Sicilian for beginner (800 rating)

I guess I would call myself a beginner; I've known how to play chess for a long time(and by that I mean that I know how the pieces move).  However only in the past year have I become fascinated with the strategy involved.  Anyways, I have been trying to study the Sicilian defense and have been wondering which variation would be better to begin studying: Najdorf, Dragon, or Classic.  I'd prefer a more reliable variation at this point, and keep in mind that at this stage i get caught often with sharp lines.    Thanks in advance for the help.

at 800 rating you don't "get caught by sharp lines" you overlook simple tactics and make a lot of blunders. it's not like your 800 rated opponent has been studying the "line" he's playing for hours with his database, houdini and his team of gm seconds.

I'm not sure I'd pick the Sicilian as a beginner's opening to be honest. It's got an awful lot of sharp lines in it.

Probably better to pick something like the French or mutual king's pawn to start.

You have probably heard this ALOT. If you want to improve, you should train tactics, not openings. At 800 rating, you would rarely face the main line 1: e4 2. Nf3 3. d4.

But, back to your question: Najdorf is extremely complicated. Kasparov often just played a6-b5 and h6-g5, and didn't castle. That is suicide for humans (except Kasparov). Therefor, I recommend the Dragon! It's strategic quite simpel, but extremely tactical. 1: e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6! 3. d4 cxd3 4. Nf6! 5. Nc3 g6!!. 

I don't believe you get "caught with sharp lines". 800 players typically get caught because they don't notice their pieces are attacked.

You should play none of those. In fact, most of the time you can't play them anyway, because 800 rated white players won't play the required moves (2.Nf3, 3.d4 mainly) to get to the starting point of the Najdorf, Dragon or Classical.

And do you understand why 1...c5 is a good move, or why white would want to play 2.Nf3 and 3.d4? Let alone why black would want to play 5...a6 in the Najdorf.

What you need to learn is opening principles (develop your pieces, fight for the center, get your king to safety, prevent your opponent from doing the same). Players up to 2000 or so regularly make mistakes because they don't think of development enough. So you should play openings where the most principled move usually is in fact the best move, so you can learn. In the Sicilian exceptions happen too often (often the best move is in fact not the developing move, because of some long variation), so it's too hard to learn with it.

You should play 1...e5 and concentrate on developing your pieces.

at 800 rating you should train on not hanging your pieces, don't miss 1 move threats like forks,discovered attacks, skewers and pins etc. these come from tactical awareness so I suggest you work on your tactics

You will lose not because the openings, but because of playing. At 800 rating, hanging pieces or such can decide the game. But even if hanging pieces is not your problem anymore, you will lose by simple tactics, 2-3 moves combinations. Do not try to learn the sicilian. Play e5 against e4. It will teach you the importance of tactics, active pieces. Every beginner should play the e4-e5 openings first.
But, maybe someone will play the sicilian against you. So in that case, you should simply develop pieces, and just play chess.
In the opening you should do mainly 3 things.
- Control the center. (Place your pawns in the center)
- Develop pieces. Do not make unnecesary pawn moves. In the opening, generally a pawn move is only good if it allows you to develop your pieces.
- Castle. Then move the queen to connect the rooks.

Shortly, this is the only thing you need to know about openings.

Actually, I think you can play anything that respects the basic principles of development - at least until you are 1500. With that in mind, the Najdorf is not a good opening for you because the move ...a6 is generally speaking a bad idea (in the Najdorf, it is backed by concrete lines).

Otherwise, the Dragon, although being a monster of theory and tactics, is fine. But again, not better or worse than anything else that obeys the basic principles.

Put me in the "What the heck are you doing knowing the names of openings with only an 800 rating, let alone trying to decide which one to play?" camp.

In the immortal words of FIDE Master Ken Smith, until you hit 1800, "Your first name is 'Tactics', your middle name is 'Tactics', and your last name is 'Tactics'."