Sicilian VS 1...e5

I've always played the sicilian against 1.e4. I love it. I think it's so cool. The Najdorf brings the most crazy, razor-sharp positions in all of chess.

However I have a confession to make: I'm a bit tired to study theory, having to memorize moves, and mostly: being extra careful just to stay alive.

I've noticed a really bad thing. Theory is vital for black to survive. Not so much for white, who can just play natural moves and still have chances to blow you off the board.

I played against a friend of my own strength, who knows ZERO theory, and he still gets to attack, attack, and attack. So I have to tread really carefully, calculating accurately at every move, while he just puts all his pieces on the kingside and gets all the fun.

And why do I go through all this trouble anyway? Has anybody EVER managed a successful minority attack with black in the sicilian?

I'm becoming a bit disillusioned with the sicilian. I know GMs use it a lot, but they are 100% prepared. What about amateur tournament players? Is the sicilian so effective between people who don't have professional preparation?

I was considering going to 1...e5. I used to play the Ruy Lopez as white so this one shouldn't be too hard to prepare for me. But I know absolutely nothing about the Italian, the Scotch, the 4 Knights, etc.

But the question is: maybe I can play those openings knowing only a small fraction of the theory that you need to survive in the sicilian?

The rating range I'm interested in is 1800-2000 FIDE.

There's a lot of theory with 1...e5 too. The main difference is that your king won't be under attack so often.

You may also consider switching to a calmer Sicilian (like Acc. Dragon, or O'Kelly, or some 2...e6 Sic.), so that you can capitalize on your knowledge of Anti-Sicilians variations.

I'm happy that you mentioned the O'Kelly :)

I play it sometimes as a secondary weapon. I tried it in a tournament against an expert and he looked at me like "wtf" but then he played the correct 3.c3.

Surely something that I'll play more in the future, I don't fear a c3 sicilian a tempo down.

I wasn't just looking for a way to avoid theory though, I was looking for new positions to play. Is knowing theory required to play ...e5?

The sicilian is a lot harder to play well than 1 E5 imo. And remember that E5 is deployed by the best players in all the world in world championship matches too. The ruy lopez wouldn't be played at all in GM matches if GMs only played sicilians. From my point of view I like playing open sicilians and building up a big attack. When I lose agaisnt it its because of a blunder I made in my attack. Against E5 it gets harder because because the opponents position isn't cramped and the tactics swing all over the board. I'll eventually do a study of sicilian defenses because I face it more often than E5 but I don't think I'll play it, because it leads to more cramped positions than a ruy lopez or italian game and I naturally like having room for my pieces to stretch their legs.

I've played both the Najdorf and 1...e5, and I can tell you that there's  significantly less theory that you absolutely MUST know to survive in the Open Games. Although, the exact amount depends on what lines you choose (i.e. the Closed Ruy has much less critical theory than the Marshall, in the Two Knights, you can mostly play natural, active moves and attack, whereas in 3...Bc5, you have to defend carefully against the Evans, Moller, etc. and know a bunch of theory to live, and whether you play stuff like 3...g5 against the KG or stuff like the Modern (3...d5)) So, yeah, Black gets active play a lot in 1.e4 e5, and certainly doesn't have to defend as much as in the Najdorf, or know as much MUST KNOW theory as in the Najdorf.

I think most open game theory consists of zaps and traps that are easy to understand after a while. Most gambits can be declined (even Evan's gambit) with no downsides really and you can learn accepted lines if you're into that. And no theory is not a big deal. I know a guy that got to 1900 playing the Parham. Of course his endgame was also pretty spectacular haha. 

In fact you'll find that a lot of park blitz players are really good at tactics and don't study theory. Maybe you aren't handling the space disadvantage well or finding counterplay? That's why I started playing open games - it's easier to defend when you have a foothold in the center. Also is your friend castling kingside? I have found that while opposite sides castling positions tend to be well-calculated races up to 20 or 30 moves of theory, books aimed towards non-professionals are not as extensive in covering strategy in same-side castling positions and this can leave players with "blindspots."

I've seen this common complaint that the sicilian has too much theory.  However, that is because most of these people are playing sicilians with race attack positions where it is critical to know theory to not get mated so naturally.  I've been playing the sicilian taimanov and kan for almost two years now ( I mention both because sometimes it is favorable to play without nc6 against some variations while favorable with nc6 against other lines) and there is barely any theory to know to get safe positions. It is just critical for you to be exposed to common ideas so all you need to do is go to through a bunch of games in the database at a fairly quick pace and you don't need to memorize anything just look for different ideas that interest you. Often times people are misinformed and play the race attacks like the english attack setup and that is completely horrible against the kan as black can play bb4 and a quick d5 e5 cause a piece fork.  These e6 sicilians are very safe and sound and i've found many players under 2000 feel uncomfortable playing against me (i'm about 2100 uscf) as they dont understand the positions as they are used to the race attack or maroczy bind or whatever which are both not the best approach to the e6 sicilians.

Probably the most theoretical lines you'll need to know are those of the c3 sicilian if you decide to play the e6 sicilians.  They are quite annoying if you want to play for a win with black against lower rateds.  

Anyways if the sicilian and e5 are annoying.  you should experiment with other stuff.  Recently I was inspired by a USCL game and have been playing e6 b6 just to get exposed to new positions.  There aren't too many critical positions to know in this setup either.  Just need to know ideas.

Thank you for that.

I will look into the Kan a bit more; I now play the Najdorf with e6 and d6 (never with e5), can you tell me what the difference with the Kan? I mean, is it just my dark Bishop outside the pawns?

