Sicilian Defense - which is the best??

Why black should want to rush to play dragons beats me. The dragon is a pussy.

And the hyper IS unsound.

I play the Dragon for variety; various 2...e6 Sicilians are my alternative to meeting 1.e4. I like the Dragon because its very demanding and taxes your skills at both attack and defence (and typically in the same game). I like that its double edged and can be decided by a single tempo. I don't think its that theoretical when you're playing at the U2000 level either.

That there is a lot of theory in an opening doesn't mean white is going to know it. I doubt class level players know very much the Yugoslav Attack, beyond the main ideas, simply because there's no reason to study it in preference to any other reply from black, unless they play it. Its hardly a fashionable opening anymore.

The Accelerated Dragon is a whole other animal entirely: quieter games where white isn't able to stir much up against black (but neither is black often able to put any real pressure on white's king) and not that much opening theory. A good enough choice for a positional player who wants a solid defence to 1.e4 and doesn't want to deal with much theory.

I always try to play the Sveshnikov but sometimes wind up in a scheveningen but I feel Ok with either one. I need to look at more theory on the Sveshnikov, though

wow... 3 pages of information and suggestions.....thanks to all who made their comments... really thank you...

by the way.........actually now i have decided to play the Sicilian Najdorf then transpose it to Scheveningen......

The time needed to study the opening ( all the theories ) will not be a problem, by the end of this year ( November and December ) , I can have at least 8 hours a day for chess ( probably 1 hour 30 minutes for the opening ) 

but the problem is..... will it be too advanced for me????  

Honestly, Najdorf scheveninguen-style is quite complicated, but okay, you can try and see what happens. If you feel you're stuck or don't understand what's going on in your games, you can still pick something else later 

I have an ebook (based on a book) called Play the Najdorf Scheveningen Style by Emms.

It provides a cmoplete repertoire and in many cases hr provides more than one option for Black.

Some of the lines are pretty tricky and dangerous (for Black!) so the 8 hours/day would come in handy.

Hedgey, where does the bishop go if white plays 5 Nb3 in the Kan you proposed?

To a7 or to e7. Going to a7 is the traditional way (when White usually exchanges with Qe2 and Be3 at some point), but nowadays the retreat to e7 is more popular.

Thought so, otherwise Black gets compromised on the dark squares near his king. I've played both and when I used to have a photographic memory, which sadly I lost, I was able to play a line where black plays to a7 and allows white to take there, recapturing with the rook. Black is able to conjour up a strong central attack, which went exactly according to some grandmaster game, move for move.

thks

Well as far as I know it's the best book available that covers the opening you said you wanted to play.

And I don't believe in this whole rating police. This isn't the Kremlin. It's only a game. It's not like I'm telling a 5 year old who just learned to read to go to the library and provide a deconstructive analysis of The Marchant from Venice.

If you're ambitious enough and willing to put in the effort then I don't see why not. The book is fine,  you don't have to memorize all the lines in it.

P.S. I recommend 1...e5

Truth is this is a technical book (almost no verbal explanations) on an already very tough variation. So, sure, the OP can try it and make his own opinion, but let's say he wouldn't be choosing the easiest path by doing so...

Honestly, this book is probably a waste of time for someone who is relatively inexperienced in chess, but everyone is free to make his choices...

intersting.....i haven't heard any thoughts on hyper acelerated dragon in this post. I have read and seen a few videos where this sicilian is pretty tough. It avoids the 150 attack...the rossolimo, and a few other lines where white has an easy made attack. Any thoughts gentlemen??

dragon is the best

In Starting Out: The Sicilian, 2nd Edition (2009), GM John Emms introduces a lot of possibilities.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140627122350/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/hansen123.pdf

  He did also play the Najdorf. At times he would play ...e5, not ...e6.True, he played Scheveningen more than Najdorf, although by playing the Najdorf move order he couldn't, obviously, avoid the Najdorf when faced with either 6Bc4 or 6Bg5.Please be relevant, helpful & nice!

I'm new so I cannot start a thread but I'd like to ask:

Why is f3 a mistake on move 5? I've had Stockfish analyze it and it says ( btw. I don't always trust stockfish - remember Shirov's winning a drawn position (lol) with 46..Bh3??) that 5.f3 is a mistake and 5.Bb5 was best.

Can anyone please help me understand why f3 is a bad move here?

Noone can probably help that much if you don't understand that 5.f3 is a bad move. But OK, a few things to consider:

- White is ahead in development, and for some reason black plays 4...d5? and opens the game- a foolish decision.

- Instead of taking advantage of his superior development and nicely centralized knight (where 6.Bb5+ fullfills this task almost perfectly), white plays a stupid pawn move to protect something which was not really threatened, and he also weakens his kingside.

What the hell 5.f3 is doing? It does not even protect the e4 pawn (5...dxe4 6.fxe4?? Qh4+ and Black is winning).

Holy Greece! Thanks for that very brief and informative explanation. Pretty stupid move 5.f3, you're right.