Sicilian Line feedback

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Avatar of Knightmage

Hi ,

I have been working on my repertoire where I play the open Sicilian against C5. I am after feedback on the following line.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 The online opening database for chess.com show the best continuation as white as being 7.g4. where the game continues with the following  7....e5 8. Nf5 g6 9. Bg2 white leaves their knight at f5 for the taking. 9... gxf5 10. exf5 h6 11. Qe2 Rg8 12.h3. Is this position good enough to justify giving the knight away or should I play 7.f3 or something else.
Avatar of LavaRook

My database shows white scoring 76.5% in that line. However, the whole line can be avoided with 8...h5 which is about even based solely on the statistics (haven't gone into depth here)

Out of 17 games, Black won 1, drew 6, and lost 10...

The position is very complex/irrational/unclear. Black is certainly not winning. (although computers may think so-this can happen in sharp stuff like the Sicilian or Bg5 Semi Slav. Computers can't always be trusted completely in lines like this)

I looked at a few games and it seems that Black's development is his problem. White has to get something going real fast though before Black consolidates. More recently, however, it seems the line leads to a draw if Black knows his stuff...Here are 2 games: