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Should I start playing a new opening

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inflammableking

In OTB chess I am around 1750 rated. I play the French Defense as Black. While I do not hate it, the positions are not amazing.

I want to try the Sicilian defense, but I am not sure if I like the positions or want to invest time learning all the theory. Advice?

inflammableking

I have a book on the Sicilian already, so theory is not a problem.

GabrieleMiceli

I love the French but if you feel a bit bored with it, try the Sicilian. It will give you new ideas.

wrathss

The french and the Sicilian are two completely different approaches against e4. You probably played the French for a reason (did you like it at some point?) and I don't know if you would like a style change of this scale.

Have you tried the Caro-Kann? I recommend that as you often get something like a french without the somewhat shaky looking French positions and without a bad bishop.

inflammableking

Thanks GabrieleMiceli! I'll look into it some more

inflammableking

I've never really thought about the caro-kann wrathss. Thanks for suggesting it.

inflammableking

I have no problem with the french, and sometimes the positions are quite interesting, but I guess I have played it quite a lot and need something different.

TheAmazingFailure

I completely agree with wrathss, the Caro-Kann is probably your best bet. I was a French Defense player before as well that disliked the resulting positions (Blocked Bishop, shaky kingside, etc.) and as soon as I tried the Caro-Kann I loved it. Many lines get into positions very similar to that of the French but with the Bishop out of the pawn chain so you end up very familiar with those sort of positions, and I've found that the lines that aren't similar to the French are pretty basic and easy to learn as well.

Here's a video that shows one of the main lines of the Caro-Kann and gives you a taste of the opening if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFUfscMAZ7w 

dpnorman

Do whatever you want. Have fun, explore stuff. I am around 1800 U.S.C.F. and depending on what I feel like doing at the time, I can play the Sicilian, French, or 1...e5 against 1. e4 and I also play 1. e4 and 1. d4 as white. However, there is something to be said for learning openings well. Don't switch your openings so much that you don't know them well enough. I think you should have a true main opening repertoire (your absolute favorite stuff that you could play all the time if you wanted) and then a bunch of backup openings after that.

The_Vision

I agree with dpnorman.  If you want to try the Sicilian, try it.  It's not like you can never switch back if you decide you prefer the French after all.

kikvors

You're only 1750, you can easily play any new opening without knowing the theory, your opponents won't be able to exploit minor mistakes. You just need to know why you play the moves you play. If you've played through a number of Sicilian games and like how they went, go for it!

I believe the book "FCO" is more than enough for all your opening needs.

Then it's a good idea to try out all the major defences to 1.e4 for say ten games each, to broaden your knowledge.

TheGreatOogieBoogie

You're clawing at class A, you need an ambitious approach.  Have you tried the Petroff?  You'll also need stuff against the Vienna Game, King's Gambit (I recommend the Falkbeer as the Fischer Defence is tough to play and fully understand) and Bishop's Opening (I personally play 2...Nc6 to steer the game away from unique channels, even if 2...Nf6 with ...c6 and ...d5 is objectively best according to theory white's very likely booked up on it) and the Danish Gambit (1.e4,e5 2.d4,exd4 3.c3,dxc3 4.Bc4,cxb2 5.Bxb2,Bb4+! 6.Kf1 is what I'd recommend though study other replies to 5...Bb4+ too)

1...e5 sounds like a lot of work and it can be, but mistakes tend to be more forgiving than the Sicilian and forming plans tends to be easier and straightforward. 

If you really want to play the Sicilian I'd recommend studying the Moscow and Najdorf poisoned pawn.  While much of Sharpest Sicilian 2012 is out of date the theoretical concepts and ideas nevertheless hold up. 

inflammableking

Thanks for all the helpful feedback. I agree witn dpnorman and kikvors comments, but I am worried that I will spend a lot of time learning theory for the opening.

If after this I do not like the opening then it will be a waste of time. Do you think I should take the risk?

Also, are you talking about playing it in rated OTB games or just on chess.com to try it out?

kikvors
inflammableking schreef:

Thanks for all the helpful feedback. I agree witn dpnorman and kikvors comments, but I am worried that I will spend a lot of time learning theory for the opening.

If after this I do not like the opening then it will be a waste of time. Do you think I should take the risk?

Also, are you talking about playing it in rated OTB games or just on chess.com to try it out?

So don't spend a lot of time on theory.

Chess.com may work too, as long as you take the games seriously and spend real time thinking on them, otherwise they're just for fun and won't help you in real games later.

