Sicilian Defense
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How do you play this opening? Should I Play it?
The Sicilian Defence (1. e4 c5)
The idea of this move is to control the centre from the flank. White can play 1 of several variations: Closed, Grand Prix Attack, Alapin, Rossolimo/Moscow. However, white's most testing variation against the Sicilian is the Open Sicilian. This is the most active and aggressive and the only real way to maintain the opening advantage for white.
The Sicilian is not 1 defence but rather a family of defences. Which one you prefer depends on your style.
These are the main Open Sicilian continuations.
The most popular is the Najdorf. The Najdorf is one of the most legendary openings in all of chess. Games are often very sharp and double edged with a lot of tactical opportunities. The opening is very broad as white has many variations they could play against the Najdorf and black has many different setups they could choose against each one. In this sense, it's an opening of ideas.
Dragon is maybe a bit riskier but also very sharp and aggressive. Perhaps more so.
The most aggressive variation is probably the Sveshnikov. This line is more forcing in a sense so it's a bit simpler than the Najdorf. Black is typically playing for initiative and attack while white will be playing positionally to control d5.
Against the Alapin (2. c3), you can play either Nf6 or d5. They are both very good. I would recommend d5 as it's the most active approach.
This is a very passive way of playing for white. They are actually blocking their own knight from coming to c3, its natural square. Black can develop rapidly and have a good game. Black can also inflict an IQP on white with cxd4 at some point.
The Sicilian is ginormous and there are about 130 variations.
Some good ones are the Najdorf, Scheveningen, Sveshnikov, Pelikan, Alapin, Kalashnikov, Lowenthal, Kan, Mengarini, Taimanov, and Paulsen. The Accelerated Dragon, O'Kelly, Quinteros, Jalalabad, and Snyder Variations are also quite nice.
The Sicilian defense is a very complex opening since it has the most amount of theory compared to other openings(i think). It is usually played by high elo players such as 2300 - GMelo. I don't think it's not recommended for lower elos since pretty much the most popular opening. The way i like to play it is. I like to play the Open Sicilian since there are pretty much a lot of variations that derive from it
Thanks everyone
zone_chess wrote:
The Sicilian is ginormous and there are about 130 variations.
Some good ones are the Najdorf, Scheveningen, Sveshnikov, Pelikan, Alapin, Kalashnikov, Lowenthal, Kan, Mengarini, Taimanov, and Paulsen. The Accelerated Dragon, O'Kelly, Quinteros, Jalalabad, and Snyder Variations are also quite nice.
The Jalalabad is not good at all. It's just a silly opening with a funny name.
Quinteros normally transposes into a Kan or Taimanov.
Snyder and Mengarini variations are suboptimal for white.
Also Paulsen is another name for the Kan Sicilian, not a separate opening.
The Pelikan is basically the Sveshnikov.
The Lowenthal is basically the Kalashnikov.
Technically on the database the Sveshnikov and Kalashnikov are variations of the Pelikan and Lowenthal respectively but they are the main lines so everyone knows these variations simply as Sveshnikov and Kalashnikov.
These are not 6 different openings. They are 3.
alexlehrersh wrote:
Dont if you dont want to learn massives amount of theory
This has already been talked about in many other forums but this is a misrepresentation of the Sicilian. All openings have theory.
It doesn't matter what openings you play. If you want to get very good at the game, you will have to learn theory. It's just part of the game. However, at lower levels, theory is less relevant, including in the Sicilian. If you play the Sicilian against a player in the same rating bracket as you who knows about the same theory as you, then it only comes down to other skills.
The sicilian defense became the cool opening with the closing line in the 1925 silent film Chess Fever. " Let's play the sicilian defense darling!" BTW you can see the film for free on youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdXmtc56rsM&t=17s Anyway.....obviously everyone should play it since it is cool chick approved! Don't listen to those snobs who will tell you it is only for advanced players. Those kinds of comments remind me of Christmas story ,"you'll shoot your eye out kid!" lol Just go for it!
Just try it out and see for yourself. I personally like the Taimanov as it works well with my French repertoire as I don't want an Exchange variation after 2.Nf3. There is some theory involved but the Sicilian is a very flexible opening where you can play all sorts of things and still be ok and theory is hardly ever touched even at my level of about 1600 chess.com.
The Sicilian is fun if you like attacking chess and there is hardly any dull variations except for the King's Indian Attack. But at the end of the day, find something you like to play
