Sicilian Help...no 3.d4

Okay, so I'm pretty young, and people keep telling me tactics, tactics, tactics.  I get it, but some point, I have to get into a game deep enough where I'm comfortable without screwing up so I can start applying some of the tactics I've learned.  So I've pretty much looked at a couple simple things that I can play get decent games out of...nothing wild or crazy.  So I picked the KIA, the KID, and sicilian.  If I'm white, KIA, if i'm black i figure there are mainly three openings that most players of the white pieces play e4, d4, and Nf3.  d4, no problem, a KID works fine, Nf3, I play Nf6 put it back in their hands and see what happens next...with me so far? not a horrible plan right, maybe not master worthy but it gives me a good starting spot I think.

Here's my problem, someone plays 1. e4, I respond c5.  I like the assymmetry of it.  Most books from here do something along the lines of 2...d6 3.d4 then some knight work and about a billion different combinations/variations/lines from there, but this RARELY happens in my games.  Hardly anyone is playing d4.

Heck I don't, but then most people are rarely playing a sicilian towards me even when I show KIA (and most of them are getting the drift pretty quick).  So maybe it's the crowd that I normally play with that just suck, or maybe I'm missing some uber way I could take them down, but for some reason I'm just not figuring something out.

I present to you my biggest shame in chess pretty much ever.  On move 6 I castle because I felt like Qxg7 left my rook out to dry but then it just got worse as you'll quickly see, later I think g6 would have been better however I still feel something wrong sooner then that.  I'm assuming this is something horribly wrong with my opening since the game was over in 8 moves  so I beg of you show me light even if it means hitting me over the head with a club.

I think you should have done 4... d5 and you would have been fine

Thanks for the quick reply, that felt weak to me originally, and I'm not sure why.  After 4...d5, and assuming White doesn't start exchanging pawns does the bishop move and castling seem sound? I really thought I had a nice opening and then this game just took the wind right out of my sails.

agree with 4. d5. 

and even if something doesn't feel "right", if it prevents mate, do it!

:D

Really, you played the first few moves beautifully.  Yahoos who play this Bc4 + Qf3 crap are blindly hoping you won't notice an impending mate on f7.  You saw this, and snuffed it right out with a quick e6.

After that, white's ONLY hope to end up with anything other than a dreadful position is that you'll pull your king's bishop into the center of the board where it can't do anything defensively useful in the event of a queen attack, AND that you'll subsequently castle into the defensively vacated area.

Which is to say, you played practically the only line that wouldn't leave white wondering what the hell to do next.

As already mentioned, 4...d5 and all your problems are solved.  Development becomes easy, and you start chasing white's poorly placed pieces around with tempo.  Same deal with 4...Nc6, followed by ...Ne5, attacking the Q and B.

Probably better still: 1...e5.

Ummm... with a rating below 1200 learning the Sicilian as black should be the least of your concerns. Work on tactics because that is the reason you lost that game, and probably most of your other games too! You say none of your opponents play the open sicilian, so why bother studying it? Playing 1.e4 e5 as black would be a better choice for you, but I would forget about opening study altogether until you are at least 1800 in turn-based chess, which is basically the point where players aren't throwing away their games because of obvious blunders.

yes. Both castling and the Be7 seem sound, but of course you have to play off of what white moves. I know it's stating the obvious, but you can't just make a move.

heh, well of course! it's crystal clear now.  it didn't feel that way in game though, and that's my real problem: why wasn't i confident in d5. 4...d5 seems i must be ready for 5. exd5 exd5 6. Bxd5 Nxd5 7.Qxd5...then I think i forgot that my queen was there do some work too.  I think i was "safer" then i thought i just was dumb and didn't realize.

i figured this was going to be something pretty glaringly obvious, but sometimes you just need someone else to tell you "you're an idiot Lillard".

Thanks for the help guys, I keep working on it.

btw, is there a name to this type of sicilian that doesn't have a d4 move? I'd really like to try and find some books on this variation or others like it if I could.

I am glad you realized exactly what I was feeling and were able to verbalize this answer to my question so well.  I think the easy development was what I was looking for.

As for both your hint about and @BigTy's suggestion of playing 1...e5, I just feel more blind that way.  I personally hate it when Black just mirrors the moves as White.  What usually ends up happening for me is that the first move that differs between us is the move that destroys any hope I had in the game, and oddly enough that happens as black or as white for me.

Thanks for the help MrYikes.

This is sort of how I would play against it. This is actually from one of my games, don't really know why my opponent played it but :/.

Sicilians without 3.d4 are commonly known as "Anti-Sicilians". You'll have no trouble finding plenty of resources in the books section of this site, on amazon, or on the Internet.

However, as pointed out by some other people, I would strongly advise you to go through some basic tactics (even better - checkmates !) books, before you delve into the complexities of opening theory...

One very good place to start would be this book, for example.

Sc6 is beter for 4.d3-     y go on e5 or d4 lokking tu take aut wite bishop

beter iz 4...-Sc6 for ataking bishop and quin on e5 or d4 foloud next by d5 not erlier koz of 4.d3-d5 5.Lb5-Sbd7 kovering yor bishop or 5...-Ld7 losinig bishops duo

I don't think anti-Sicilian literature is going to feature too many lines against this try for white.  Really, what you've read here already is more than enough to emerge from the opening with equality or better.

I completely agree, it was one of those frustrating things were I felt I was close, but I knew it went horribly wrong early but just didn't know what to do.  A common theme in my chess games and my life I guess.

@hicetnunc the book reference will not go unnoticed! I've been told tactics several times, and I've been working on chesstempo.com's chess tactics trainer for some time, but even then sometimes I've felt it tough to get better. I'll try your book and see how it goes.

I've shared your frustration about people not playing the normal 3. d4 Sicilian line as white at times.  Sometimes, they try their Italian Game setup (They've also done this on me in the Caro-Kann and French lines).  When I play the Caro-Kann (1. e4, c6), sometimes my opponent plays 2. Bc4?!

Anyway, back to the Sicilian.  I don't always play it, but I do sometimes.  It can get a little frustrating when white doesn't follow up with the usual queen-side castle and castles king-side instead.  That is an actual variation, but it's still annoying

The one I really hate playing against is the Grand Prix Attack.  I don't know the lines, not even on which side White usually castles.

Take this game for instance.  At first, I thought we were just going to go through the main Sicilian lines until I saw 3. f4! going to the Grand Prix Attack.  I immediately thought, "Oh boy, this will be ugly."

So there you have it.  I hadn't played the Sicilian for quite some time before that game, but I remembered having to deal with an early f4 before.  I just thought I'd show you that there's a whole mess of different attacks and variations white can play against you if you choose to play 1. c5.  So, good luck and be on the lookout for an early f4 from white.  I've had them play that against me when I've played the Caro-Kann and French too, and let me tell you, it's frustrating as heck. 

I like playing against the Yugoslav Attack from White, though. 

OK

nice plan for black bishop c6\g2