Interestingly enough I never had problems with opposite side castling, my main issue is when they castle kingside and just do natural moves. They can attack dangerously even without knowing any theory (unlike when they 0-0-0) and this annoys me a bit.

Then I don't like the closed sicilian, I just feel black is worse in all lines.

For the c3 sicilian, take a look at this thread:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/itt-were-sicilians-and-we-laugh-at-the-alapin

The 4...g6 system is a great way to play for a win. It is also dangerous for black though, you need to know your stuff...not easy to play against IQP a couple of moves down, but if you can sort out your development you'll be in a great position to exploit the pawn.

If white uses one of the theoretical attacks, i.e. Yugoslav, English, etc, then it's just as easy for them to mess up too.

 I agree with you that just in general (if they don't use one of the theoretical attacks) it is kind of annoying how white still gets play on the kingside and their plan is easier to find, in about 90% of my Sicilian games white plays f4 at some point. Meanwhile we as Sicilian players have to find counterplay on the queenside and/or center which requires more thought and precision.

I'll always remember this game I played where white was being very aggressive, they had opened the h-file and had their queen on h3, I had my king on g7, with a pawn on g6. I saw a combination that began with creating pawn breaks in the center, that allowed me to give a check on white's back rank and force their king to h2, then swing my rook across to h8 and pin their queen to their king. That's how we have to be as Sicilian players, counterattack through play in the center and queenside.

I don't think you should give up the Sicilian, if you persist in it, you'll get better at it.

u should play latvian gambit,  1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 ,  u don´t need to study  ruy lopez, italian , scotch , 4 knights.... and after 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4  f5 calabrese counter gambit.

this might work well in bullet, judging by your rating, but I'm interested in OTB rapid.

I cannot build a repertoire around crazy gambits.

Yeah many times you develop the bishop onto c5 or even d6 and often you don't play pawn to d6 as you want to play a quick d5 so you do not waste a tempo.  Probably the only the setup where you play d6 and have a bishop on e7 is the one you have mentioned where white plays an early f4 and castles kingside.  Just have a setup with d6 nd7 b5 bb7 be7 qc7 castle.  This is an improved scheveningen position as black isnt wasting with time with bd7 bc8 and bb7 as in kasparovs games.  You should develop b5 bb7 first so there is no e5 shots attacking your rook on a8.

Also another thing to know about the e6 d6 structure.  Let's say they castle kingside and have pawns on e4 f4 and then they decide the play g4.  It looks scary, but almost always the equalizing response to g4 is e5. (sometimes d5 if the bishop on b7 is getting activated)  Basically counter a flank attack with a central attack and you should be fine.

Also if you like the e6 d6 lines against everything, you should play the kan move order then play d6 as you avoid the bb5 anti sicilians.  

And finally you say you have problems with the closed sicilian.  This one is actually my favorite to deal with as a sicilian player since i believe it is horrible.  In the closed sicilian white is attacking on the kingside while black on the queenside.  That means it would be nice to start queenside counterplay immediately.  I recommend this line e4 c5 f4 a6! nf3 b5  starting your counter play immediately.  you basically play bb7 e6 d5( the pawn on e4 is hanging in some lines so look for b4 shots).  now if white goes e5 they are strategically lost.  As you have a french where white is down several tempi as they have pawn on d3 while black has expanded b5.  In this situation you just play nh6 nf5 and h5 and they can never dislodge your knight.  That's why most people are playing 4. d4! and transposing back into open sicilian after the move order i've given you which is fine because it is an open sicilian line i've just discussed with the scheveningen structure.

Hope this helped.

The challenge in selecting openings is finding one which best suits your personality and style of play. I enjoy taking on the role of "counter puncher" and will respond to a classical opening with a hyper modern reply and vice versa, so 1. e5 doesn't interest me at all. I don't think you will find a defense that will let you avoid studying theory and memorizing some lines. I think to play the Sicilian you need to get nasty aggressive with it, it's not a passive system.

f4-f5 is the most basic idea in Scheveningen pawn structures which can arise in almost all the sicilians. You can even play it in the dragon if you want to. Add this to the fact that an abundance of theory is not necessary to get a playable position and it's hard to see why it wouldn't be a popular plan.

At the same time I thought this was what sicilian players were ok with. One only needs to look at the 24th game of the world championship match in 1985 where Kasparov plays the amazing 25...f5! and wreaks havoc over the board.

But anyway the sicilian like the Pirc, Alekhine, Caro-Kann and all those other openings where Black doesn't leave a pawn in the center always give White an option of simple development avoiding theoretical battles. You can't have everything.

The idea for Black is to play for equalization given White plays good chess. I am quite satisfy with Black can launch counter-strike. When I can't find it, defense is the best choice.

I think I saw a video here on chess.com saying that was the best chess move of all time.

The Najdorf seems good to me, I just got crushed with it as white in a game I played tonight. That being said I know zero of the Najdorf theory, and I only go into open Sicilains out of the goodness of my heart since I'm a Sicilian player too and it seems like we never get open Sicilian games.

80% of my games otb for my chess club have been as black i am a sicilian player who had to leave the schevenigen after facing and losing to many richter rausers after a bit of study i plumped for the taimanov and since my win ratio has shot up to 87% and even when i lose my oppoent has to really work for it e6 sicilians are cool and work for me 

They are both very good. There is a lot of theory for 1...e5 too.

If you are failing with a minority attack usually you will need place your knights appropriately on either c4/c5 and get a d5 break when you can.

Anyway my conclusion is to play both; switch them every game or something. It won't do you any harm to learn both e5 and c5 and will teach you more on different positions and overall become a more versatile chess play.