sicilian or caro kann?

should i use the sicilian or caro kann for my next tournament? though i am a tactical person i will be facing people 200 points high than me so if i get tactical i think i might make a blunder. should i play it safe with the caro kann or use the hectic and crazy sicilian? (personally i used the sicilian before and had decent sucess.)

sicilian, obviously. dont you know how bad the carokann is!???

well thanks for your reply but its just that when i play the sicilian i might not know as much as the person i am facing

If you like tactical fights, you will not like the Caro-Kann. Also, people within 200 points are what I call "targets." You can hit them if you try. If you play something that does not really fit your style or that you just threw together at the last minute, you will do poorly for sure.

The best approach to a tournament is to play what you are best at and to play it as well as you can. That's all you can do anyhow.

Use positions you understand or are comfortable with.  If you change to an opening that leads to, say, a maneuvering game without a lot of tactics just because you're facing a higher rated opponent it's likely that not only will you not enjoy the game, but when you lose it wont be as beneficial as you're likely not to use that opening again (so the lessons you learn may not be important).

If you get killed in your favorite line of the Sicilian however, it just makes you that much stronger for next time.

That's my take on it anyway.

Not that adjusting your openings are bad, I've switched to a stodgier openings before when faced with a higher rated opponent, but I'm comfortable in long slow games and willing to be patient.

thank you so much drspudnik. I will go with my sicilian najdorf

The caro isn't bad! (although I don't play it heh).

thanks orangehonda i will keep your advice in mind

also do you guys think that 1400 rated players would know the sicilian? i think they would since they are 1400 but what do you think?

I think just about everyone knows the Sicilian if they've had any look at popular chess. It's famous for being Black's best scoring defense against 1.e4, after all! The Caro-Kann isn't bad in the least, and it's what I chose after I broke my stint of open games with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6.

If you're playing people 200 points above you, no opening will truly help you as much as your own preparation in basic tactics, endgame knowledge, and comfort in a line you're familiar with. I'd choose the Caro-Kann myself, but I'm biased because I really do play it in all situations.

After all this soul-searching you have almost guaranteed that your opponent will play 1. d4 :-)

LOL that's exactly what happened in a OTB tournament I was in years ago. When I played 1.d4, my opponent sighed and muttered "All my 1.e4 prep is down the drain!" I also play the caro-kahn.

thank you offtherook

Don,t dismiss the karo out of hand, ask Karpov, lately the Sicilian seems to have fallen from grace, ie avoid it,by not playing E4.

The old story the golden rule is there are no golden rules

thank you too echecs06. everyone has been very helpful\

Naa, they'll just copy some moves that look familiar to them.  For example you may change your move order or even the variation and they may just keep setting up as if it were a different Sicilian.  Most likely you'll be out of book between moves 5-10 and the game will be decided on the usual stuff, tactical/strategic errors.

Even if you were facing an expert, and left book early with a reasonable but non-book move, it would be nearly impossible for them to refute it OTB.

Make sure you give us an update after the event!

It depends on whether you want a locked, positional system or an open, complicated one.

Yeah, for example

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