays a well timed ...f5 to stop white from achieving the f4-f5 push and it puts a stop to the attack for a while.

Same can apply to KIA setups.

Estragon, that is true, but how can black play actively when white decides to play d3? What is black's plan to develop in this closed sicilian?

Theoretically, Black should try to play d5 as soon as possible when White drops the initiative ball and decides to play positionally instead of actively.

d5, sounds like a good idea - the following is a portion of a typical game where white plays this closed setup.

I usually go for a KIA attack set up when I play a closed Sicilian.  Bc4 looks artificial but interestingly enough it's a move :p

So is 3.e5 which looks interesting to me.

Would it be possible to play a KIA setup as black against white if he plays this d3-e4 setup?

Then it would be a Dragon setup.

Maybe 6...d5 might be better in the example above, instead of the typical Qc7--pinning the d pawn to the Q.

Yes, an early d5 might be good, but it might be annoying for black if white starts checking him along the e-file. Also, if you wanted to play a dragon setup as black, playing e6 would be discouraged. But how to stay active? It's also really annoying when you try to play a6-b5 to fianchetto your queen's bishop, but then your opponent stops it by playing a4 right after you play a6. Any ideas there without having to make the positional concession of weak pawns by playing b6?

Playing a6 and then b6 is OK if you really need to fianchetto that Bishop. It's done in the Hippopotamus Defense and the Hedgehog. A pawn on b6 does cut down on the Queen's access to the d8-a5 diagonal. But if you need to play it, you need to play it and deal with problems later.

The problem with playing b6 is that the queenside pawns are very weak. So, in the event of a rook infiltration along the d-file, defending the pawns could be annoying.