Just play the openings in serious games, learn the theory afterwards (makes it much easier to remember). Do your best. If you leave theory, your opponents will have left it too.

And seriously -- could you give us the first ten moves of your last ten OTB games? I find it hard to believe that they're hard core opening theory. Someone is bound to go into an obscure sideline by move six or so, probably much easier. If you're thinking about a Sicilian (an opening I've played all my life), realize that 2.Nf3 and 3.d4, the Open Sicilian, is really rare OTB below 2000.

I'm rated 1981 OTB, played black against a 2175 in a team match this weekend, and played the classical KID for the first time in my life, knowing about five moves of theory ("7...exd4 8.Nxd4 Re8 9.Kh1 c6 and I go for Nbd7, maybe Qb6, aim for ...d5") and when he played 9.Be3 (because he didn't know theory) I figured 9...d5 ought to work there and I played that. I was fine out of the opening, but he outplayed me in the middlegame, just as one would expect...

But the thing is -- work on chess in general. Play through lots of annotated master games, watch videos, read articles about recent tournaments, it doesn't matter -- learn to recognize the opening and what both sides' goals are in that opening. You want to be able to play an opening for the first time and at least know what the idea of that opening is, that's not at all the same as knowing opening theory.

moveslowbro

Some people have already stated that the French and Caro Kann are similar but if u do not like the French is probably because u are outplayed in a very difficult game. The sicilian is good for attackers. U can play very versatile. The hyper accelerated dragon is fun to play or the Kan is also good. I used to play French and got bored so i started playing Sicilian Kan. Watch ouit for the Marocy Bind though...

GIex

I used to play the Caro-Kann in official games, but then I read some about the French. Frankly, I find it more agressive, consistent, exact (in terms of corelation between piece development, tempi and the general idea of the opening) and interesting than the Caro-Kann, if only by a small margin. There's a bad bishop, but in the CK it doesn't usually do much either except from getting exchanged, while there's also the problem with the lack of ...Nc6 and with c7-c5 being achieved in two moves instead of one. I played and liked the CK mainly because of the idea to exchange a c pawn for an e one should White decide to do so, which may be better in the endgame. But I can't remember that having been decisive in a game I've played. The Caro-Kann may be solid, but I think White hardly has middlegame troubles.

I agree that it's good to study different openings, not in the sense to remember their lines but to analyze them, see different ideas, be generally familiar with a wider range of positions in order to both be able to meet surprizes and deviations over the board and try different approaches before choosing one to study more in-depth.

dpnorman

@kikvors I have recently begun to play the Sicilian OTB (I am rated 1801) and I get the Open about half the time. The other half I get primarily Bb5 stuff. And one Alapin.

inflammableking

I agree with Glex completely about the caro-kann. I am not going to play it. I think u are right about learning openings to get familiar with positions.

I play the KID as well kikvors, so I think I am going to try the Sicilian Dragon. I am going to see how it goes on chess.com games first.

I only have 1 problem... The yugoslav attack variation in the Sicilian Dragon is meant to be very complex and theoretical-based. Do I need to spend time on theory for this variation?

dpnorman

The Sicilian Dragon is almost as theoretical as it gets. It might be worth it but I will say the vast majority of players between 1600 and 2100, and even higher than that actually, who play the Open Sicilian will likely play the Yugoslav, so you absolutely need to know what you are doing,

Dolphin27

I played the Sicilian Dragon for two years. I always got the feeling that my Yugoslav Attack playing opponents didn't know the theory at all, but it's such a basic attacking formation with such a simple, effective idea, that they didn't really need to.

I've now switched to the Accelerated Dragon, and playing it has proved that I was right in thinking my Yugoslav Attack playing opponents didn't really know the theory, because a lot of them are still trying to play it against the Accelerated Dragon. Smile  This is great for Black of course because by delaying the movement of the d-pawn White will be a tempo down compared to the normal Yugoslav/Dragon position so White is playing as Black.

What I also like about the Accelerated Dragon compared to the normal Dragon is that in the Maroczy Bind, which is supposed to be one of the more testing tries from White, it is much harder for White to come up with a plan. When you play the normal Dragon, you are handing your opponent an opening and middlegame plan they can play on autopilot and beat you without even thinking. But in the Maroczy Bind it's different. Then it's like "where's your plan now Bozo?"

I wouldn't play the normal Sicilian Dragon if I were you, there are much better Sicilians out there. In the normal Sicilian Dragon there's not much room for creativity against the Yugoslav Attack. You can lose games without being able to play one original idea of your own.