Sicilian For The Beginner.

I'm new to chess, and as I begin really examining various opening systems and defenses I notice a few things.  I notice the Ruy Lopez is pretty straight forward, It is easy to determine the function of each peice's movement.  However as I have only just begun examining the Sicilian, I can't seem to understand the purpose of each move.  I don't really expect an in depth answer to my question here, but maybe someone knows of a link that sounds like it would be helpfull. Thanks for any input.

Just play some logical variation, like dragon accelerated or clasical, at all cost avoid najdorf. But anyway if you are absolutely beginner, play e5 not c5, learn basics and then u will start playing sicilian. I could recommend you for example 2knights defence vs 1e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6, just play open games.

I dont think the sicilian is a good opening for beginners. Its too complicated and too much theory. I started due to Fischer so ofcourse I tried to play Fischer's openings and the sicilian was one of them . I was getting smashed in most games without ever reaching a playable ending. My first otb rating was 1350 or so. I switched to alekhines defense until I was 1800 and then started playing in the "Open" section of the swiss tournaments and started getting smashed in that too, switched to the french and it served me well. When I reached 2000 uscf I decided to try sicilians again as my understanding of chess had improved a great deal. Since that time the sicilian has served me well and I still also use the french as a secondary defense to 1 e4. I dont recommend sicilians for anyone under 2000.

I stopped playing 1. e4 when Game Explorer became available and I noticed I was getting rocked by the Sicilian as both Black and White.  Even looking up the opening didn't help because I didn't understand the position created by the opening.  There's just too much theory for newcomers - when you get to the point when you're learning different opening systems it'll be in your repitoire but until then I'd avoid it.

Of course, if you don't want to be a pure 1. d4 player, like me, it might be worth picking a simple variation to stick to as White.

It is true that sicilian is not for beginners, but i disagree that it should be played only by 2000+ players, i am 1500-1600 and i play accelerated dragon, there is no much theory and i usually achieve nice positions, whats more i like them more than ones i achieved from e4 e5.

I perfer the Venician Attack variation, and I don't think it is that complicated. You just have to understand the concept of chess and how the pieces work together.

diagrams would help for me cant understand this venician and dragon stuff

 http://www.chess.com/openings/

true sicilian is not for beginners ruy lopez is a good opening as well as giuoco piano

 That's what I'm hearing.  Well my typical since starting has been Ruy Lopez as White.  ALWAYS opening e4, and either d4 c3 or f3 pending blacks 1... move.

And Sicilian as black, also pending whites initial move.(I don't know enough variations of Sicilian to respond accordingly to every opening.)

Is this just totally wrong?  What should my Primary focus be when opening as black or white?(not strat. wise, more in terms of being a new player.)

I can see after reading my own reply, that my question is more than what opening to use, or how to use it.  It's what should my goal as a new player be when opening, strategy aside.  I might make a new topic... Though, I'm sure it will be white noise here.

Thanks for the Replies.

That's an interesting perspective, Reb.  It doesn't really match my experience, though -- when I was playing in OTB tournaments as a 1600-1700 player, I used the Sicilian Scheveningen (through d6-a6-e6 move order) as my primary response to e4, and had a lot of success with it.  I'm sure I didn't follow the theoretically-prescribed move order most of the time, but it's not like most 1600 players know the whole book anyway.  Always made for natural development (b5, Bb7, Be7, Nbd7 or Nc6, etc.) and a unbalanced, interesting game.

As an e5 player now, I'd recommend that first & foremost to a beginning player, but I wouldn't have thought the Sicilian to be a poor choice.  In fact, I'd probably have said it to be 2nd-best -- much more active & tactical than the French or Caro-Kann, and much easier to play than something cramped like Alekhine's or Pirc/Modern.  /shrug, I could be wrong.

That is actually what draws me to the Sicilian, it's more aggressive/open tendencies.

If you like open games, play e5, sicilian is semi open opening. Anyway if white wants to play close, it is possible even after 1.e4 and u really cannot do anything about it

Don't be discouraged. The Sicilian is a tough opening, but if you want to learn it, get some chess books and start studying. The are plenty of chess books designed to teach the basics of the opening to beginners. Look at some of the titles from Everyman's 'Starting Out' series, for example. You won't become a master over-night. But, anyone can learn and play this opening, if they are willing to study it and practice.

Sicilian is more complicated than 1...e5 defences, as you've rightly pointed. The main idea is to fight in the centre with 3 pawns vs. 2 (c, d and e vs. d and e).

For a broader perspective, a fairly good introductory text is here.

I suggest that you not play the sicilian until you have more experience. Try 1...e5 instead.

I don't suppose anyone would care to elaborate on *why* they feel the Sicilian is more complicated for Black than e5?

As an e5 player, you need to be prepared primarily against the Ruy Lopez, 3.Bc4 (Giuoco Piano/Evans Gambit or Two Knights' Defense), and the King's Gambit.  All very fine openings, but the play for Black is not very similar between the three.

In the Sicilian, since you're Black, you have to be prepared for your chosen mainline Open variation, and a few anti-Sicilians (Alapin, Bb5, f4/Grand Prix, Smith-Morra)... but you can usually use a pretty similar setup for each.  The middlegame plans diverge a little bit depending on how white chooses to attack, but again, low- and mid-level players are not versed in the subtleties of every line; your objective is to get to a playable middlegame.  I just don't see where it's so much harder here than in e5.

I think Sicilian is more complicated than 1...e5 for four reasons :

• some moves are more difficult to find and "understand" than in open games : with 1...e5 you usually react to direct threats or play along classical principels, while in Sicilian, you have to find the right placement to weather a future attack by white and control key squares
• in some sharp Sicilians, you have to survive a direct attack on your king (Yugoslav attack, Bg5 Najdorf...) and it's often a case of 'one slip and you're dead'
• there are lots of anti-sicilians, and unless you play some kind of dragon set-up, you can't really expect to meet all of them the same way - an ...e5 Najdorf set-up won't work against a c3 Sicilian or even against a Smith-Morra !
• because of anti-sicilians, you'll have to deal with many move-orders issues, which doesn't occur in classical 1...e5 openings

I'm not saying playing 1...e5 is easier at all, but for beginners, the logic behind each move is easier to understand.

However, when Spiffe says : but again, low- and mid-level players are not versed in the subtleties of every line; your objective is to get to a playable middlegame, he is right. Sicilian or 1...e5 won't make much difference until say 1700-1800 elo - It might even be a case where Sicilian would score better as people would be more familiar with classical 1...e5 openings. However, once you reach a slightly higher level, you're going to feel the difference...

When I was a beginner ( in tournaments ) my first rating was 1350 or so and the sicilian was a nightmare for me as I was often playing higher rated players and I simply couldnt defend against the strong attacks white would usually get. Most low rated players dont defend well when under attack and as black in the sicilian you are going to be attacked a lot ! Thats one reason I dont think beginners should play it. However , another reason is that after surviving the attack black usually needs to be good in counter-attack or playing a superior ending. This also doesnt suit beginners imo. If you look at the sicilians among masters the short games are usually in whites favor and longer games usually favor black. I had such terrible results as black in sicilians that I didnt try it again until I reached 2000. Perhaps I could have played it reasonably well earlier but I dont know as I didnt try it. Alekhines did very well by me until I hit 1800 and had to start playing in the Open sections of tournies. I am not claiming that no beginner can/should play the sicilian, only that I dont recommend it. I think there are other openings more suitable for beginners. A lot depends on one's definition of "beginner" I guess.